Black Garlic

The little package of black garlic attracted my attention at an Italian store. From the description on the package: “Made from Spanish home grown garlic and aged through a natural maturation process. His garlic is deliciously sweet, with hints of spice and liquorice.”  I was curious. I admit, I did not know about this ingredient, even though apparently it has been around for centuries. It has the same health benefits as the regular raw garlic, but it is softer and much sweeter, and indeed it has liquorice tones. It can be eaten by itself and it is delicious. It can be put on toast (add a fried egg or avocado, yum!) or pizza, salad or charcuterie platter. We tried it with fresh muscles (with tomatoes, basil and white wine sauce) and it added a nice dimension without any harshness of raw garlic. Basically it can be used anywhere you would use garlic. It was a great find!