A Cheer for...Frozen Garlic!
Frozen garlic cubes...it's a gem!
Last night I made a tasty pasta with some Japanese scallops that were sauteed in salt, pepper, and cute little cubes of frozen crushed garlic. I love the taste of fresh garlic, and I think that a little bit of garlic takes so many dishes to another level. I always have fresh bulbs of garlic and my garlic press at hand...although I'll admit that lately I've become fond of these frozen cubes (and not cleaning my garlic press!)
I will say right away that I'm not a fan of jarred crushed garlic. The first spoonful might taste fresh, but once that jar sits in the fridge for a couple of days, every remaining spoonful tastes stale. Fresh garlic is fabulous, but stale garlic will drag your dish down with it. For that same reason, I'm not a big fan of garlic powders and such—they all taste kind of artificial and stale to me. My neighbor came over last week to borrow some garlic powder—I cut my tray of frozen crushed garlic in half and sent him home with it. I haven't gotten a report back from him, but I'm hoping I converted him from garlic powder.
The frozen garlic cubes taste fresh and are so convenient to pop out of the little trays. Each cube also happens to be a measured teaspoon - handy if you're sticking to a recipe. If I'm sauteing something, I will toss the cubes in still frozen - they take a minute to thaw in the pan, so they're less likely to scorch or brown (burned garlic = bitter garlic). Check your frozen section - you might find the other varieties as well: frozen basil cubes and frozen cilantro cubes. I highly recommend you give the garlic cubes a try.
Yay for garlic! I usually cook with fresh garlic, because it's cheap and more environmentally friendly. As with many trader joes products, the produce a lot of packaging once the food is used. I find it pretty wasteful.
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I LOVE this garlic too---and always reccommend my cooking students use it as a short cut. LOVE your blog---it is great! I just wrote a blog entry about "Why I love Trader Joe's"----who doesn't????
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Tracy, just have to agree with all the reasons you listed for loving TJ's on your blog. I also saw some delicious-sounding recipes of yours I'm going to try!
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I was not aware this product was available. I usually use fresh garlic stored in a "garlic jar" but it gets dried out quickly. Can't wait to try the garlic cubes!
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First time to hear of frozen garlic. Might as well try this.
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Where can i buy frozen garlic cubes from
they use to sell them in my local Sainsburys but they dont now
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Sainsbury's has decided to relist the Dorot product line to all the original stores as of 8th of November.
You will be able to find our products there and also in some of the Booth's stores (only the large stores)
Please let me know if you can't find the products then.
Best regards,
Tal Tal-Or
VP International Marketing
Dorot garlic and Herbs
tal@dorot.com
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Great products, amazing concept
Keep un the good work, Dorot and Trader Joe's
I heard they also have an amazing new product - Red Chilli
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WOw this is much cool. Great products.. NIce thing.
You can buy green laser pointers online here.
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I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful cookbook which I just saw in borders and plan on picking up tomorrow. I am sure it will be my new "fav" cookbook. My current favorite book is "The Hungry Girl" cookbook and wondered if you might consider including the nutritional information as well as substitutes and maybe WW points?
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My favorite garlic, don't miss it.
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Thank you so much!
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Frozen garlic rules
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I love Frozen garlic, I use it for years
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Thats true! Frozen garlic rocks
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I want to just say you thanks for Informative post!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thanks For informative Post!!!!!!!!!!
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I like your way of presenting your ideas and making your points be understood by newbie’s I am. Thank you for taking the time out to write great articles such as this. It is always a pleasure to visit your blog.
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Thanks for posting!
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This looks great!! I am a fan of fresh garlic, It makes your meal awesome.. Thanks for post, Loved your writing ability!!
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I'll have to check out frozen garlic. Would be nice to always have it readily available in case we run out of fresh.
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Very interesting article. Content has been written in very nice manner. I enjoy reading this kind of stuff. Thanks for sharing good knowledge.
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Imagine putting those in a drink instead of ice cubes... gross!
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Garlic can be frozen either as seperate cloves or as a complete head. It can be successfully defrosted and used in cooking. Unfortunately the flavour will never be as good as it was originally. The garlic simply isn't as potent and sometimes the texture deteriorates as well. Arguably it's not worth using.
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Hi Laura,
We're actually talking about a product which is cubes of frozen crushed garlic. It's as flavorful and potent as fresh garlic and a convenient way to use it in recipes since it's premeasured and crushed.
Regarding your comment, whole cloves can be frozen for up to 3 months...the flavor is typically not affected but the color will change slightly. I don't personally do this since I find the crushed cubes much more convenient.
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