How to cook garlic

Roasting garlic

Roasted garlic makes for an amazing accompaniment or side-dish, boasting a delicious, almost caramel-like flavour. This is because the roasting process helps to release the sugars and can even reduce the pithiness of the bulb, making it a milder and more appealing taste sensation.

Start by removing the outer layer of the bulb, making sure to keep the skin intact. Cut the head off the top of the bulb, exposing the cloves and drizzle with some oil (I prefer olive oil or coconut oil personally!) and season with some herbs or spices, depending on your preference.

Wrap the bulbs with some foil and pop them into the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes at around 205oC until the cloves feel soft.

Sautéing garlic

Sautéing garlic can be tricky and it’s easy to burn even for more experience chefs. It’s important to make the distinction between garlic and onion – onions generally need to be sautéed for longer than garlic and putting the two on at once can result in the garlic becoming burned. 

Garlic cooks quickly so it’s important you pay attention. Around 30-60 seconds on a medium heat should be enough to mellow the flavour. Personally, I would recommend cooking other ingredients such as onions or peppers first before adding the garlic.

Eat it raw

Eating garlic raw may sound like a great way of reducing your inner circle of friends, but trust me, raw garlic doesn’t have to mean scaring off your friends. It’s a brilliant way of getting as many nutrients as possible from the cloves and can help to ward off infections and viruses.

Now the most obvious way to eat raw garlic might be to just chop up a clove and eat it straight up. However, I prefer to mince my garlic and mix with a little melted butter just to make it more palatable. You can even use this garlic butter to spread over bread – it’s delicious and the butter really helps to enhance the flavour.

You can also add raw garlic to other recipes such as salsa and guacamole too!