Comments on: Monster Garlic — a tale of Kitchen disaster!

By: Paul Moses

Paul Moses — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:46:15 +0000

I’ve purchased the colossal garlic before. I picked fresh heads and they looked tight. But, they lack flavor and even raw, taste bitter to me. I have never used it since. But I may buy some to keep Vampires out of my kitchen!

By: Dana Harris

Dana Harris — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:07:30 +0000

The green sprout means you have older garlic — neither ideal nor deadly. I remove the sprout if I plan to use the garlic raw; uncooked, the green bit can be a little bitter. Cooked, it doesn’t matter.

By: MaxMillion

MaxMillion — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:19:36 +0000

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and suggestions.

I’m gonna make some pesto today!

BTW — does everyone remove the germ (the green shoot) in normal garlic when cooking? I learned to do that when in Paris (the French believe in doing this) but I cannot find out why it’s a good idea. I think I was told you’ll burp less after your meal with the centre piece removed.

Does anyone have any hard facts (or even rumour!) about this practice?

By: Skorgirl

Skorgirl — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:43:31 +0000

Ack! Sorry to hear about the garlic catastrophe. I’ve also been lured by that same garlic from trader joe. I put them on the grill, also drizzled with a bit of oil and salt and with some skin removed from the top. There was no explosion but I was surprised by the complete lack of garlicky flavor. It had the quality of roasted garlic but almost undetectable flavor. With that said, maybe it would be better in recipes that call for raw garlic, like pesto?

By: jacqueline f

jacqueline f — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:57:51 +0000

i’ve used it. it seems fresh, with no green sprout. very juicy and fun to slice super thinly.

By: Shashi

Shashi — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 00:36:45 +0000

Ah, garlic tragedies. Every family suffers from at least one terrrible garlic mishap. Dr. Alice’s suggestions are sound. Perhaps best to wear a shark-suit next time. And goggles.

By: Dr. Alice

Dr. Alice — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:15:23 +0000

Exploding garlic… that’s a new one. I assume it happened because the cloves were large enough that they built up a lot of pressure from the steam, as well as the tough-skin issue that you mentioned.

I believe elephant garlic is supposed to be considerably milder than regular garlic, which may be why the taste was so disappointing. You could use it in soups, stews, etc. the same as regular garlic, or put it in mashed potatoes if you like garlic mash. Or mince it and put it on pizza.

Other than that I can’t think of much. Good luck with your garlic.