Garlic - food

Garlic has been used as a food for thousands of years. It was traditionally used to add flavour to food. It is sold fresh, as a dry powder and as an oil and. Garlic is very popular in South Asian cuisine.

Flavouring

A photograph of sliced fried garlic from Kew's Economic Botany Collection.
Image: Sliced, fried garlic used to be exported to Burma where it was eaten with pickled tea.

Garlic is one of the most frequently used plants in many parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and there are many different ways of using garlic. It is used not only to flavour curries but can be used for drinks and savoury deserts. To add a mild flavour to food the fresh cloves are cooked whole. If a stronger flavour is required, garlic cloves are crushed or ground and added to the dish. Garlic should not be cooked for too long as it can become bitter. Often garlic heads with small cloves are stronger than larger ones.

An oil is processed from garlic which is used commercially as a flavouring. It it can be added to flavour otherwise bland vegetable oils.

There are many different varieties of garlic on the market. The diversity in size and flavour is apparent in South Asian markets.

Garlic is not popular among everyone. Certain sects in India, such as Jains and Hindu Brahmins, are forbidden to eat onion-related plants like garlic. The reasons differ in each case. Jains consider use of garlic to be too damaging to the plant, while some Hindus consider garlic too stimulating.