The best way to cheat at garlic?

[Viot]

Time poor and trying to cook healthily. Can't always be bothered to do all the garlic paperwork and mincing.

Not keen on jarlic. Is there a good brand?

Does it freeze well? How? (I freeze chopped spring onions and celery with great success).

How do you cheat at garlic?

You can buy frozen chopped garlic, which I prefer to the jar.

Yes it freezes well and you can buy bags of chopped garlic in the freezer section, depending on where you shop. I buy mine from Morrisons.

You can get tubes of garlic paste.

Paste jar or garlic powder is my go to!!

I use frozen chopped garlic, I think it’s from Picard on Ocado. I much prefer it to the jars/pastes which always have such a weird artificial taste. I can’t tell the difference to fresh garlic in most things.

We use big jars from the Indian supermarket. Has 92% garlic in them

That lazy garlic stuff in the jar is awful and just tastes of vinegar.
If I can’t be bothered with peeling and crushing I use garlic purée.

Another vote for Picard frozen garlic, so much easier than fresh and smells amazing!

My preference. Notice it has mixed reviews though, some people find it too salty.
https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/gia-garlic-puree-90g/100366991?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22656829620&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzOvEBhDVARIsADHfJJTCXmpxrct8PezCHZq4509f61sB5TLNzaQ8cIOKwSrGvbIs8n0Br3IaAiieEALw_wcB

you can also grate into olive oil & freeze that works well for quick stir fry’s!

just have a read about storage first as needs to be frozen promptly to avoid risk of bacteria growth.

Keep a jam jar of confit Garlic in the fridge, it just mushes into recipes like jam.

Basically tip a load of peeled garlic cloves in an oven safe pot , cover with olive oil, whole peppercorns and a bayleaf (or thyme etc) and cook for an hour at 120c or until soft.

Not what you asked for but a handy tip if you want to add fresh ginger is to buy a chunk of it and bung it in the freezer as-is. Then get a microplane and just grate some (skin and all) straight off the frozen chunk when you need it.

The microplane is easy to clean and it means you don't have to skin the ginger or risk wasting it.

A microplane makes quick work of fresh garlic too, but you'd still have to de-paper it and then wash the microplane afterwards. Easier than a mincer though!

Mmmmm confit garlic. Must make some soon!

Down the greengrocers, the one I cant actually afford, they do bags of peeled cloves which I put in the freezer for whole cloves

I also use frozen chunks of minced garlic, Sainsburys I think do it, its a white bag, they do a ginger too. The chunks are the size of a matchbox.

The stuff in the jar is rank, tastes odd, vinegary, with another undertone to it which I cant work out. Same with the puree in jars or tubes.

I think garlic puree would be quite an expensive option. We're a big family and we cook a lot of garlic.

Agree that garlic in jars doesn't taste quite right.

Frozen seems to be the answer? Would rather freeze my own than buy (again, cost reasons). Just grate and freeze, or use olive oil as @Seahorsesplendour suggests?

Definitely going to try @flatwhiteinabucket 's idea. That sounds delicious!.

I add the Gia paste at the end of cooking if it's not quite garlicky enough, and it does the job without adding any unwanted vinegary flavours. It's definitely a little bit salty, which isn't a problem for me. I find commercial frozen garlic a bit underwhelming.

Yes!! I do this with ginger. It's fab. My sister pre-grates and freezes it grated.

Garlic powder. We get a 500g bag from a local shop.

No more sprouting cloves found down the back of the microwave because DP put them on top and promptly forgot when there was something else to put up there.

Taj frozen garlic from morrisons. Quarter the price of the own brand stuff: blocks of smooth minced garlic not chunks- each one 4 cloves worth. Lasts ages.

Edited to say its currently £1 for 400g which is about a SIXTH of the own brand..

I am sceptical of garlic powder. Am I wrong to be?

I'm happy to do a load of garlic paperwork and mincing once in a while - just trying to avoid it at 6.45 on a Wednesday evening after football.

We just put the whole clove including the skin in a garlic press, the skin gets left behind and you don’t need to prep it at all. You just need a good garlic press

Re the ginger grating, I didn't realise you could use it without peeling! Thank you. I use frozen garlic that's chopped or cubed. Morrisons do a good range of chopped herbs. X

This is the way. Confit garlic is so yummy on crusty bread with butter and flaky salt.

Alternatively just smash the unpeeled clove with something on the chopping board (often just do it with my coffee mug / frying pan or anything heavy to hand). Do it really hard.

It basically peels itself.

Quickly run your knife through - because it's so mushed it is like instantly diced.

Also getting a good knife changed the game for quick meal prep for me! If you can't cut a tomato without some squashing or cut a piece of paper when held up, then your knife is not sharp enough.

I chope crapton in processor then freeze flattened in bags. Make sure it's flat enough so you can just break piece off. Takes very little time for the amount you get

I find frozen chopped garlic just freezes together in a big clump so I get whole frozen cloves from m&s/ocado, then just micro for a few seconds before using as needed.