I write something on my blog to improve my English skill.
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If you would like to try black garlic, now you can probably find ones at your local Trader Joe's. If you don't have Trader Joe's nearby your home, you can make ones on your own at home. You can also check out my blog entry, How I Make Black Garlic at Home, and this is the video I uploaded yesterday.
According to Aomori Prefecture Black Garlic Association, black garlic has antibacterial
effect, cancer inhibition, cholesterol suppression, preventing blood
clots, hypoglycemic effect, and so on. As I mentioned in my previous entry, I purchased Japanese Aomori Black Garlic at Trader Joe's for my first time in 2013. However, I have not been able to find ones at the store these years, so I always wanted to make ones at home. I know that some Japanese people make black garlic at home, and it's actually very easy. However, all people who have made black garlic mention that it's impossible to make black garlic inside home because the garlic releases very strong smell during fermentation. The strong smell might bother your neighbors. Because I am living in a small apartment, I tried to find the way not to linger the stench our home, and eventually I was able to make black garlic without bothering my neighbors(I think!). Anyway, I'm finally going to share with you how to make black garlic. :)
What You'll Need A Rice Cooker (I used my Zojirushi 5.5 cup rice cooker.) Heads of Garlic (I used 21 heads of garlic purchased from Costco.) Paper Towel
I uploaded this video, How to Make Black Garlic, on my YouTube channel. :)
1. Place paper towel in the bottom of rice cooker bowl. Then put all heads of garlic in it. Place paper towel on top. Then, cover the lid. (Paper towel helps prevent garlic from being burned, and it absorbs excess water to get the best result.)
2. Place rice cooker outside, and set a fan toward the rice cooker steam vent. During fermentation, the garlic release strong garlic smell especially for the first 5 days. The fan works great to blow away the stench.
3. Press the Keep Warm button. Leave it for 14 days.
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
On the 10th day, I decided to check if it had turned black. The garlic was almost black. It's very dark brown. It's still very soft and a little juicy. The taste was just like black garlic though. I decided to keep garlic warm in the rice cooker for four more days.
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
4. On the 14th day, take out all garlic from the rice cooker.
Day 14
5. Dry them in shade outside for 6 hours. Then, dry them inside for several days.
6. Enjoy!
It's super black! It actually tasted much better than ones I ate on the 10th day.
How to Store Black Garlic
You can keep black garlic at room temperature for 30 days.
If you store them in air-tight containers in a fridge, you can keep them fresh for up to 6 months. Make sure to place paper towel in it to keep black garlic fresh longer. It absorbs excess moisture from the garlic. :)
As you can see the photo below, the garlic skins turned into light beige from white. I peeled its skins.
Making Black Garlic - Day 10
Yay! The garlic turned into black! (or super dark brown?) :)
Making Black Garlic - Day 10
It tasted like Trader Joe's Black Garlic. :) It was slightly sweet and sour similar to dried prune. It was a little soft, so I thought it still needed to be dried for a while. I will keep them warm in my rice cooker for 4 days more.
If truth be told I've been trying to make black garlic with my rice cooker since last week. It takes about 2 weeks to turn the garlic into black, so I cannot use my rice cooker now. I can cook rice with a pot though. ;) You don't always need a rice cooker to make steamed rice.
Making Black Garlic - Day 1
Now, it's day 8. The garlic still looks same though.
Making Black Garlic - Day 8
This is the photo of Trader Joe's Black Garlic. I think they don't sell ones anymore. As I mentioned in my previous entry, black garlic has so many health benefits. I hope my garlic will turn out like this. :)
After I discovered that Trader Joe's is selling Japanese Aomori Black Garlic, I sometimes buy one and eat one to two cloves of garlic a day. It's because as I mentioned in my previous entries, black garlic has many health benefits. (My previous entries are here and here.)
Trader Joe's Sweet & Mild {fermented} Japanese Aomori Black Garlic
Trader Joe's Sweet & Mild {fermented} Japanese Aomori Black Garlic
After searching about black garlic through Internet, I found out that some Japanese people make their own homemade black garlic. The way to make black garlic is simple, but I won't make it because strong smell of garlic will fill in your home while making it. That's why some people make it outside of the house. If you live in an apartment and plan on making black garlic, you should think twice. The strong smell might bother your neighbors. I'm living in a small apartment, so there is no way I could make it without any trouble. :(
If you want to make black garlic, you need to have a rice cooker. Many people suggest using old rice cooker because the strong smell of garlic lingers your rice cooker forever. You may not want to use it for cooking rice anymore after making black garlic. I'm going to share with you how people make black garlic at home. I've referred the recipe from here and here.
1. Place makisu, which is made of bamboo, or paper towel, in the inner cooking pan.
2. Put garlic into it and close the lid of rice cooker.
3. Push "Keep Warm" button, and keep the garlic warm with the rice cooker for 10 to 14 days.
4. Get out the garlic from rice cooker, and place them in dry area at normal room temperature for 10 to 14 days.
5. Enjoy.
This Youtuber shares how to make black garlic at home in this video below.
How to Make Black Garlic
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.
As I mentioned in my previous entry, I bought Trader Joe's Japanese Aomori Black Garlic, and I found out that black garlic has health benefit by researching through the Internet. According to Aomori Prefecture Black Garlic Association, garlic is beneficial to health; for instance, it has antibacterial effect, cancer inhibition, cholesterol suppression, preventing blood clots, hypoglycemic effect, and so on.
Trader Joe's Sweet & Mild {fermented} Japanese Aomori Black Garlic
How much should you eat?
Aomori Black Garlic Association suggests eating 1 to 2 cloves of garlic a day because consuming a large quantity of garlic doesn't mean increasing efficacy. Therefore, this Trader Joe's Black Garlic, which contains two to three bulbs, should be about for two weeks a person.
Trader Joe's Sweet & Mild {fermented} Japanese Aomori Black Garlic
How does garlic turn into black?
They let fresh garlic sit in high heat and humid environment for 3 to 4 weeks. As a results, it turns out ripe and fermented. Black Garlic is made of only garlic, and it is free from additive. I also found out the fact through Internet that some Japanese people make homemade black garlic because black garlic in Japan is selling at about $5 each glove, which is much more expensive than the one at Trader Joe's in the U.S. Japanese people make black garlic with using rice cooker, and it seems very easy. I will write about it next 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.
Today, my husband and I went to Trader Joe's to purchase some grocery. These days, we have periodically gone there to purchase a gallon of organic milk because I think their organic milk is always the cheapest price. :)
Before going to Trader Joe's, I went to Kohls and suddenly started having a cough badly again. I don't know why but I think that it's because of the pollution due to too many customers and the dryness of the air inside the store which irritated my bronchi. I was little worried about if it would continue for a month just as same as it did previously. :((
However, my cough stopped at Trader Joe's somehow. Today, they were providing free samples of hot chai tea with using Salted Caramel Chai Tea Late Mix. It was sweet and delicious. As soon as I tried their chai tea, I was able to stop coughing! I decided to purchase it without a second thought. :) If I have a cough again, I will try it next time!
Trader Joe's Salted Caramel Chai Tea Late Mix $3.99
We found Sweet & Mild Japaneses Aomori Black Garlic, which was displayed in the ethic food aisle.
for my first time.
