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Black Garlic: How to Make it at Home
Take a quick black garlic internet tour and it is quickly clear. A lot of people are talking about black garlic and much of the information is conflicting. But one thing everyone agrees on: the flavor is nearly indescribable and the culinary possibilities endless. Descriptions include tastes of dark caramel, chocolate, hints of balsamic vinegar, molasses, fruity aroma, and hints of vanilla. No surprise black garlic is the new wonder ingredient for high-end chefs and cooking shows. Learn how to make black garlic at home. It is easy with a Folding Proofer.
Black garlic is NOT fermented
The black color results from a common chemical reaction involving sugars called the Maillard process. This is what causes browning in many foods such as sauteed onions, seared steak, toast, pretzels, and even roasted coffee beans. The reaction produces hundreds of flavor-making compounds giving black garlic its unique taste. Fermentation is unrelated to black garlic.
Black garlic is easy to make
There is no mystery to the creation of black garlic. Just moderate heat and time will convert a fresh head of garlic into this creamy black concoction. Maintaining garlic at 140 °F / 60 °C for about 4 weeks (while ensuring that the garlic does not dry out) will produce excellent results. Think of it as a extra long and slow roasting process. The Folding Proofer provides the ideal environment for making black garlic.
Find out what all the buzz is about with our simple directions below:
Black garlic is more (and less) than you think.
Yield: Varies with pot size.
Timing: 15 minutes set up and 3 to 4 weeks in the Proofer.
Instructions:
Ingredients: Garlic bulbs
Equipment: Brød & Taylor Folding Proofer & Slow Cooker, metal pot with snug lid
Determine how many bulbs will fit into your metal pot. The pot should be paired with its original fitted lid or one that is snug. The Proofer will easily hold a 6 quart / 6 L stock pot. As garlic ages in the Proofer there is a noticeable aroma of garlic emitted. The greater the number of bulbs you age, the more intense the aroma. One solution to reducing the garlic smell is to wrap the entire pot and lid on the outside thoroughly and tightly with heavy aluminum foil before placing it in the Proofer. Just make sure the bottom of the pot fully contacts the aluminum heater plate in the proofer.
Prepare garlic bulbs: If necessary, clip any long roots off the bulb. If the stalk on the bulb is long, trim it to about ½ inch. If the outer papery skin of the bulb has soil or debris, remove just enough to expose clean skin.
Note: Trying to clean after you’ve made black garlic is difficult because each interior clove will become very soft and they can be smashed with handling. Garlic purchased in most grocery stores is ready to wrap with foil. Select fresh and firm bulbs for best results.
Wrap in foil: Cover each bulb with a generous sheet of aluminum foil. Press the foil tightly against the bulb to ensure it is completely wrapped with no exposed surfaces. If there is a tear in the foil, use another piece to cover the tear. This will prevent the bulb from drying out by retaining the bulbs’ natural moisture.
Transfer to pot: Place all of the foil wrapped bulbs inside the pot and place the lid on the pot.
Prepare Proofer: Set the Folding Proofer on a surface which will tolerate about 140 °F / 60 °C temperatures. Natural wood surfaces such as butcher block can expand and contract with fluctuations in heat. Marble, granite, ceramic tile, concrete, or plastic composite (such as Formica) countertops work well. Remove the water tray and wire rack from the bottom of the Proofer. Place the lidded pot containing the bulbs directly in the center of the Proofer and on the metal surface in the base of the Proofer. Close the lid of the Proofer. Select Slow Cook Mode, using no rack or water tray. Set the Proofer to 140 °F / 60 °C and allow it to remain on for 3-4 weeks.
Note: To use the original Folding Proofer Model FP-101 or FP-201, set the Proofer to 102 °F / 39 °C and allow it to remain on for 3-4 weeks. At a setting of 102 °F / 39 °C, the aluminum heating plate reaches 140 °F / 60 °C .
Check garlic: After 3 weeks remove one bulb from the pot and gently peel back the aluminum. Using a small knife, separate one clove and peel it open to expose the interior. It should be a very dark brown or black in color. If the bulb is not dark enough, place it back in the Proofer and allow it to remain in the Proofer for approximately 1 more week.
Storage: To store black garlic, the bulbs can be separated into individual cloves, left in their skins, wrapped in air tight plastic bags, and stored in the freezer for at least 1 year.
