Taste Test: Are Pre-Chopped Garlics Any Good?

Is it ever OK to pre-mince your garlic or to—brace yourself—use store-bought pre-minced garlic?

Before we can answer those questions, let’s have take a quick look at what garlic flavor actually consists of. What makes garlic taste like garlic.

Garlic is a member of the allium family, and like other alliums, contain a number of sulfurous chemical compounds that attack our taste buds and olfactory receptors, inciting them to perk up and pay attention. Garlic and onions don’t just have a flavor of their own, they actually bolster the flavor of other ingredients. It’s no wonder garlic and onions are such common ingredients in cuisines the world over.

But here’s the thing: That’s not exactly true. Garlic and onions don’t actually contain these compounds in their intact, straight-from-the-earth state. Rather, their cells contain precursors to those chemical compounds within their cells. It's only after the cells are ruptured—whether via chopping, grating, or pressing through a garlic press—that these precursors can mix together, causing a cascade of chemical reactions that create that familiar garlic stench and pungency.

Those chemical reactions take time to occur, which in turn means that the flavor and aroma of garlic will change over time.

• Before it’s chopped, garlic will have a very neutral aroma. You’ll get some garlicky scents, but little to none of its sharper heat.

• Immediately after mincing, garlic will start to develop its heat and pungency.

• Garlic that is minced and left to rest will start to become overwhelmingly pungent, especially if that garlic is kept in a sealed container.

• Eventually, garlic scent and pungency will start to dissipate leaving you with some lingering heat but very little aroma.

Cooking garlic can tame some of its heat and pungency, but it cannot restore any aromas that have already dissipated.

Beyond timing, the method by which you mince garlic can also impact its flavor. The more cells you crush, the more chemical precursors are released, and the stronger and faster the garlic’s pungency will develop. Garlic pushed through a garlic press or grated on a microplane will smell far stronger than garlic sliced with a knife.

Prepared Garlic–A Jarring Experience

So what does this mean for prepared garlic?

At the supermarket, you are likely to find garlic in a few forms. Here are my recommendations for their use.

• Whole heads of garlic is garlic’s most versatile form. It’s what I use in garlic-forward dishes where I intend to keep the garlic raw and want the most balanced flavor. Think: aioli, toum, and pesto.

• Pre-peeled garlic is whole cloves of garlic that have been lightly blanched (dunked in boiling water) before their outer skins are removed. Pre-peeled garlic is my go-to form of garlic for most uses. It can be used raw when garlic is a background flavor (as in a salad dressing), or it can be used in virtually any cooked application where its flavor is comparable to garlic peeled from whole heads.

• Garlic Paste comes in tubes and is usually preserved with salt. Garlic paste can be a decent option for cooked dishes, but its aroma will be weaker than fresh garlic and its pasty, wet nature makes it hard to sauté or sweat properly. It’s OK to have on-hand for emergencies, but I would not typically recommend it.

• Pre-minced garlic is sold packed in oil or packed in water and typically preserved with citric acid. Every brand I’ve ever tasted has virtually no garlic aroma and is overly sour from the citric acid. I would not recommend using pre-minced garlic for any purpose other than warding off weaker vampires.

Bottom line: Use fresh or pre-peeled garlic whenever you can, and avoid mincing, crushing, pressing, or slicing it until just before you’re ready to use it.