How much garlic per week?

[fldhkybnva]

I am a garlic fanatic and just had a thought tonight - how much garlic do you use per week on average?

[inaplasticcup]

Roughly 5 heads a week, but I cook at least 2 meals most days, and many of the cloves get lightly crushed and put into stews, soups or braises, so that takes up quite a few of them.

[fldhkybnva]

I am very excited to go on the hunt for legitimate sized garlic bulbs tonight. Wegman's is my first stop...

[cath]

About 1.5-2 bulbs per week. I usually buy 2 bulbs each week at the grocery store, more if I know I'm making something unusually garlicky.

[sisterfunkhaus]

10-15 a week on average. I love the stuff.

[DuchessNukem]

!!

Cloves or bulbs? Cause I kinda want to eat at your house either way lol.

[fldhkybnva]

That was my initial reaction as well - cloves or bulbs? And +1 I'm on my way

[mamachef]

At least a full bulb. About the only thing that doesn't "get the garlic" is dessert. Oh, and beverages. :) That's for at-home cooking, though - if I include the fact that I make prepared meals for several families, the math is easy to do. But that's not all going into US.
But I do love of the garlic, very very much.

[tzurriz]

Nearly everything I cook begins "chop an onion and mince 2-3 cloves of garlic". The exceptions are things like chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, or desserts.

So, in a week? 3 heads easily. With outlier days of 5 heads. ;)

[fldhkybnva]

I guess I wasn't paying attention or didn't think it would matter but picked up a few bulbs this weekend which I only realized were smaller than usual when I went to rescue the cloves. It was a very frustrating experience, where do you buy your larger bulbs of garlic?

[lcool]

Be picky about where it originates.The cloves from import from "China" bulbs are a variety,ies easy to grow fast and are often small and hard to work with.
US grown,primarily California with some from Texas,Arizona and New Mexico are for the most part better varieties/cultivars for flavor and culinary handling.

[fldhkybnva]

aha! I usually pick up garlic while at H Mart which could explain the small bulbs. Thanks.

[lcool]

Most US grown garlic displays itself with pride and is the minority in bulk bin places.Large bins of bulbs with all the roots missing and a little too clean to be real are imports.Most chefs have given up on the China garlic because of a missing flavor profile,varietal and over cold dry shipment.

[fldhkybnva]

I have access to Whole Foods and several other standard grocery stores so will hunt around, I'm sure that I'll be able to find something better as the small cloves I have now are too infuriating.

[Beach Chick]

I've bought the huge Costco size pre-peeled garlic cloves and love that I don't have to smash them and get my fingers all garlicky but dang, the intensity isn't there..
I will use that huge container in a couple of weeks and I'm still chasing me for more garlic.

[DuchessNukem]

Have had no success w/pre-peeled or worse, the dreaded minced-in-brine. You're quite right, the flavor has faded. I have the much-mocked stainless steel bar to remove the garlic scent from fingers and it works beautifully, so I use fresh-killed and skinned garlic. ;)

[fldhkybnva]

I used to rely on the pre-minced but recently converted to fresh garlic (hence my original post) and it is a world of difference. It is definitely worth the extra "effort."

[GarlicGeeks]

At least two bulbs a week!

[Bacardi1]

I'm right in there with others here who have stated that garlic is pretty much a daily habit in cooking. There are very VERY few things that I cook on a daily basis that don't include a goodly amount of garlic, & it's always on my shopping list, even if I still have some left at home.

[fldhkybnva]

Random question but how long does it take to cook off the flavor of raw garlic?

[Perilagu Khan]

A good little while. The only cooking method I know of that accomplishes this is baking. Say at least 30 minutes to smooth out the sharpness.

[fldhkybnva]

Really? So do you not use it when sauteeing?

[Perilagu Khan]

Oh sure, but to my palate, sauteeing garlic doesn't reduce its intensity anywhere near as much as baking it does.

[Bacardi1]

It cooks off quite quickly when simmered. I always add one or two roughly chopped or sliced cloves when I make ramen soup for myself, & add them to the boiling water along with noodles. When the 3-minute noodles are done, the garlic pieces are extremely mellow & not sharp or raw-tasting at all.

[RealMenJulienne]

About two heads per week, always cooked. Most of it gets cooked to flavor vegetable stir-fries.

[fldhkybnva]

Yes, I definitely have to keep the garlic breath underwraps. I do fear that I ooze garlic smell however

[Astur]

I love that part! Anything that helps to keep the crazies on my bus a bit further away for me is fine by me!

I adore garlic and eat quite a bit of it. when 1 clove is called for in a recipe it's often 5 that go in as long as it is for our house.

[Beach Chick]

I am a garlic freak...love love love it.
I would say that I consume between 2-5 bulbs a week..
I love it raw with shallots in a vinaigrette, pasta, soup, crumble taco soy meat.
I believe it has kept me from getting colds and having overall good health.
I do like to keep fresh mint in the house for that pesky lovely garlic breath.

[charles_sills]

i use a metric crap ton of onions every week. i dont really use much garlic. when i do use garlic, i use lots and lots. to be honest, i just hate dealing with garlic. i always make a huge mess with the papery skins. my fingers stink. haha. honestly i dont use it much because i dont like prepping it. sometimes i buy those jars of pre chopped garlic, but it doesnt have much flavor so i end up using 4 tablespoons or it.

[pine time]

Ah-ha! I feel vindicated that someone else finds the jarred garlic to be tasteless. Most of my foodie friends rave about it, but I'm left underwhelmed. We go through maybe a bulb of garlic a week, more if I'm making Madhur Jaffrey's wonderful garlicky tomato chutney.

[GarlicGeeks]

I am with you on the jarred garlic - just can't bring myself to use it a the flavor is so suppressed.

