The health benefits of Black Garlic are indeed overwhelmingly good. And from a standpoint of education about a Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet, from a purely didactic standpoint, we need specific examples of how things are working for people. My neighborhood is overwhelmingly Bangladeshi (rice is the staple), with some hispanic, and some “Americans,” be they black, or yellow, or brown or white, but on my street Bangladeshi carries the tone. and 90% of the over 40 are diabetics, thanks to white rice, fried foods, and lots of animal protein, meat, fish, and dairy. Black Garlic can be helpful in navigating the transition to a healthier diet, simply because it is a superbly healthy addition to the diet that can replace raw garlic in many places, and complement it in others. But first, one of the more brilliant videos I have seen about Black Garlic, by Jennifer Diamond.
The point here is the outrageous health benefits from black garlic, which include 10x more anti-oxidants compared to raw garlic, and a lot more, but nutrition information never made food taste great. This is where black garlic wins the battle, for you get:
- No garlic smell
- More aroma, umami flavor – something between tamarind and balsamic vinegar
- Oh, and did I mention more nutrition?
You can use it as a snack, or as a condiment. I have been re-doing old recipes gradually ever since I discovered black garlic. Granted there are situations where raw garlic works better in certain dishes, but you can use black garlic alongside raw garlic, or in some dishes you can use black garlic in lieu of raw garlic. Examples:
- Salad dressing: I make 1/2/3 dressing, which is Esselstyn’s 3/2/1 dressing in reverse. Then I add in some sliced black garlic, and the juice of half a lemon and half a lime.
- For cucumber salad , I can use a whole lemon and a whole lime, a tbsp of chia seeds, and a tsp of dill. I let that dressing marinate overnight. Unbeatable!
- Black Bean Salsa
- Ensalada de Nopal (Cactus salad)
- We just re-made Locro de Lentejas, an Ecuadorian lentil soup or stew (depending on how thick you make it), using black garlic instead of raw garlic, I cut out some other sources of umami flavor, which contained sodium.
- I have used it in pesto sauce and any number of other recipes.
- Khokon, the owner of Neerob Restaurant on my street, makes whole wheat roti with spinach, black garlic, onion, cilantro, pepper, chili, and he says he has his blood glucose levels under control since he started to eat this for breakfast.
- A friend in Holland ate one clove at night and one in the morning, and after a week she texted me that her diabetic wounds were tarting to heal.
- Another Bengali friend is helping her mother with diabetes, and they started out with switching to brown rice, which helped bring her A1C down, now she is adding black garlic to the menu, and learning about a whole foods, plant-based diet. She has already made the whole wheat spinach roti at home.
The bottom line is this:
- Where rice is the staple food, obviously the switch to brown rice is significant, but pay attention to safe preparation:
- Safe origins (India, Pakistan, Thailand) must be considered, in terms of low arsenic content. In the US California rice is better than from the old cotton growing areas.
- Safe cooking methods should be used, as I wrote about previously, here.
- Alternatively, a safe approach is to use Koshihikari GABA rice, which has been parboiled at a low temperature to cause it to sprout. It can be cooked as white rice.
- From the standpoint of use cases, here are a few.
- As a snack: I know folks who eat a clove in the morning and one in the evening.
- As an appetizer. I use a Triscut with one clove of black garlic and a slice of jalapeño. If I want to be decadent, I put a drizzle of honey on the cracker first.
- As a condiment the possibilities are endless and note that it is effectively precooked, so it does not necessarily need cooking, but with time, the aroma will spread, or in cold dishes such as salads, I prefer to have it marinate overnight. You are adding a lot of flavor without adding any sugar or salt. That cannot be beat in a plant-based kitchen.
The point here is that sometimes some very simple changes, can make a huge difference, and at the same time produce a fantastic flavor experience. Once people begin to appreciate that a small change can have such a disproportionate effect, they can then begin to explore the rest of their dietary habits and look at changes.