Black Garlic and all things umami

I obviously don’t read many food blogs since there are all sorts of new things going on in the food world that I know nothing about.

This recent voyage of discovery started when I noticed something new in our otherwise quite conservative supermarket. Black Garlic. At first I assumed it was an equivalent of purple carrots or orange beetroot. i.e some hybrid to make things look pretty. But, it rang a bell somewhere and I tossed it into my basket.

Back home I realised that it’s not a variety of garlic at all but a naturally fermented garlic, transformed into a totally different product. The cloves are jet black, squiggy and sticky, looking a cross between tamarind and soft liquorice with numerous health benefits

So off to Google to check this stuff out and I discover that black garlic, which originates from Asia, has been quite the big thing for a while now. All the top foodie chefs are trying to make their own and incorporate it into all their recipes.

In all this recipe and article reading (totally distracted now from everything on my to-do list) I keep coming across a word I don’t understand: ” umami”. “It’s  a little sweet, a little bitter and umami”. Umami? An adjective? What is umami?

Well, turns out umami is what we normally call yummy, delicious, but that it’s been identified as a the 5th taste along with salty, sweet, sour, bitter. Umami is that irresistible savoury flavour that makes you want to scrape out the roasting pan, mop up all the sauce, lick up all the crumbs at the bottom of the crisp packet. It’s pure yumminess. And its not just the salt or just the sugar. It’s what happens when all these things are combined and set off an explosion of flavour.

The process that occurs when curing and fermenting foods such jamon serrano/prosciutto, parmesan, anchovies, sun dried tomatoes releases pure umami. Our home cured black olives, I now realise are intensely umami. As is, it turns out, black garlic.

All this resonates with me as I realise that I am addicted to all things umami. I really do crave what I now know to be this officially recognised taste.

And as for the black garlic, it seems you can put it into anything savoury with, or even instead of, fresh garlic. It has no aftertaste or smell associated with fresh garlic yet has a unique deep layered, tangy, caramalised, moreish flavour. I’ve so far crushed it with olive oil and mopped it up with bread, added it to my harissa  and sliced it thinly into a spicy chicken salad, added it to a white bean stew and, as shown below, pasta with mushrooms.

 

Check out these links  and this article, and check out your food stores for some black garlic. It’s easier to find that you think. Once you try it you will get the idea. You are in for a treat.

Tagliatelle with mushrooms, black garlic and shaved parmesan. Lots of umami here! (Note: the big dark pieces are shitake mushrooms, The black garlic is cut small)