Home-made black garlic

Black garlic is a type of fermented garlic used as a food ingredient. It is made by fermenting whole bulbs of garlic at high temperature, a process that results in black cloves. The taste is sweet and syrupy with hints of balsamic vinegar.

It is sourced by chefs as ingredients for high-end cuisines and in Korea and Asia, it is perceived as a health food that is high in antioxidants.

Since the process of making black garlic sounds sophisticated, I was really surprised when my friend gave me some home made black garlic!

I was stunned that it could be home made.

Anyway, I really liked her black garlic because her mum used Solo garlic (single clove garlic) which is extremely easy to peel and eat.

The taste was the same as the ones I had brought before too and it had some tones of sweetness in it too.

LaObamas Black garlic soda

I noticed this drink only because of the word Obama then when I got a closer look I realised it was black garlic.

As I have already tried black garlic before, the drink should taste nice as well because there is no garlic taste and it tastes sweet anyway.

It appears from their website they are mainly based in Hong Kong even though it saids it is Swiss Made.

I believe this product is not the only brand.

The soda was contained in a slim can with a neat black lid, but underneath the lid there is a normal ring pull.

I suppose if the drink cant be finished you can use the lid. 

After you have finished the contents you can use a can opener and remove the top part and then it can be used as a container with a lid.

The taste was really similar to extremely sour coke with hints of grilled flavouring and some faint garlic aftertaste.

Anyway I would love to know the recommended retail price of this and on their website they have Obama on one of their promotional posters!

http://www.laobamas.com/products

Fermented Black garlic experience - Black gold

After reading the article below, I have always wanted to try Black garlic. In the UK supermarket it sells for £1.50 as an item to enhance food flavouring, however in Singapore it is marketed as a health product, in Hong Kong it is sold at $55 (£4.63)  in the pharmacy.

 

I tried it purely because I like trying things and not for the health benefits.

The taste was really nice, it was soft, mushy and sweet, there was a twinge of sourness and there was an interesting feeling because of the pH levels. It also reminds me of roasted garlic.

The garlic odour and smell was still present in the fermented garlic.

The fermented process is similar to the thousand year egg which also has high pH levels. The pH on the garlic is stated to be 10.3. This chemical process breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats, which produces a variety of smaller flavorful compounds.

 

Welcome to a whole new world of flavor.

Introducing a simple food with a wonderfully complex flavor. Black garlic is sweet meets savory, a perfect mix of molasses-like richness and tangy garlic undertones. It has a tender, almost jelly-like texture with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency similar to a soft dried fruit. Hard to believe, but true. It’s as delicious as it is unique. (quoted from blackgarlic.com)

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/sainsburys-price-comparison/vegetables/black_garlic_garlic_bulb.html

Nissin: Black garlic oil tonkotsu flavour cup noodles

Finally tried the cup noodle version of the black garlic oil tonkotsu.

The soup is the same as the packet ones, however in the cup version there are dehydrated egg bits and pork.

The noodles do not taste as good as the packet ones because the texture is different, however the black garlic oil was fun putting it in the cup noodles and seeing the droplets disperse.

Nissin: Black garlic oil tonkotsu flavour series

Cup noodle version and packet version.

Nissin Black garlic oil tonkotsu instant noodles

Japanese noodles in pork broth are getting popular these days that Nissin noodles have produced their own too.
It keeps getting sold out, but I finally managed to get a pack.
The black garlic oil is not as black as the product picture.
Overall it tasted quite nice, not as oily and sticky as the ones at the noodles bars.