How to use: Black garlic has a soft, slightly sticky, intensely sweet and savory very rich flavor which is quite different from normal fresh garlic. It can be used in lamb, beef, poultry, seafood, pizzas, pastas, risottos, aioli, eggs, and even dessert dishes. One simple option is to make a delicious flavored butter that will elevate any dish.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is Black Garlic fermented?
No, black garlic is not fermented.
Why is black garlic black?
The black color results from a common chemical reaction involving sugars called the Maillard process. This is what causes browning in many foods such as sauteed onions, seared steak, toast, pretzels, and even roasted coffee beans. The reaction produces hundreds of flavor-making compounds giving black garlic its unique taste. Fermentation is the result of bacterial action and unrelated to black garlic.
What does black garlic taste like?
Black garlic has a chewy texture with a sweet, savory flavor and a mix of subtle flavors including molasses, licorice and dates.
After setting the Folding Proofer at 102F / 39C and checking the garlic at 3 weeks the garlic temperature reads 115F / 46C. Why is my metal pot not warm enough inside?
The pot should be wrapped in foil to seal tightly and placed directly on the aluminum heating base plate of the Proofer. Be certain you removed both the metal water tray and the wire rack. If the pot is not resting directly on the metal base of the Proofer the temperature will not reach 140F / 60C.Note: The newer model Folding Proofer & Slow Cooker should be set on Proofer Mode at 140F / 60C
I need to use my Folding Proofer for another task. Is it OK to stop the Maillard process for a few hours and continue later?
Ideally the Proofer should be left undisturbed for 3-4 weeks. Home kitchens are not equipped with an oven which can hold 140F / 60C for an extended length of time. Home “proofing drawers or ovens” often are 200F/ 93C which is too warm to make black garlic.
How should I store black garlic?
Black Garlic can be stored for up to 3 weeks at room temperature. It can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months and wrapped in air tight containers to store in the freezer for 1 year.
Black Garlic & Orange Glazed Salmon
Ingredients
2-4 Salmon Fillets
1 clove Black Garlic
4T Balsamic Vinegar
1/8 tsp Red Pepper
2 tsp Honey
2 tsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Ghee
1 sprig Rosemary
4T Orange Juice
Salt & Pepper-to season fillets
Instructions
Season salmon with salt and pepper to taste. Heat olive oil in skillet, add remaining ingredients to skillet except ghee and cook until slightly thickened. Remove rosemary and whisk in ghee. Bake salmon for about 10-15 min at 350 °F / 175 °C and pour glaze over salmon before serving.
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36 comments
Great article. I like the method. I should point out, however, that fermentation is not usually due to bacteria in cooking, but fungi. Specifically, yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. While some fermentations can be done with bacteria, they are usually quite bespoke processes such as sour dough and salt raising breads.
Matt, Thank you for your feedback on this article. We just updated the article and appreciate your comment. All the best to you.
Hi iam from Bali 39° C for 4 weeks? So the oven on until 4 weeks?
Yes, the Folding Proofer Model 101 or 201 is set to 39C for 4 weeks. If you have the Folding Proofer & Slow Cooker Model 105 or 205 you would set the Proofer to Slow Cook Mode at 60C. Be sure you have removed the rack and follow the instructions online. Thank you for your interest and good luck making black garlic. It is delicious.
This sounds delicious, and we love garlic so I’d like to make it. Does this mean the proofer would be out of commission for any other use during the 3-4 weeks? Or can the pot be removed and placed in an oven or on low on the stove top?
Jeanne Great question. It is probably fine to remove the garlic container from the proofer for a few hours and keep it in a warm place. We would suggest that letting it get a bit cooler for a few hours would be better than overheating it. Be careful using the oven. Low temperature control in a conventional oven is typically very poor.
Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.
