for my first time. |
| Trader Joe's Sweet & Mild {fermented} Japanese Aomori Black Garlic |
On the back of the package, it reads, "Trader Joe's Black Garlic comes from a remote corner in northern Japan which is renowned for this sweet and mild delicacy. It's pure garlic with nothing added but with the bitter burn of raw garlic absent! Use it in sauces, dressings, as a condiment and wherever you might use fresh garlic but want a milder flavor."
I decided to try them anyway. These look like slightly burned garlic.
I peeled its skin and was surprised that it was way too black! I wondered how they could make it like that! Is that true that they didn't add anything to the garlic?
I checked the description of it again. Yes, its ingredients are only garlic!
When I opened the package, I immediately noticed the intense garlic aroma. It smelled like garlic and something sour. The taste of the black garlic was very different from raw garlic. The black garlic was sweet and sour similar to dried prune. It was very interesting!
After that, I googled Japanese Aomori Black Garlic in Japanese and found out about its efficacy on the Internet. According to Aomori Prefecture Black Garlic Association, the research team of Jinich Sasaki, who is a medical professor of Hirosaki University, has discovered the fact that consuming black garlic has the potential of curing cancer in 2006. They used 10 cancer mice for their research and administered 3mg of black garlic extract to five mice every two days three times. As the results, the cancer cells of two administered mice were gone completely, and the cancer cells of three administered mice were 40% reduced. In contrast, the cancer cells of five non-administered mice increased 20%. Furthermore, they also researched with raw garlic but it didn't work. Aomori Prefecture Black Garlic Association mentions that curing cancer mice doesn't mean curing cancer people though. However, it sounds like an incredibly amazing discover.
Personally, I don't completely believe its efficacy until it is proven by more medical research. Sometimes, it is very dangerous to rely on only folk remedy. It possibly delays initiation of the medical treatment and results in a low cure rate.
Anyway, I became interested in Japanese Aomori Black Garlic
since it has more efficacy. I'll write about it next time.UPDATED: Eventually, I successfully made black garlic at home. You can check out my entry, How I Make Black Garlic at Home. :) I also updated this video, How to Make Black Garlic, on my YouTube channel.
These are my entries you might like.
■Trader Joe's Japanese Aomori Black Garlic
■Japanese Aomori Black Garlic
■How to Make Black Garlic at Home
■How I Make Black Garlic at Home
This is my entries related to black garlic.
http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/search/label/black%20garlic
My entries related to Trader Joe's can be seen here.
http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/search/label/Trader%20Joe%27s
I just purchased this Japanese Aomori Garlic from Trader Joe's and was hoping to find a recipe for it, have you had any luck finding one anywhere? I know it's supposed to be an intricate thing with humidity etc. This is different from fermenting garlic in a mason jar I would think. I love the taste of this stuff, but since it came from Japan, I wonder if it's safe with the radiation over there.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.
DeleteThere are many recipes for black garlic on the Japanese cooking site, and I was thinking about trying some recipes. I'll share them on my blog some day.
I understand how you feel about products from Japan because of radiation problem. After reading your comment, I searched whether Aomori Black Garlic is safe. Japanese government closely monitors radiation level in any foods in Northren Japan. Some supermarkets, food factories, and local governments also monitors it for safety of foods as well. I found that the black garlic distributor also voluntarily checked their products for radioactivity, and they says that cesium and iodine were not detected in their garlics. The Aomori Prefecture also releases the measurement result for radioactive material. You can also see the result here.
http://monitoring-aomori.pref.aomori.lg.jp/eng/index.html
In addition, U.S. FDA mentioned about products from Japan on September 2013. They says, "To date, FDA has no evidence that radionuclides from the Fukushima incident are present in the U.S. food supply at levels that would pose a public health concern. This is true for both FDA-regulated food products imported from Japan and U.S. domestic food products, including seafood caught off the coast of the United States. Consequently, FDA is not advising consumers to alter their consumption of specific foods imported from Japan or domestically produced foods, including seafood. FDA continues to closely monitor the situation at and around the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility, as it has since the start of the incident and will coordinate with other Federal and state agencies as necessary, standing ready to take action if needed, to ensure the safety of food in the U.S. marketplace".
This is the source of its information, and you can find more of their information.
http://www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm247403.htm#new
ReplyDeleteI had purchased some of this stuff years ago since it looked interesting at my local Trader Joe's. Never ate it and set it in my cupboard for some time in the future. Today I was sneezing non stop and on the verge of getting a cold. Keep in my mind I'm an avid runner and weight lifter all while eating 5-6 meals a day. I started going through my cupboard for anything that I thought would help and found it again, It was expired for over a year... I ate it anyway since I figured it being fermented, it really couldn't go bad. My sneezing completely stopped immediately upon eating the first few bulbs... I was completely amazed. My runny nose stopped leaking in a matter of minute or so. This all happened a few hours ago. I now feel much better and feel as if my symptoms are fading although not entirely gone.
I immediately began doing research on this stuff and landed here as one of the many pages. I will follow up with how I feel tomorrow.
I was supposed to go to the gym sauna to sweat this out of system as I typically do when I encounter this. I missed that opportunity since it was an off day and the gym closed earlier than normal.
I learned this stuff can be made by using a crockpot and cooking garlic at 140-150 degrees Farenheit for 30-40 days...
Boy am I glad I had this stuff....more info soon as I am sure to follow up
Thank you for your comment.
DeleteWow! You ate a lot of black garlic at a time. :) According to Aomori Prefecture Black Garlic Association, black garlic has many health benefits such as antibacterial effect. I'm glad that it really worked for you. :) By the way, I also wrote about how to cook black garlic on my blog. If you are interested in it, you can check out here. http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-make-black-garlic.html
Thanks again!
If you are worried about radiation get a Geiger counter. Never rely on outside sources for safety. The whole system top down is corrupt.
ReplyDelete