Pre-minced Garlic
Recently I asked my husband to pick up garlic at the grocery store. Rather than whole heads, he purchased a jar of pre-minced garlic. Though i generaly buy it whole and peel/mince myself, I don't mind using the jar up. However, most recipes call for a specific number of cloves of garlic and I am not sure how to measure the pre-minced for that. I am approximating a clove at maybe a tsp? Does this sound right or far off?
Thanks!
ArikaDawn
Aug 14, 2008 01:42PM
You are correct -- a scant teaspoon is about equivalent to a fair-size garlic clove.
But be sure to use up that jar as fast as you can -- the garlic and oil it is stored in gets nasty fast.
I understand the pain of buying whole heads of garlic, having to peel off the paper, finding the unusable little runts -- all at a premium price (garlic is far from cheap these days). I have experimented with a number of the alternatives -- the jars of minced garlic turn nasty, the big containers of peeled whole garlic cloves get rotten and moldy. The one time-saver I've successfully used are these long packages of peeled garlic cloves that vacuum-seal four cloves into small plastic dime-bags. This keeps the unused garlic fresh, I've never had a problem with mold, and a "serving" of four cloves is appropriate for most recipes for a garlic lover like me. They are also a very good value, when you consider that two or three little packets is equal to a head of garlic. The only downsides: you can't really roast the garlic, and most of the product I've seen comes from China.
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You can just put the whole clove in a garlic press and the garlic will squeeze through and leave the paper behind.
DT
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The one time I tried garlic in a jar, I thought it had very little flavor. I wound up using way more than a clove's equivalent in a recipe. And then I went back to fresh!
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I always have a large jar of Christopher Ranch minced in water garlic in the frig, 2 tsps=1 clove. More is always better.
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1 average clove (about 2.8 grams) equals 1 level teaspoon.
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I buy the frozen garlic in little cubes -- Trader Joe's sells it. Much easier than garlic in oil...but its "expensive" in the scheme of things...2 buck for a little tray...but it doesn't rot,and it is ready to use. Made by Dorot, an Israeli company! They also have frozen cilantro parsley and basil -- perfect for winter, when its impossible to get good herbs.
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Does the frozen garlic make everything in your freezer smell like garlic? I wonder if I could do that myself at home (we have a TJ's but I'm not a fan, alas--plus, it's on the other side of town.)
~TDQ
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I keep the Dorot garlic in my freezer and use it all the time. I also usually have the crushed ginger on hand too. I generally keep the garlic in a ziploc freezer bag, just to make sure that the smell doesn't permeate the rest of the stuff, particularly the ice cubes (but overall I haven't had any problems with this).
I usually buy it at Trader Joe's but I have seen it at other stores (I live in NY), one of those stores being a regular A&P supermarket.
http://www.dorot.co.il/Eng/Index.asp?...
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Thanks Everyone!
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