For the first time ever I have knowingly bought Chinese garlic. With the local bulbs being tiny and the cloves near impossible to peel and chop, the large lush Chinese garlic that Tai Ping is selling is far superior.
It doesn't sit easily with me but I did have to buy a couple of bulbs...
Has anyone else done the same.?

My NW is selling large bulbs of N Z garlic with fat cloves for $39 a kg. Pricey but at least available. Have you looked online?

I just bought some from a link of Dunedin farmers market Facebook page. You can order 500 grams for $18 and $6 p&p. There is also a kilo amount.
www.temahangaorchard.co.nz
Last year I had bought some garlic for planting at Invercargill farmers market and I didn't grow enough and I believe its the same person that was selling at Dunedin farmers market.

Yesterday I purchased 5 cloves of elephant garlic (5 for $1) from my local vege shop, as it is so big will probably only grate 1/2 bulb at a time. I store the bulbs in the fridge. This garlic is grown by the owner of the shop. From memory elephant garlic is less pungent but still gives required flavour.

Thanks for the suggestion of looking online. Our local NW is selling the tiniest bulbs ever. I iknow it was a tough season for the growers so I have been buying it but caved when I saw the big plump important garlic at Tai Ping.

I purchased two tubes of Chinese garlic yesterday. I need about 8 bulbs to make my next batch of steak sauce so using NZ garlic makes it expensive. It is cheap enough that if I need more garlic flavour then I add another bulb.

As well as fresh garlic, I always have a jar of Pams Minced Garlic in the fridge. Comes in handy for those times when I haven't any fresh or when I just feel a bit too lazy peel & chop my own.

I find garlic easier to peel if you put into a cup of hot water for 5 mins before peeling....the skins come off easily.like peeling a banana.

Fleur, the easist method I've found is to cut the root end off then use a broad-bladed knife to smash the clove with. The papery skin then just lifts off and the clove is ready for slicing or chopping into small pieces. Just don't do the smashing on one of those glass cutting 'boards'; who knows which will smash the best - the garlic or the glass!

My husband uses a method he read on the internet recently - put cloves in a lidded glass jar and shake vigorously. Discard the papery skin and then repeat. That gets most of the next layer off and has the added bonus of bruising the clove which starts to release the flavour.

I would still rather fiddle with NZ garlic than buy the Chinese variety.

Regards,

Barbara Anne

Re peeling garlic, easiest is just to smash with the side of a heavy knife as per Lorna. No gimmicks, and starts the process for chopping it all up.

At the risk of being banned for excessive pedantry I must remark that the flavour of garlic changes when the cell walls are broken (e.g. when it is smashed or bruised). It gets more pungent the more it is crushed. So if you want a mild background garlic flavour in, for example, a risotto, it is best to peel it without bruising it. If you want a really strong flavour, for example hummus, pulverise it with salt with a mortar and pestle.

I find that soaking the whole garlic cloves in cold water for about an hour helps. I wouldn't use hot water as it would change the flavour.

Pedantry welcome, I always like learning about the science behind what we're doing. I am aware about the argument about the flavour change, but feel that one brief "thwack" doesn't make a lot of difference when we're going to end up chopping it. I agree about the hot water, would definitely change the flavour, although could be a technique for making it less aggressive in an hummus maybe?

"I wouldn't use hot water as it would change the flavour."
But if it is going into a risotto then it is being cooked in hot stock (after the saute of course) which is the same thing.

If I don't want a strong pungent flavour, as is required in aioli for example, I pop the garlic in the microwave for a few seconds and the skin comes off easily. Don't cook it, don't even warm it - just a few seconds is all that is needed for the air between the clove and the skin to expand.This is great when you want whole cloves for a tray bake or slow-cooked stew.

If I do want a strong flavour, then I smash it with a knife and then mince it.

Interesting topic! Instead of mincing I grate garlic cloves on a microplane type grater without peeling or removing the root end of the clove. Grating with tip end down whilst holding onto the root end of the garlic the skin remains on the top of the grater and the garlic on the underside which is pretty much the equivalent of mincing. I use less garlic if I don't want a strong flavour.

I don't peel frozen ginger when grating it on the microplane.
Regards,
Dawn.

Dawn - the few times I've tried doing garlic on the microplane, I felt sure I was about to ribbon my fingertips! Do you have pincers for nails that keep your fingers safe, or lucky? (or am I awfully clumsy!?)

I bought tons of garlic before lockdown when it was "only" $25/kilo - it's lasted really well so I'm still working my way through that. But no, I wouldn't buy Chinese garlic - I haven't knowingly bought any food originating in China since I travelled there and saw the conditions things are grown in.

Haha yes Jenna, I'm half crab and half human!

I can't really answer your question otherwise, apart from to say the clove starts with the tip end and ends up grating on a slant rather than staying tip down but I manage them easily. Maybe it's just a knack I've developed which suits me?
Regards,
Dawn.