Natural form
A whole garlic bulb: papery white skin wrapped tightly around individual cloves.
Shows the bulb's characteristic shape, size, and papery outer skin so readers can identify garlic at a glance.
Produce
Garlic
Pungent cloves that perfume nearly every savory dish
A single clove can lift a whole pan — sharp and hot raw, mellow and nutty when roasted. Keep the bulb dry and airy and it'll stay firm for weeks.
Garlic is the kitchen's volume knob — a single bulb of small, papery cloves that can whisper or shout depending entirely on how you treat it. Raw and finely grated, it's sharp, hot, and almost spicy; gently sweated in oil, it turns mellow and sweet; roasted whole, it collapses into a soft, caramelized, nutty paste you can spread on bread. Its bite comes from allicin, a compound that only forms when the cells are crushed, which is why how you cut garlic matters as much as how much you use. Cooks lean on it more than almost any other aromatic because it underpins the savory base of cuisines from Provence to Sichuan — the indispensable first thing to hit the pan.
- Measured in
- clove
- Storage
- Dark Cool
- Shelf life
- 60 days
Find it in
Types & varieties
The braidable supermarket standard — many small cloves, mild, stores for months.
Fewer, larger cloves with a stiff central stalk; bolder, more complex flavor, shorter shelf life.
Huge mild cloves — botanically a leek relative, not true garlic; gentle and good roasted.
Whole bulbs slowly aged warm until cloves turn soft, sweet, and molasses-dark — umami, balsamic, tamarind notes.
Young, uncured garlic that looks like a scallion; mild and chive-like, used whole.
The curly flower stalks of hardneck garlic — mild, used like a vegetable or blitzed into pesto.
Immature garlic harvested before the bulb forms; mild, fresh, scallion-like flavor used whole (white and tender green) in sautes, frittatas, and spring pestos.
How to choose
Pick bulbs that feel firm and heavy with tight, dry, unbroken skins. Pass on anything soft, spongy, or showing green sprouts (a sign of age and bitterness), and avoid bulbs that smell strongly through the skin — that means they're damaged.
- Heavier bulb = fresher, juicier cloves.
- Skip pre-peeled or jarred minced garlic if you can — both taste flat and often acrid.
How to store
Keep whole bulbs in a cool, dark, ventilated spot — a mesh basket or open bowl, never a sealed bag or the fridge (humidity sprouts and molds them). A good bulb keeps for weeks to months. Once you break the bulb, the loose cloves go faster.
How to prep
The finer you cut it, the stronger it gets: a crushed or microplaned clove is fiercest; a whole or sliced clove is gentle. Smash a clove with the flat of a knife to slip the skin off instantly. If a clove has a green germ in the center, remove it — it's the bitter part.
Common uses
Tips & pitfalls
- Add minced garlic late and over moderate heat — it scorches in seconds and turns acridly bitter.
- For the mildest, sweetest garlic, roast a whole head wrapped in foil with oil at 200°C until soft and spreadable.
- Let chopped or crushed garlic rest 10 minutes before cooking to let its flavor compounds fully develop.
- Rub a halved raw clove on toasted bread for instant, gentle garlic flavor (bruschetta, Caesar).
- A clean way to mince: grate cloves on a microplane straight into the pan or dressing.
- Confit cloves in gentle oil for a soft, sweet garlic paste plus a fragrant garlic oil — both keep in the fridge.
Nutrition
Energy
623 kJ · per 100 g
Where the calories come from
Protein
6.4g
13% DV
Carbs
33.1g
12% DV
Fat
0.5g
1% DV
Fiber
2.1g
8% DV
Sugars
1g
of which
Sodium
17mg
1% DV
Source · USDA FoodData Central · Garlic, raw
View on FDC →In the shops
Matched grocery products
€2.60Young Garlic
200 g · Mercadona
€1.85Purple Garlic
250 g · Mercadona
€1.99Tender Garlic
BONPREU · kg · Bonpreu
€1.68Chopped Garlic
VERLEAL · kg · Bonpreu
€5.00Black Garlic Peeled Cloves
85 g · Mercadona
€4.69Black Garlic in Bag of 2 Units
LA COLLITA · ud · Bonpreu
Good to know
- Flavor
- Pungent and hot raw; sweet, nutty, mellow cooked
- Peak season
- Cured bulbs year-round; green/fresh garlic in spring
- Origin
- Central Asia
- Nutrition
- ~149 kcal/100g; rich in allicin and manganese
- Store
- Cool, dark, airy spot — never sealed or refrigerated
- Buy
- Firm, heavy, tight skins; no sprouts or soft spots
Substitutes
- Garlic powder — 1/8 tsp ≈ 1 fresh clove; convenient but flatter — best in rubs and dry blends.
- Garlic scapes or green garlic — Milder, fresher substitute in season; use a little more.
- Shallot — When you want gentle allium depth without garlic's punch; not a flavor match but works in dressings.
Also called
garlic clove · garlic bulb · ajo · ajos · diente de ajo
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