Is Pre-Minced Garlic Ever Okay?
Having a tub of pre-minced garlic in the fridge seems like a smart move. If you need a hit of garlic and don’t have any, it’s there. Pop the lid, scoop some out, and throw it in your braise. But if you open the doors of our fridges (or step into the walk-in of our Test Kitchen), you won’t find pre-minced garlic anywhere. That’s because we don't think you should be using pre-minced garlic at all*.
This might sound like we’re on a high horse, preaching some gospel of food snobbery. We’re not. We’re serious about this. Allow us to explain.
The minute you slice, crush, grate, or chop garlic, the flavor starts to change. Garlic develops strong, bitter, sharp flavors when the cell walls of the bulb are broken. This is a defense mechanism, like deflecting a valid critique of your character by turning it into a joke. When this sharp flavor develops and then sits, it becomes more unpleasant, which is exactly what’s happening in that jar of minced garlic. The more it hangs around, the less it tastes like the sweet, spicy, assertive garlic we know and love.
Also, pre-minced garlic is actually not just garlic. These containers of garlic have added ingredients, like citric acid and phosphoric acid, to help stabilize the garlic as it sits on grocery store shelves. And, as another stabilization technique, most brands will pasteurize the garlic, heating it to kill any unwanted microorganisms. This sounds like a good thing in terms of food safety, but when it comes to fresh ingredients, we like ours to be alive. There’s more vibrance and flavor in a freshly peeled clove than there is in a pasteurized garlic cube.
Real talk: This supposed product of convenience isn’t really saving you much time at all. If you needed 3 cups of garlic for the largest batch of pasta sauce you’ve ever made, sure, we get it.
But really, we don’t mince garlic all that much after all. Chopped garlic is a pain in the ass. We co-sign techniques like smashing cloves with the flat side of a knife or grating garlic with a Microplane, both of which take very little time.
Grocery store minced garlic is a food product of convenience that is just not that convenient—and certainly not that tasty. At this very moment, pre-minced garlic is 0-2 in our book. Fresh garlic? That stuff remains undefeated.
Now, let's smash some garlic for this pomodoro:
Basically Spaghetti Pomodoro
*We do recognize, however, that pre-minced garlic can be a huge help for people with limited mobility, who might find it easier to scoop from a jar rather than peel, mince, or grate.
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
