Garlic complaints

I have been having trouble finding nice garlic-y garlic in recent years. A lot of the garlic that is easily available is Chinese garlic which may or may not come in a cute little stack of four heads in a white 'sock'. This Chinese garlic seems to have very little garlic flavor.

The other day at Marianos, they had 'colossal garlic' which was not as big as elephant garlic but still quite big. I took a pass. They also had organic garlic for $5 a pound. You have to be kidding. That was it. No regular old garlic.

In desperation I added 'garlic powder' to my shopping list, an item I have pretty much abandoned long ago. At Whole Foods, I found a Whole Foods brand which was organic. Fine. I took it home and found the consistency to be like flour which I found odd. But I also noted that it did not have strong garlic flavor I remembered from long-ago McCormick brand. I looked on the ingredient label of the Whole Foods jar and there is was: 'Product of China'!

I always thought that Gilroy, California was the garlic capital. Where is the good Gilroy garlic? I can't find it at Jerry's, Valli Produce, Produce World, Mariano's, Fresh Farms or anywhere. Is anyone else disappointed with the take-over of the garlic bin by weak, tasteless garlic from China? Have you seen the Gilroy anywhere?

Try Rockerbox Garlic. Williams-Sonoma has it (on sale, but not on line). It has a real garlic flavor for powdered.
http://www.rockerboxgarlic.com/

Costco carries California garlic.

Pensey's sells a 'Granulated Garlic' that I use a lot in rubs as well as a dried 'Minced Garlic' I use sometimes in stews and shrimp de jonghe.
I find fresh California garlic at Woodman's and at local Pick n Save's.
It's out there if you look hard.-Richard

When open, the Madison, WI farmers' market has a garlic guy who sells a variety of garlics.

I have a jar of Christopher Ranch chopped garlic that is from Gilroy, California. I'm pretty sure I found it in the produce section of Jewel.

Katie wrote:I have a jar of Christopher Ranch chopped garlic that is from Gilroy, California. I'm pretty sure I found it in the produce section of Jewel.

Christopher Ranch has lots of specialty prepared garlic products available. At some point I'm sure they figured out that it was more profitable to take a few pennies' worth of garlic and chop/mash/pickle it than to sell it raw.

http://www.christopherranch.com/products/#anchor-pl-4

The way to tell Chinese from American garlic is they will be clean where the roots are- can't ship w/dirt attached. If you can't chop your own, a good granulated garlic is a decent sub. Buy it somewhere they go through a lot though, like Spice House. Do not buy pre chopped garlic. Ever.

Any other garlic questions, feel free to read the book I wrote on it https://www.amazon.com/Garlic-Manifesto-idiosyncratic-view-through-ebook/dp/B00IA3D07E

Reminds me of a good story about pre-chopped garlic. A few years back, a group I golf with for a weekend at Green Lake once a year were having libations when the subject of meatballs arose. I got into a jousting match with one other person who also cooked a lot. Long story short, when comparing ingredients and process, I asked how much garlic he uses. He said he uses a half bottle, I said WHAT? Debate over. The rest of the crew agreed and it is part of the weekend history books.

Some TV chef needs to popularize the "wooden spoon drop" in lieu of a microphone for that sort of situation...

The loose garlic at Fresh Farms is from Spain...at least the current batch is.

Jazzfood, tnx so much for the ref to your book, which I've just bought and begun to read––looks great!

I tired of the crap garlic from China several years ago, and was always able to buy very tasty local Québec garlic in Montréal's Marché Jean-Talon. Then I discovered how easy it is to grow one's own! I now have an annual garlic plot at our Lake Champlain beach house. What a difference! I get my garlic from Territorial Seed Company; they have a nice selection of tasty (and hardy!) varieties. I recommend growing your own to everyone whose thumb is even the least bit green!

Geo
http://www.territorialseed.com/category/hardneck_garlic

Don't know where you are in relation to Assi Market, but most of the times I've been there, they have offered California garlic, generally in smaller quantities than the mountains of Chinese garlic they also carry. A bit pricier than the Chinese garlic, but worth it, in my opinion.

Assi Market
8901 N Milwaukee Ave
Niles, IL 60714

Seed Savers (Decorah, Iowa) has heirloom garlic. Grow your own.
http://www.seedsavers.org/search?keywords=garlic

stevez wrote:The loose garlic at Fresh Farms is from Spain...at least the current batch is.

Took this tip and bought some of that Spanish garlic at FF a couple days ago. It is pretty bland. I'm not sure whether I've tried Spanish garlic before or not - this is the first time I've even paid attention to the origin of my grocery store bought garlic.

I buy my garlic at farmer’s markets when possible, but in the off-season I’ve been getting it at Trader Joe’s. For at least the last several years the regular garlic has been US-grown (not sure where); the organic is currently from Argentina. I’d describe it as “middle of the road” in flavor, clove size and peelability, but it’s quite consistent and reliable. It’s the only thing I buy from TJ’s produce department.

I just watched a nice profile of Christopher Ranch on PBS's "Bringing It Home" show. Here's a link. The Christopher Ranch part starts around 1:30.

As someone above suggested, yes, at some point, they readily admit, they did figure out there was money to be made preparing and packing garlic products rather than just selling it raw. That said, the segment only reinforced my feeling that this is a family business I want to support.

