I use the Costco peeled garlic all the time! I'm sure I use more garlic than I normally would, because it's milder than freshly-peeled cloves. Usually I make it through the whole tub before they start to go off, but even if I end up throwing some away, at five bucks for three pounds it's not a fiscal tragedy.
No visit to Maine to me is complete until I go to The Lobster Pound Restaurant in Lincolnville Beach. It's just a little bit north of Camden on Route 1. Nothing fancy, but it sure is good.
My local grocery store, which sells some convenience/prepared foods (made there) sells peeled garlic in the produce section in half pint containers. For just a dollar or so...it's more economical than heads with 67 dried out tiny cloves (@chiff: lolol) and I find I use it all before it spoils.
A little tangent here for all the garlic lovers...I recently read that the nutritional value of garlic increases if you let it sit for a few minutes on the cutting board before adding it to the pan. (akin to spinach having more nutritional value once cooked vs raw).
You can't prevent the sprouting because (1) everything is SO old by the time it hits market (I remember reading that things like potatoes and apples have often been in cold storage up to a year before they get to the super), and (2) we don't keep root cellars anymore. Most of our houses are just way too warm for things like garlic and potatoes, while a refrigerator is way too cold, and way, way too damp.
I've been toying with the idea of installing two wine coolers -- one one for wine and cheese, and the other for cellar produce, such as potatoes, apples, onions, hard squashes, garlic, etc.
raki5-It's not the time, it's the freshness. Each sprout has sapped goodness out of the clove, diminishing its flavor & size. Removing the sprout is easy, but I'd like to keep mine from sprouting. I guess there is no way, kind of like eyes on potatoes.
Removing the green 'germ' in a garlic clove takes no time at all to do. There are serious North American problems with the desire for total 'convenience', hence preservatives, over-packaging, freighted fruit and vegetables. Easy to trace a lot of our foodie 'woes'. Sometimes, often, good food takes a bit of time.
@Chiff: No, they were Spanish onions that had these green growths, just like garlic sprouts after a while. It was so strange.
The tub-o-garlic sounds great, but I would have to get a smaller one than the Costco size because I'm cooking for myself most of the time. I always buy a regular unpeeled thing of garlic, and it seems like the next week the inside is dry and the green sprouts form.
I'm going to the asian mart & getting a new tub! Yay! Fresh garlic with no mush! thanks ya'll!
Thanks all for the recommendations. We had a lovely trip! I'll be posting about the dining experiences at my Here and There blog later this week.
My boyfriend and I had a simply amazing meal at Street and Co. in Portland. You can't miss with the Lobster Diavolo!
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