Fresh Garlic: What You Need To Know About How to Prepare It

The preparation of fresh garlic

Garlic enhances many dishes and is also very healthy. It can be obtained dried, as a powder, or as a clove. Garlic is also being offered freshly harvested more and more frequently.

• You can enjoy the green part of the fresh garlic, the so-called chimney, finely chopped on a piece of buttered bread. But it also provides a fresh, mild note of garlic in a salad or stir-fry.
• The clove of fresh garlic is milder than the dry variety. That’s why it can be used wherever garlic taste is desired, but shouldn’t be too intense.
• Especially in Mediterranean cuisine, garlic is indispensable. Much like an onion, the clove of fresh garlic is skinned and then sliced. You can also make a particularly mild aioli yourself from fresh garlic.

The difference between fresh and dry garlic

The term fresh garlic can be a bit confusing. Because even the cloves in the dry garlic are not dry, but juicy and fresh. We’ll tell you the difference.

• So-called fresh garlic is young garlic whose cloves are not yet fully mature. Therefore, the plant has not yet developed its full aroma and tastes correspondingly milder. However, it cannot be stored and must therefore be used up quickly.
• Fresh garlic is usually offered with part of the green stalk. Its appearance is more like that of spring onion or young leek. It can also be used similarly to this one. When buying, make sure that the green is rich in color and juicy.
• Dry garlic is stored garlic. For garlic to be storable, it must be fully ripe. This makes the taste and smells more intense. This garlic then also has the typical parchment-like skins over the cloves.