Benefits of Cooking with Garlic

So, how about that smell you get when you chop into garlic? That’s the enzyme called alliinase at work with an amino acid called allin.

Once you chop, mince, or crush a garlic clove, those compounds become friends, intermingle, and create something called allicin. That’s what hits your nose (or your palette if you were to bite into it raw). It’s also what gives garlic most of its street cred with health gurus.

Health Benefits of Garlic

Allicin isn’t activated until garlic is crushed or cut open. Meanwhile, heat can halt that activation. So when you cook with garlic, don’t be afraid to crush it and let it sit a little while before tossing it into your pot or skillet. This will help enhance both the flavor and health benefits.

Before people used garlic to flavor their food, they used it medicinally. Some studies have connected garlic to stronger immune systems and to shorten the common cold. Garlic supplements have proven effective in lowering high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Fresh garlic also seems to have antibacterial properties, and in some studies, it was more effective than commonly prescribed antibiotics.

Conventional garlic: There are several types of what’s considered conventional garlic, and they fall into two into categories; hardneck and softneck. Soft neck varieties include creole, asiatic, turban, artichoke (what’s typically sold in grocery stores), and silverskin. Hardneck garlic varieties include porcelain, purple stripe, and rocambole.

Elephant garlic: This isn’t actually true garlic, though it belongs to the same family as a garden leek variety. The large bulbs are connected to a long flowering stalk with leaves that look similar to those on leeks. The bulbs can be separated and used in cooking. Its flavor is much less pungent than actual garlic.

Black garlic: Black garlic is newer and trendier but also harder to find. It’s a dark purplish-gray color, with a slightly tangy note, and is sweeter than regular garlic. To get the most flavor, don’t mince it; leave whole or roughly chop.

Peeling Garlic in Bulk

There are two popular techniques for peeling garlic. Although both don’t completely remove all of the skin, they come close!

1. Shake in a jar

Place whole garlic bulbs in a large glass mason jar (about a 32-ounce size). Tightly cover and shake for 1 to 2 minutes until the cloves come apart and most of the peels are loosened. Discard the papery covering then use your fingers to remove the remaining skin from any unpeeled cloves.

2. Shake in two bowls

Place whole garlic bulbs in two medium or large-sized bowls, flipped on top of each other to create a dome shape. It helps to have a lip on the bowls! Shake for 1 to 2 minutes until the garlic gloves come part and the peels begin to fall off. Throw away the skins, and shake another 1 to 2 minutes to remove more. Peel any remaining cloves with your hands.

Cook’s Tip: The papery skin can stick to the cloves after shaking, so just run the garlic under water to remove. Follow the how to mince garlic instructions once the garlic is peeled. If you’re just prepping a few cloves, use the peeling technique below.

Sprouted Garlic

Every once in a while you might stumble across a sprouted garlic clove that has a green shoot popping out from it, or hidden inside. Although safe to eat, it’s best to remove the sprout to prevent adding bitter notes to a dish.

How to Select and Store Garlic

Look for firm bulbs that don’t show signs of decay. To prolong shelf life, keep the head of the garlic bulb intact even as you pop off individual cloves. Pre-peeling garlic will shorten its shelf life.

Store garlic in dry areas at room temperature and away from light.  Signs that your garlic is going bad may include turning yellow and green sprouts in the middle of the cloves.

How to Cook with Garlic

Use garlic as a flavor base when sauteing meat or vegetables for various recipes, for example, in this lemon pepper shrimp pasta. There are some key tips for cooking with minced garlic you won’t want to miss, like when to cut and add the garlic to the pan.

You can also roast garlic whole, which will soften the cloves and bring out a sweet flavor. Then you can mash them up with butter and make garlic bread or use garlic to flavor sauces. I also make garlic mashed potatoes, and it’s always a hit.

Removing garlic smell from hands

Everything that makes garlic potent and yummy to cook with can also leave your hands with a pungent garlic smell days after you touch it. While it’s great for the kitchen, it’s not so great when it lingers on your hands into a Monday morning meeting.

You can clean your hands with baking soda to eliminate the garlic smell, or try washing them with vinegar. If you’re desperate, try tomato juice, but one of the former should do the trick.