Black Garlic the Superfood

5.27.18 Back in Black… Garlic, that is

what this ancient superfood is all about and why we love it.

Hello! Hannah here. It’s been a minute since our last blog post… like maybe even a year or so which is what I really mean when I say a minute… O man. We are happy to be back and sharing on the regular with you all. Thanks for tuning in, reading, and hopefully getting inspired to just get in the kitchen and play (or order from our weekly meal deliveries if you aren’t into the cooking thing.) We welcome everyone.

Here at Homecooked with Love we have developed a small obsession with black garlic.  We wanted to share it’s cancer-fighting, anti-inflammatory benefits and incredible flavor with you all, so to the upcoming menu we have added Black Garlic rubbed Tofu or local, fresh caught Hebi from our all star fisherwoman, Jess at Forage!  That means as soon as you read this and are craving it’s amazing health benefits and flavors, you can give it a try!

So, what is it?

With a murky history (since it is so darn ancient) and roots in Korea, it is said to have been first produced by leaving raw garlic in clay pots for weeks during the summer heat.  This food has been increasing longevity ever since the civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and ancient Korea, China and Japan.  With this kind of history we realize this food has a lot of secrets to tell and we are open to hearing them!

Black garlic is a very (verrrryyy) slow-cooked garlic which obtains it’s coloring from a caramelization process, called Maillard.   This slow conversion of sugars turns the cloves black.  You could consider it, deeply, patiently carmelized garlic.  Imagine this flavor process occurring over the course of weeks at a temperature of 140 degrees fahrenheit- it creates quite a depth of flavor, with layered and lingering notes of caramel and chocolate, balanced by slight bitterness and umami.

Okay, it tastes amazing but what does it do for me?

Of course we all like more bang for our buck.  So why not eat foods that are culinary *and* nutritional powerhouses?  Here are the health benefits of this particular titan:

• boosts immunity
• heals your liver from alcohol damage
• high in antioxidants
• improves cholesterol levels
• reduces inflammation
• helps relieve allergies
• may prevent colon cancer

This stuff [black garlic] is said to be toxic to 14 types of cancer, has twice the antioxidant levels of white garlic, is super rich in amino acids and that’s only some of the benefits!