Garlic question

[DarleneB1]

I'm new to the forum, and haven't posted except for the first welcome intro. I guess I made a mistake by asking a question in that introduction postin. So, I'll try again here.
I've been cooking for over 50 years, but have only recently purchased one of the 4 oz. jars of chopped garlic. Always have used fresh in the past. Can anyone tell me what the refrigerated shelf life is of an opened jar of chopped garlic? I'm only cooking for two now that the children are adults, so I certainly can't use that garlic very fast.
Thanks to any responders.

[shel]

Originally Posted by DarleneB1

I've been cooking for over 50 years, but have only recently purchased one of the 4 oz. jars of chopped garlic. Always have used fresh in the past. Can anyone tell me what the refrigerated shelf life is of an opened jar of chopped garlic? I'm only cooking for two now that the children are adults, so I certainly can't use that garlic very fast.

wrap the chopped garlic in small packets of plastic and freeze them. You can also add oil to the garlic mixture, 1 part garlic to 2 parts oil, and freeze it in a container or in ice cube trays. Acidifying garlic will increase it's shelf life. More than likely the garlic you bought contains citric acid, so it should last a very long time if stored in a securely capped jar in a cold part of the refrigerator.

Shel

[DC Sunshine]

Welcome in Darlene
I agree with Shel, I keep a jar of the garlic for whenever I haven't got time for chopping it fresh (or when I'm lazy!). I've had a jar I keep in the fridge which I've had for over a month, and it's fine.

Have you thought about using dried garlic powder/flakes? The taste is good and you've no real worry about how long it will keep.

[Suzanne]

I will live up to my reputation as the Queen of Cooking On the Edge: keep using the garlic until you use it up. I've kept jars of processed garlic for a few months and haven't killed us yet. As long as you keep it clean (that is, use a clean implement to take it out of the jar every time; do not let anything fall into the garlic; in other words, no cross-contamination), it can keep for a long time.

OTOH, if you won't use it up in a couple of months, you need to either:

1. Use more garlic in your cooking.
2. Not buy the processed stuff and only use "fresh" garlic. Goodness knows it's inexpensive enough, and not all that difficult to work with.

Garlic powder? Well, maybe as an ingredient in a dry rub, but otherwise, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry, DC, the flavor [such as it is in the dried stuff] may be good to you, but it's not the flavor of garlic as far as I'm concerned.) Never ever tried flakes, so I don't know what they're like. But I have no hopes for them.

[shel]

Originally Posted by Suzanne

Never ever tried [garlic] flakes, so I don't know what they're like. But I have no hopes for them.

I made some once and they were pretty darned good. Better than store-bought dried garlic products, not as good as fresh, but acceptable in certain situations. However, I doubt that I'd ever go to the trouble of making them again

Shel

[DC Sunshine]

Hehe Suzanne - sorry for offending your taste buds It's another thing I use if rushed for time - I prefer fresh cut garlic every time myself. Am even growing some this year as an experiment. (Got some great advice from the Chef's Garden Forum here).

Shel - I can imagine making the flakes is prob something one wouldn't try twice. But yes, they come in handy at times. Nothing quite like the flavour of fresh garlic - same goes for ginger.

[KYHeirloomer]

>Sorry, DC, the flavor [such as it is in the dried stuff] may be good to you, but it's not the flavor of garlic as far as I'm concerned.)<

Just had some of the ground garlic in a jar, last night, for the first time in years. Ya know what? It does taste just as good (ha!) as the dried stuff. Which is to say, there was no garlic flavor to speak of.

I can't understand why anyone finds using fresh garlic a problem. It can't be a time thing; garlic takes no time at all to peel and chop/slice/smash/whatever.

[shel]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

I can't understand why anyone finds using fresh garlic a problem. It can't be a time thing; garlic takes no time at all to peel and chop/slice/smash/whatever.

While I agree with you, there are times i wish I had some garlic powder in the house. Last night, for example, I wanted to make a spice mixture to use in aturkey sausage recipe, and the garlic powder could have been added simp,y to the other herbs and spices I was using. And while it's not the same as fresh garlic, it does have it's own characteristics which can be useful. Just about every barbeque cook I know has a big container of garlic powder on his spice shelf, and the sauces in which the powder is used are very, very good.

Likewise for ground ginger. I don't stock it regularly, but I will get some soon. In some dishes a combination of fresh grated and ginger powder makes a wonderful combination.

Shel

[bluezebra]

I think there are times and places for dried spices and herbs and times for fresh ones...

I don't tend to care too much for the jarred garlic because there does seem to be an acrid after taste that isn't as apparent in the granular dried garlic I use nor is it present in the fresh garlic I use.

In general, I think if you are preparing a long cooking sauce then dried holds up better over long exposure to heat. If you are sauteing meats, like quick cutlet cuts, then I think that granulated garlic burns less than real garlic. Some of the roasts I make from childhood would taste entirely different with fresh garlic because we didn't grow up using it. My mom and grandmom and dad used granular garlic powder because of availability and price.

So I also think it's a bit of "what you're used to".

I can say with all humbleness that I have entertained and cooked for many people over my cooking lifetime - professional chefs, gourmands, epicures, gastronomes, food snobs, and regular joes and no one has complained or ridiculed my dishes. In fact, most people ask me why I don't have a restaurant...so I don't think that you can always pick out the use of one over the other when it's layered in a dish. A good dish should not really have one spice that hangs out over the other and if it does, then it's either an intentional feature of the dish or it's a screwup by the cook...

[Suzanne]

I'm not quite the garlic snob I seem to some -- I actually have a jar of Chinese pureed garlic in my fridge at all times, and use it often. (I used to have the domestic chopped stuff in oil, but it lost flavor after a short while.) And I already agreed that garlic powder has its place in dry rubs.

It's just that these products do not have the same flavor as "fresh" garlic -- which is actually more likely storage stuff, like onions. Their volatile oils are different, if they even have them. Even though the effects of garlic might linger the real flavor is fairly evanescent. Once garlic is processed too much, I find it loses what I love about it.

Anyway: Since 1992, I have had a card hanging over my desk that says: "Garlic is the ketchup of intellectuals."

BTW: I renamed this thread, so now it is what it is.