Overview
These are easier to prepare still in the bulbs, with the outer skins removed. However, the other end of the journey is easier if you can see the cloves. It took me about 9 hours to ‘shell’ 880g of garlic cloves. Fun times.

I’m experimenting with black garlic. Stay tuned! We’re considering acquiring and playing around with dehydrators, but for now it’s all about sous vide. There are internet meanies who carry on about garlic not being able to be cooked via sous vide, but these temperatures are high enough to prevent any dangers. Also, there are sites claiming that black garlic is fermented – it’s not. It’s just the Maillard reaction, where the sugars (in this case, in the garlic) are browning and caramelising.

Use black garlic with mushrooms, steak, on sandwiches, in stews, sauces… whatever!

Time
Best not to ask… see different versions below

Ingredients
Garlic!

Equipment
Sous Vide, Vacuum Sealer & bags, large glass pickling weight(s)

Method: Quick garlic paste
1 – Vacuum seal garlic cloves in bag. 200g will produce enough paste for a 200ml container.

2 – Sous vide at 88.8° C (I picked a number!!) for 4 hours. Keep an eye on the water level and top up as needed – garlic needs to be submerged, so peg bags in place, double bag and/or pop a pickling weight in the outer bag and/or cover with a board.

3 – Garlic will be soft and have a nutty flavour similar to baked garlic. Mash into a paste with a fork. Store in the refrigerator to use with meat or on sandwiches/toasties.

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Method: Black garlic paste
1 – Vacuum seal garlic cloves in bag – triple bag them, with a pickling weight in the outer bag. 200g will produce enough paste for a 200ml container.

2 – Sous vide at 60° C for 4-6 weeks. Check water levels at least twice daily and top up as needed, cover with a board or use an enclosed container to reduce water loss due to evaporation. The darker it gets, the sweeter and more umami-like it will be. Don’t be tempted to open the bags to look! See the photos of week 6 comparing the bag which had been opened for photos to the ones that were left sealed.

3 – Mash into a paste with a fork if you like. Store in the refrigerator to use with meat or on sandwiches/toasties. I’m storing some in the freezer – will update later on how this impacts the final texture.

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Quick taste diary…
1 week in – a bit nutty, texture still a bit hard, quite pungent
2 weeks in – more umami-mushroomy flavours, a bit rubbery, less pungent
3 weeks in – much less rubbery, umami flavour, far less pungent
4 weeks in – not a huge change, but the scent was a little more umami (hint of Vegemite)
5 weeks in – not much change at all… but we noticed that the other bags (which have not been opened) appear to be much darker
6 weeks in – not much change in the sample bag… but BIG difference in the other bags. Darker, nuttier, more umami and stickily caramelised. Win!!