Rereading this thread, I saw that someone else above mentioned elephant garlic and colossal garlic. The other day I saw a Good Eats episode in which Alton Brown remarked that elephant garlic isn't really garlic; it's a leek bulb. I wonder if that's true of so-called colossal garlic too.

For a long time, I used the Trader Joe's Garlic, both organic and regular. But recently I got a few of those that were either too dry, or where the green germ inside was already too big.
So, 3 month ago, I switched to the Spanish garlic at Valli's in the mall at Dodge and Dempster in Evanston and found its quality, taste, and freshness, satisfactory. I used it last night in my baked Greek chicken and potatoes, and everybody liked its flavor.

I've been getting my garlic at Whole Foods. They just lowered the price to $3.95 a pound for organic which is a steal. It figures out to 50 cents a head. In another month garlic should be available at the Evanston Farmer's market. The cheapest I can get it for is $1 a head, but it is worth it. I get it from either Henry or Nichols. There is a new person there selling garlic too. He had some preserved garlic the one time I visited his stand. It was good, but it was not cheap. He is in the front row where all of the new people are, and all he sells is garlic.

Katie wrote:I just watched a nice profile of Christopher Ranch on PBS's "Bringing It Home" show. Here's a link. The Christopher Ranch part starts around 1:30.

As someone above suggested, yes, at some point, they readily admit, they did figure out there was money to be made preparing and packing garlic products rather than just selling it raw. That said, the segment only reinforced my feeling that this is a family business I want to support.

I know them and it is a family, @ least when I won the Garlic Fest in S.Fla and was invited to Gilroy to participate in their fest (demos, radio, tv) and meet the locals. They (Christopher) held a party on their farm for me. Believe it's in the hands of the grandson now.

On one of those funny coincidences, I was at the Meijer's in Arlington Heights today -- a store I rarely get to--- and they had Christopher Ranch garlic! I was thrilled to see it with its Gilroy designation on the label. The bag has about ten heads, more than I would usually buy, but I had to go for it after not seeing any for such a long time. The heads are smallish, imho, about the size of the Chinese garlic. I thought of this thread and when I came to comment, I found it with fresh comments about Christopher Ranch ==Yay!

So I have a different garlic complaint: much of the garlic I buy looks fine, but when you cut a clove there is a mild but distinct "off" odor. I'd compare it to a corked wine, as it doesn't jump out but it is there and grows with time, although the flavor profile is a bit different. A mix of mildew and a chemical note. My wife is more sensitive to it than I am, but it generally ruins most things you cook with it, even for me. It seems to affect whole heads, and I am running about 50% with standard grocery store or Chinese bagged garlic. I never noticed this until a few years ago. Anyone else having this problem?

I won't buy garlic from China. The only place I buy garlic right now is organic California garlic from Whole Foods, or garlic from the farmer's market. A lot of the garlic sold in supermarkets is from China.

Speaking of Garlic; have you been reading about the Garlic Peeling Hack posted on Twitter?

Well, the hack only works when you prep it first. Here is the method, updated with the hack explained, by a delightful Canadian man.

Indianbadger wrote:Well, the hack only works when you prep it first. Here is the method, updated with the hack explained, by a delightful Canadian man.

While I agree he's delightful its an ingenious solution to a nonexistent problem. And a moderately dangerous one at that.

ER admitting looking at hand bleeding all over floor. Insurance? Bagel or garlic?

I agree that it is a nonexistent problem. I can’t think of any situation where I need whole out of the paper garlic. The only time i need whole garlic is when I roast garlic and that is in the paper. If I don’t need whole garlic then there are many easy ways to remove the paper.

Yeah unfortunately Ill bet lots of the public that was enamored w this viral video last week would use this technique and then promptly chop the cloves. But no judging from this guy...

This made me think of all the giant bags of peeled garlic cloves that they sell at hmart and joong boo. I always wonder who needs that much garlic, but I'm sure there's a market for it

I've been to a Chinese restaurant that had a Sunday brunch of "authentic" dishes. One of the reoccurring items on the cold table was whole pickled garlic cloves. It didn't appear very often but when it did they were all gone pretty quickly to be replaced by another item. Seems like they only had so much prepared.

Unfortunately this place lost it's lease and is no more.

I've used the two metal bowls, shaken method for peeling the papers off the cloves, and it's mostly pretty good when you need a couple-dozen cloves (nobody makes 40-clove garlic chicken?). If I need more than a head's worth of garlic, I'm willing to buy the pre-peeled stuff, just make sure you use it pretty quickly, it tends to turn a weird blue-green if it sits around too long (hoping that's a sign of rot, not what it's been treated with).

This method has the advantage of looking fun and getting away with more than you ought. By the time you carefully cut the cloves away from the root, you're not getting away with much. And by the time you carefully cut the cloves away from the root, the papers will probably fall off easily when separated from the bulb.

You can buy fresh Gilroy garlic on Amazon and on Etsy. Its surprising what you can buy on some of these platforms. Maybe ebay too but I have not checked. I hate the Chinese garlic and try to find the bulbs that have not been trimmed. Have not bought the Gilroy stuff yet. I bought Kirkland Garlic powder and its good. Its a granulated garlic from California and its a Costco brand but you can buy it at Amazon and other websites. ITs good if you want a little garlic and don't want to mess with fresh. I have also liked Lawry's Garlic Salt. Its been a staple in our house for many years. Again, good if you are doing something quick and don't mind a little added salt in your food.