Recently Nate’s lab at Stanford went on a team building trip with Parties That Cook. They went on a special tour of the Ferry Building, including a behind the scenes look at Acme Bread. The day ended with a cooking class and then they got to eat all the amazing food they cooked. I was SO jealous all day, knowing what Nate was up to without me! He did bring home some yummy goodies to try to make me feel better. It kind of worked. He also came home with a great kitchen tip!
The chef who taught the cooking class said that he breaks up his garlic bulbs as soon as he buys them. It helps the garlic keep fresh longer by airing it out and reducing the chance of moisture getting between the cloves. Basically, it will take longer for the cloves to turn green (green cloves = bitter garlic).
I’m really excited about this tip…I HATE cracking open garlic cloves only to find they’ve turned green. Hopefully that will happen less often now!
Hi! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and count on you to share yours! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
What a great idea! I have a bag of 6 heads (bulbs) that my mom bought me recenly. I’m going right now to break them up! Thanks, Becky
That makes sense. I do the same thing with bananas. I’ve heard they ripen faster when you leave the bunch together.
Hmmm. I am sure the chef knew what he was talking about. So I will try it! I don’t go through garlic that quickly so I wonder if mine will dry out too much.
wow, becky, 6?! I see a lot of italian cooking in your future. 🙂
becca – that’s very interesting to hear – and I’m sure there’s something to that. I’m going to start breaking my bananas up, too!
jess – I think they won’t dry out, and you’d be better off breaking them up if you don’t use it that often, otherwise for sure they’ll start to sprout the green shoots. but I think I might do a bit of research to see if they dry out quickly…but my guess is that’s probably not an issue. 🙂
Great tip!
Is this just for humid climates?
the chef didn’t specify. we live in a place that is neither especially dry nor especially humid. it probably is more helpful in a wetter climate, but I really can’t say and I’ve done some research and can’t find any info. hope that’s helpful (probably not!)!
Thank you for the tip! I’m so tired of throwing away bad garlic.