Cooking with Garlic

Garlic is undoubtedly one of the most beloved cooking ingredients of all time. In fact, it is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world. If you regularly cook at home, having dehydrated garlic around is essential. Not only is it a wonderful flavoring agent, but this garlic doesn’t spoil. Even better, using dehydrated garlic saves time by eliminating peeling and saves your hands from smelling all day long. Here are our best tips for cooking with dehydrated garlic.

Sweet, spicy, bitter, aromatic, and warming. These are just a few of the adjectives that describe the flavor of garlic - depending on how it’s prepared. Freshly minced, garlic has a pungent heat that can be used to give a dip or dressing the kick it was missing. A just-roasted bulb of garlic, sweet and warm, provides the perfect accompaniment to a buttery wedge of Brie. Mostly though, garlic is used as a layering flavor to build depth in a variety of dishes from stews to marinades to curries. Like salt or acid, it’s easy to notice a bland taste when something is “missing” from a dish and, often, that something is garlic.

Here are some of our favorite ways to spice up dishes with dehydrated garlic:

• Minced Garlic: Perfect for slow-cooked dishes, like roasts or stews, dehydrated minced garlic will soften and mellow with longer cooking times.

• Granulated Garlic: This is a great building block for creating balanced flavors. This quality makes granulated garlic a great substitute for salt, especially if you’re watching your sodium intake. Simply replace 1/2 teaspoon of salt with 1/8 teaspoon of dehydrated granulated garlic.

• Garlic Salt: The combination of pungent granulated garlic and sweet roasted garlic is the secret ingredient that creates the perfect garlic flavor in this salt blend. Layering these two different garlics makes a noticeable difference and it’s why people get hooked on our Garlic Salt.

• Garlic Powder: There is no need to rehydrate powdered garlic. About 1/8 tsp. is equal to 1 average size clove and is a fabulous, easy substitution in the kitchen.

• Roasted Granulated Garlic: The roasting process adds an incomparable depth of sweet toasted flavor to granulated garlic. Try adding it to a homemade vinaigrette or tomato sauce for pizza and pasta.

• Black Garlic: When garlic is fermented it turns a rich black color and changes flavor and texture. The flavor and aroma of garlic that we expect is diminished, but in its place is a rich umami flavor that finishes with the sweetness of figs and the subtle undertones of garlic. Try in meatballs, dip, or pureed with oil into a rub for chicken or fish.

We also have a number of garlic-heavy spice blends. For example, Hidden Cove Lemon Garlic Blend has quickly becomes a go-to favorite for customers who appreciate the bright burst of flavor from lemon and ginger. Santa Maria Sea Salted BBQ Rub highlights the depth of flavor you can achieve with a combination of two types of garlic. The coarse salt and minced garlic forms a nice crust for grilling, while the granulated garlic, black pepper, and parsley build flavor.

Onion and garlic are a classic combination and form the base for many seasonings, not the least of which are barbeque blends. From our Native Texan BBQ Rub to TSM Kansas City BBQ Rub and Memphis BBQ Rub, the combination of onion and garlic create a flavor foundation that can carry everything from paprika to cayenne and coriander to cumin.

Show us your kitchen creations made with dehydrated garlic on social media using #savoryspiceshop!