Essays and Etcetera

I am not particularly cosmopolitan in my eating. At the end of the day the types of food I will eat are of moderate variety, and those which I really enjoy or which you will find my regularly grazing upon is an even more limited selection. However, I am a curious fellow, and perhaps I still haven’t shaken that infantile urge to stuff various things in my mouth and see what they will taste like. As a result, when I am in the grocery store I will keep my eyes out for some odd thing to try, something which will “Expand my culinary horizons.” More often than not these experiments are not added to my regular diet.

A few weeks ago I experimented with black garlic. The black garlic caught my eye because the packaging loudly declared it was excellent on pizza. I am a big fan of regular garlic in cooking, so I decided to give it a try.

I made up a batch of dough and garnished the pizza with black garlic. It was a leap of trust, or at least of culinary experimentation. Not only was I risking my pizza, but the garlic was expense too. As a one time splurge to further my education I felt the pizza risk, and money, it could be justified, or at least excused.

Black garlic is fermented garlic. They say it is very good for you–even more healthy than non-fermented regular garlic. The idea of fermented garlic is enough to send some people running, but since wine is fermented and cheese is aged (fermented) I was not immediately appalled at the idea. But I confess that when I peeled the cloves and discovered the actual contents I had second thoughts. The shriveled cloves were–in color and consistency–almost exactly like prunes. Or . . . um . . . other more nasty things. I don’t have any problem eating prunes (some people do) but when I found myself looking at cloves of garlic that appeared to be little shriveled prune bits my reaction was “Oh my gosh, that doesn’t look natural at all. Hmmm. I really wonder how it tastes.”

Soft, prune-like garlic cloves? I had to work myself up to taking a taste. I found it wasn’t bad. Definitely unique. The website www.blackgarlic.com describes the taste as “sweet meets savory, a perfect mix of molasses-like richness and tangy garlic undertones. It has a tender, almost jelly-like texture with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency similar to a soft dried fruit.” That is fairly accurate, though someone with sensitive taste can certainly pick up more undertones.

Black garlic is interesting, but far too expensive to be a part of my regular life even if I wanted it. I don’t think I would want it a part of my regular life. The garlic is rich and flavorful, but it is a middle-eastern or oriental flavor which is not the cuisine I usually eat. The Molasses-like sweetness is intriguing when consumed plain but I found it struck a discordant note to what I expect on a pizza. It was too sweet. On pizza I expect the zing of normal garlic. Black garlic is something I would expect in a rare exotic spread for baguettes at some party.

After my own experience I had to bring some of the garlic back to the old homestead for the rest of the family to try. The first thing everyone asked on being offered a little shriveled sticky bit was, “What is that?” Being a man of great maturity I aways answered, “What does it look like? It’s a bit of poop. Here, have a taste.”

Everyone had a taste. Many required that I give a more accurate description before they were willing to stick the garlic in their mouth.

Not everyone could taste the same flavors. A number of people claimed it mostly tasted like burnt garlic. A few thought it tasted like molasses. The youngest kids thought it tasted horrible, one running to the garbage can to start nosily spitting, another declaring it tasted so bad it made him want to cry. Based upon my experience, I would say black garlic is not something most children will enjoy. Your own enjoyment of it will depend a lot on what kind of ethnic food flavors you appreciate.

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There is a little further info on black garlic at the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_garlic_(food)