I’m not sure where you get the assumption that black garlic is not fermented from Yes clearly the darkening and sweeting effects are due to the Malliard effect but these two effecets are not mutually exclusive. I have produced Black Garlic using a yoghurt maker set to 41 degrees that I use for making probiotoc yoghurt with thermophilic cultures The yoghurt takes between 7-9 hours depending on the tangyness I am after, which I vary slightly between the thickened yoghurts i have made, the labna style yoghurt cheeses, the drinking yoghurts and plain yoghurts. The black garlic took six weeks, i see no reason to believe that it that this temperature and with high humidity, fermentation with wild yeasts would not have occured I have also made black garlic in a slow cooker, using a wet bed of straw at the base and sides to stop direct contact with heated surfaces, and foil wrap to stabilise moisture. The temperature here was around 60 degrees which is obviously specifically chosen to be high enough enough to kill off most bacteria and yeast, so in this case I see your point. I first encountered Black Garlic back in the 80s when friends made it in a earthen crock buried in a hot compost heap. which would have been somewhere between 40 and 60 degrees, generally not too hot to kill off microbial activity. This is how I understand it was done traditionally. Basically I guess I am saying that I am not clear why you make this determination, certainly any scientific articles I have read refer to it as fermentation, perhaps the most comprehensive being https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1021949816301727 Please do let me know if you have a source for this claim
Dave Thanks for your comments and link to an interesting article. We are not biochemists, but from our readings still understand that the technique we recommend for making black garlic at 60C does not involve any bacterial or yeast processes. It is a thermal Maillard reaction. A careful reading of the article you mention, and several of the references, reveals several points. First, the authors clearly are not being careful with the use of the term “fermentation”. While they use this term repeatedly in the introductory paragraphs, they then describe a thermal process involving the Maillard reaction. Perhaps this is a language issue. One of the references: The Comparison of the Contents of Sugar, Amadori, and Heyns Compounds in Fresh and Black Garlic, also describes an analysis of the Maillard reaction with regard to sugars in the black garlic. I think the confusion is because it is possible to specifically create “yeast-fermented aged black garlic”. This may involve fermenting black garlic after it is produced by the thermal Maillard process, or possibly by aging black garlic at very low temperatures (~40C) that are compatible with yeast reproduction – but this would likely take a very long time as you mention. The 60C process that we recommend, and seems to be used widely be others making black garlic at home or professionally, is to our understanding, completely thermal and not biological.
I quite appreciate the company’s staff thorough and thoughtful responses. Just wanted to stop by and say that. Your social media folks deserve a raise and honestly the responsiveness I’ve read to comments pushed me over the edge to buy the cooker. Keep on keeping on.
I grow my own hard-neck garlic, put 10 bulbs in a simple rice cooker for 3 weeks, turned lovely black, soft, deep taste. We then made the black garlic orange sauce recipe and glazed baked salmon. 5 stars! Still have some of the taste in our mouths an hour later. We find totally conflicting recommendations on storage of black garlic from do not peel and refrigerate to peel all and put in paper bag inside hermetically sealed plastic bag. Haven’t seen anything on web (02/11/2018) that seems definitive about storing balck garlic.
Thomas, Thank you for contacting us. We are delighted you were pleased with the recipe. It is a customer favorite. As far as storage, we first carefully separate & peel the bulb sections after they are black, next lay them on a sheet pan to freeze. After about 12 hours we divide the pieces into a quantities suitable for recipes, place each group in a vacuum-seal bag and vacuum seal them before freezing. We have had frozen black garlic for 6 months this way with great success. We do not have another tried and tested method to recommend at this time but if we do in the future we will be certain to post the results. All the best to you.
Just tried my first cloves of black garlic. The package said it was processed for 120 days. This is far greater than what many articles are stating. Any idea why so much difference in time? The taste/flavor was incredible. Instant addiction..This is very expensive to buy retail…So do want to make this my self. Some reviews of the NEX black garlic cooker say the flavor has burnt taste.. cant determine if that is just personal pallet subjection.. and most people use that for an 8 to 12 day time per batch.. So.. huge difference between 12 days, 4 weeks and 120 days.. YIKES.
Cranberry, Without further information on the product you tried we can not comment. “Processed” could include any or all of the following: acquiring garlic from a farm, cleaning the bulbs, preparing for and leaving them in the warm temperature chamber, separating bulbs into individual cloves, boxing and sending them to distributors, etc. As far as the black garlic made in less than 12 days, the cloves may have been in a chamber at a higher than ideal temperature to blacken the garlic. This could and likely would certainly result in burnt or off-flavors. Our black garlic experiments revealed the shortest time possible at an ideal temperature in our Proofer to be 4 weeks. There is no burnt taste. Our goal was to add another Proofer application which would avoid the very expensive retail cost of buying black garlic. We agree with you that black garlic is delicious!
