Ok, so I’ll admit this post perhaps isn’t something that you’d maybe expect on a craft blog. But since I do share recipes from time to time.. it fits in somewhere. ;-) And this is something I use all.the.time.
Frozen garlic. Do you use that? I first came across it in the form of the brand called Dorot in my local supermarket (they also do other frozen things, herbs and chili, but I haven’t tried those). The brilliant thing about this brand is that the garlic is minced and then frozen in cubes. One cube = one clove of garlic. So when you need some garlic you just pop out as many cubes as you need. Brilliant. No mess to clean up and no garlic fingers! ;-)
Sadly, though, recently my local supermarket have stopped selling this particular frozen garlic. Why, Tesco lakeside, WHY?!?!
Instead they now sell a completely inferior own brand product. It’s still frozen, but instead of being minced, it is now chopped garlic. Minced, chopped, not much difference. Except that the copped kind is less convenient for knowing how much garlic you take out.
The packaging, however! All the chopped bits of garlic are in the same container. If you leave it outside the freezer for even a short time, say while travelling the short distance back from the shop, it will of course start to defrost and can you guess what happens? When the garlic bits freeze again, they just turn into one solid lump of garlic bits. And maybe you’ll try to loosen them up by whacking the container on the counter top, but that will only achieve one thing: the flimsy lid will fall off.
Morrison sell the same rubbish frozen garlic, the pack is identical (apart from the minor detail of the label). Avoid it, it’s no good. I only kept my pack in the freezer for a while until I could take a picture for this post. ;-)
If you want some frozen garlic in your freezer, head instead to Sainsbury. They have the Dorot style packs but in their own brand. Why the hell couldn’t Tesco do that? I must admit that I hoard the Sainsbury frozen garlic… and I have actually considered saving the empty packs so I could make my own in case Sainsbury stopped selling it.
I don’t always use the frozen garlic, but it’s just so convenient to have. If you forgot to buy actual garlic or you can’t be bothered to chop it or whatever.
Neat little garlic cubes versus frozen lump of garlic granules.