— Annette Barnhart Quiles

So many of you may know that Gilroy California is the United States garlic capital of the world, where they have a big garlic festival every year and make everything from roasted garlic to garlic ice cream and beyond. So just like you're going to look for loose mushrooms when you're in the produce department of your grocery store, getting your garlic out of a bin, being able to select one that you like the best is probably a more effective way to shop for garlic than buying it in that little cute box where three of three little heads of, uh, garlic or smooshed together, or that little mesh plastic bag. We don't need more plastic in our life. So picking them out for yourself is a good way to go. My own personal choice is to use American grown organic garlic. Uh, there are many articles, uh, written about how garlic has grown in some other countries. So I use organic, uh, they're not bleached. Some countries bleach them because they think that Americans like to see, see things that are pristine and white. You wanna have most of the garlic paper as it's called, most of it intact. That's the first thing. You could smell it, you don't wanna smell, because sometimes a smell can indicate that the garlic might not be so fresh. You also don't wanna see anything growing out of the top of it, because that also indicates that the garlic is old and you want the freshest garlic that you can get. So what I'm gonna do is with my roots for strength here, as you can see what they look like on the inside. And I'm just gonna pick one out. There we go. So this one, uh, Annette is a really nice sized, uh, clove of garlic. And I do have, uh, that little rolly thing that I like to use to help me get the, uh, hair off. Sometimes I don't worry about it if I'm gonna eat garlic paper, it's, it's not gonna, you know, do anything to me. And you can either use a, um, garlic press, uh, remember that mincing is, is an important cut to learn. And many times in recipes in Rouxbe, you will see where they're asking you to mince the garlic. So I say continue to hone your knifing skills and do that, but this to me has a lovely, lovely aroma. You're looking for an aroma, not a smell. So that's it. Buy it in bulk, buy it loose. It shouldn't have a smell. Remember the difference between smell and aroma. Uh, aroma has a deliciousness to it. When we think of something that smells, we think of something that doesn't smell very, very good. And, um, I go through about two of these a week because I use them in so many things just because I love the flavor of fresh garlic. So that's, those are my recommendations. And, um, this is a beautiful, beautiful, uh, bulb of, uh, garlic. And I'm happy with that. And it'll be gone in no time.