[Perilagu Khan]

The only time I used jarred garlic is as a pizza topping. IMO, truly fresh garlic doesn't work as well in this context.

[FriedClamFanatic]

One alternative I have tried..........Penzies minced Garlic...................does seem to do a decent job in a pinch............as a relacement, no....but good in somethings and those moments w/o fresh garlic

[Bacardi1]

I like "granulated garlic" in a pinch. NOT "powdered garlic" - that stuff is awful. But the granulated has decent garlic flavor & is nice to sprinkle on burgers, takeout pizza, etc., etc.

While I haven't tried Penzey's dried minced garlic, for some reason the few times I've bought & used dehydrated minced garlic, I'm burping it for days. This never happens to me with the granulated, or even with fresh raw garlic, so I don't know exactly what gives.

[fldhkybnva]

I actually find that both minced and garlic powder have their time and place. I add a dash to scrambled eggs and oftentimes seared meats and I don't find the flavor as offensive as some have commented in other threads.

I do know all about that burping issue. I assume that I reek of garlic and just can't smell it because on the weekends when I have more time to cook and thus more time to use fresh garlic, I notice on Mondays my burps are very very very garlicky.

[Perilagu Khan]

I use garlic powder quite often. It seems to permeate through stewed dishes and some sauces better than fresh, minced.

[lcool]

Yes,and less likely to burn in long or hot applications,oven or grill

[Perilagu Khan]

It's also consistent. You pretty much know how much garlic flavor you'll get from a teaspoon of garlic powder. One cannot say the same about a clove of garlic, or even a teaspoon of minced. The intensity of fresh garlic varies.

[FriedClamFanatic]

yes, the penzeys i use is the granulated type that requires reconsitution

[Bacardi1]

Actually, if you're using granulated garlic, there's absolutely no need to reconstitute it. It's just sprinkled on.

It's the minced garlic that requires reconstituting before use.

[fldhkybnva]

Yea, I use it as is. Do you have a preference for minced vs powder (that is, if not using fresh)?

[Bacardi1]

I don't use minced or powdeedr - I use "granulated". Where powdered has the consistency of flour, granulated is more like grains of table salt. It measures & sprinkles easily & evenly without clumping

[FriedClamFanatic]

my mistake.....whatever it is i use it requires soaking

[Perilagu Khan]

Probably just shy of one bulb per week.

[sandylc]

I use quite a lot of onions, but rarely raw. Always well-cooked. Modest with the garlic, as I mentioned above, because it is SO strong to me. Plus, since hubby got his CPAP, he has an odd change - his tastebuds have woken up big time and he appears to be REALLY tasting food for the first time in his life. It's like he's experiencing some flavors fully that he didn't before, and I have to take things easy and cook more simply until he's back on track - hopefully soon - it's been about a year and a half now. Very strange.

[lcool]

4 or 5 large bulbs weekly average and a lot of onions

[fldhkybnva]

OK, I don't feel so bad about my 6-7 bulbs per week habit :)

[Chemicalkinetics]

I am sure most of the people replied use more than a few garlic. This is simply the nature of the question. Most non-garlic users won't reply, so I will be the outlier. I use about 1-2 clove per week. I am slow.

[Sooeygun]

Same here. I like garlic, but don't like it overpowering my other flavours, unless it is the main star of the dish.

[sandylc]

Yes.

[deet13]

Three maybe four cloves a day. Although whenever I harvest the garlic from the garden, we'll usually double the daily amount of garlic we eat.

[jw615]

Lately, not much - I'm chronically ill and have not been able to do much as we switch my meds around to try to make things better - which generally has the nice side effect of making me feel pretty crappy in the process.

Hoping to get back into mostly home cooking in the next few days. We probably go through a bulb or two of garlic a week, plus at least one 3lb. bag of onions, sometimes more, DH loves onions.

[vorpal]

As someone else who suffers from a severe chronic illness, who all too well understands the limitations it puts on the enjoyment of food (especially in my case - Crohn's), my heart goes out to you, and I hope you manage to find a combination of medications that work well and help you find remission soon.

As for us, because of my chronic illness and my PhD, cooking has been at an all-time low, but when I am cooking regularly, given that our main cuisines of choice are Thai and then, in a distant second place, Chinese, we consume loads of garlic: for two, probably about four bulbs a week, none of it roasted.

[FriedClamFanatic]

In our house, if you don't like garlic or onion..........you are likely to starve

[lcool]

You just might be a bit hungry here also.I roast onions,garlic and or potatoes in some way almost every time the oven is on long for savory.

[FriedClamFanatic]

Bless you my Child! May your home always be warm and your friends Sunny!

[lcool]

Why thank you,FriedClamFanatic and may your home be also graced!

Roasted onion on whole wheat toast with an egg on the side is my favorite breakfast,with left over rice or potatoes is a tie for #2

[escondido123]

I would say at least a couple heads a week, and I don't do roasted garlic.

[chefathome]

I use it in one form or another nearly daily. Sometimes many cloves a day (i.e. roasting); other days about three. So far this week I've used a couple of heads of the stuff. Both my husband and I absolutely adore it.

[DuchessNukem]

About a bulb per week. I work hands-on in a hospital; my husband works with white-glove clients; so I try to minimize Dragon Breath in cooking, but we love love love garlic. If I know we've got a few days clear it's ON.

[TeRReT]

Usually 1 clove a day, sometimes 2

[sandylc]

I LOVE garlic, but it is SO STRONG that I have to go easy on it. It can stay with me for a day or more.

[ipsedixit]

I probably eat on average about 6-8 cloves a day (and at least 1 raw clove a day). So in any given week, probably 6 big bulbs of garlic (probably being overly conservative, however).