Is there a fire risk/hazard by leaving the proofer on for 3 continuous weeks? I would love to try this but I am concerned about any potential risks.
No risk at all. The Proofer has been left running for months at a time to make special fermented foods with no problems. Just be certain it is resting on a firm counter with no other items covering any part of the Proofer. Thank you for your interest and enjoy.
Would this work in a dehydrator?
Yes, you can make black garlic in the dehydrator. Here is a link to a Joshua Weissman video where he used the Brod & Taylor folding dehydrator to make Black garlic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7An6nWb-PI
I added black garlic to ramen! It is Delicious.
Hi Gloria, What a great idea-we will have to try it!
I discovered black garlic about a year ago at Costco. I’m absolutely over the top about it! It’s the most savory food I know of… truly remarkable! Mahalo for a superb article. I keep turning people onto black garlic, but most are reluctant to try it for whatever reason. Oh, well…
Is the pot open or covered?
Ellen – The pot should remain covered
I freeze garlic for storage. When it is time to use it, often a month or so after I have packaged and frozen it , when I use the garlic press, the garlic often comes out black. I haven’t heated it. Can the Malliard effect occur in the freezer too??
Great post! I found your insights really valuable and thought-provoking.
Ajay – Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment!
Made this recipe and it turned out well. My main complaint is the smell. I wonder if sealed Sous vide bags would work and prevent the awful smell. My question to B&T is how do I get the bread proofer clean to get rid of the smell?
Esteban – We’re glad it worked well for you! Unfortunately, the smell is an unpleasant consequence of the process. You can try placing the foil-wrapped garlic in a sealed sous vide bag, which is then placed inside a pot in the Proofer. We have not done this ourselves, so we cannot comment on how effective it is in reducing the odor, but in theory, it should help some. As for the smell in the Proofer, we have made black garlic many times and have never had an issue with a lingering odor. Any odor you first notice when the black garlic is complete should dissipate within a day or two. If you want to clean the Proofer, wipe the side and metal base plate with a damp cloth moistened with a mild detergent solution.
Hello again. After peeling all the garlic bulbs I found that the process was quite uneven: About one third of the cloves were black and seemed somewhat dry. Another third were dark brown (the color of dry dates), and the other third was light brown (the color of golden raisins). All the bulbs were of the same size. I guess that the ones in the bottom of the pot got hotter than the ones in the top. Should I try to turn the brown ones into black cloves by wrapping them in foil and putting back at 140F for a week or so? Or should I just use them as raw garlic? Maybe you should advise in your recipe to mix the foil balls every week? Thanks.
Esteban – We have yet to have this problem, but perhaps you are doing a larger batch than we have. Was the pot was full of garlic? If the garlic is stacked high, we recommend rotating it halfway through the process. The cloves at the top could be just a few degrees cooler and, therefore, may possibly take more time to finish. You can rewrap the bulbs that are lighter in color and put them back in to finish or use them as is. Just make sure to wrap them very well so they do not dry out. We will update our instructions to include this recommendation.
Can garlic be soaked in jar filled with vinegar then set out in sun. How long would that take
Leslie – You would not be able to make black garlic that way. If you are attempting to make pickled garlic or garlic vinegar, you may be able to achieve it with that method, but we would not recommend leaving it out in the sun. Refrigeration or room temperature would be best, but we do not have a recipe that we can provide.
Hi I am so blown away I’ve been buying black garlic for two years BUT I had no idea I would be able to make myself NEVER it’s so easy I love the black garlic so much you are so right the taste is so delicious the smell is my favorite I just got my home and my proffer so I will be saving lots of money making my own THANK YOU SO MUCH
Suzanne – Thank you so much for sharing your experience! We’re thrilled that you’re as excited about making your own black garlic as we are. We’re delighted that our products will help you enjoy the satisfaction of creating something at home that you once thought was impossible.
Is there not a concern that the garlic will absorb aluminum from the foil?
Lisa – While the risk of garlic absorbing aluminum from foil is considered minimal in most cases, some individuals prefer to take extra precautions to avoid any potential exposure. If this is a concern for you, you can use parchment paper as a protective barrier between the garlic and the foil. Simply wrap the garlic in parchment paper first and then cover it with foil to seal it tightly.