Food & DrinkTaste garlic Food and Drink

Why You Should Never Buy Minced Garlic In A Jar Again

It's just not worth it guys.
By 

Taste Senior Editor, HuffPost

There are some things in life you should never do, like cheat on your taxes or be mean to your mother. But more importantly, you should never buy or use minced garlic in a jar. It just isn't worth it.

We understand the logic here. Garlic is sticky. It makes your hands smell. And it takes time you don't have to mince. But the way we see it is, if you don't have time for fresh garlic -- the backbone of all that is great about food -- then you have no business using it in your cooking at all. And sticky, smelly hands are a small price to pay for the amazing flavor fresh garlic gives to our homemade dishes.

If you happen to have a jar of minced garlic sitting in your fridge right now, just get rid of it. We can pretend it never happened. We don't like to be wasteful, but when it comes to garlic there's no point in messing around. Especially when you take a moment to consider how epically superior fresh garlic is to everything else -- and what a sad substitute minced jarred garlic is in its place.

1
Jarred garlic was peeled with a blast of air.
Carl Pendle via Getty Images
Which also means it was blasted of some of its awesome flavor.
2
It could have been bleached.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Seriously.
3
Minced and jarred garlic is older than the Torah.
Donald Erickson via Getty Images
Or not. But either way, it's WAY too old when you consider how readily available fresh garlic is.
4
It's a million times inferior to fresh garlic.
Peter Williams via Getty Images
In flavor, texture and everything in between.
5
You have no idea where it came from.
So you can't even attempt to eat local with this kind of garlic.
6
It sometimes has phosphoric acid added to it.
David Henderson via Getty Images
Which is also used to remove rust. You don't have to worry about that when you opt for fresh.
7
Minced garlic has been soaking in water.
Spice World
If a quick soak in water can prune our fingertips, just imagine what water can do to minced garlic after months and months.
8
It only takes 45 seconds to mince real, FRESH garlic.
AFP via Getty Images
Do you really not have that kind of time?
9
Or 2.5 seconds to put it through a garlic press.
Adam Gault via Getty Images
10
Plus, if you need a lot of garlic you can use this cool garlic peeling trick.
Thank you Saveur for sharing.
11
You'll miss out on that amazingly potent smell that fresh garlic has been sautéing it in butter.
Flickr: stu_spivack
It's one of the great joys of cooking. (Pre-minced garlic just doesn't have the same effect.)
12
Your cooking will improve astronomically when you stop using jarred minced garlic.
Kevin Summers via Getty Images
BELIEVE.
13
You can never make this with minced jarred garlic.
Fine Living By Archita
See those golden garlic slices? Those are everything. (Get the Spaghetti All'arrabbiata recipe here.)
14
Or this.
A Spicy Perspective
(You need this oven roasted garlic recipe.)
15
OR THIS.
Joseph De Leo
This is one big appetizer loaded with roasted garlic, chevre and honey. It is EPIC. You want this recipe.

Want to read more from HuffPost Taste? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr.

Related

Taste garlic Food and Drink
|
Submit a tip

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE