Friday, January 17, 2014

On garlic powder vs. granulated garlic.

I mean, seriously, what's the difference?

Ever since Alton Brown graced on it on his episode on dips (Dip Madness, S6E8), I've used granulated garlic almost exclusively. I could never really put my finger on why - maybe it's because I perceived the flavor to be more garlicky, maybe it was just easier to distribute via my usual pinch-and-sprinkle method.

So I decided to do some research on my own today. I've delved into my textbooks and references, Googled the shit out of some shit, and come up with...

...almost nothing. Just a bunch of vague assumptions, conversion charts, and largely unsubstantiated claims. So what did I find?

1) Garlic powder tends to come from dehydrated garlic flakes, while granulated garlic tends to come from freeze-dried slices of garlic.

Garlic's flavor, like all members of the Allium family, comes from pungent sulfuric compounds (side note: that's why chopping onions makes you cry; the sulfur is released into the air, and when it comes in contact with moisture, it's actually making sulfuric acid in your goddamn eye), and all such compounds tend to be on the volatile side of things.

Now, dehydration tends to be a hot technique, encouraging evaporation through heat (usually around 150F), whereas freeze-drying uses air pressure to draw out moisture through sublimation. We talked about heat and molecular agitation earlier, so which method do you think would better preserve garlic's flavor?

2) Garlic powder is pulverized into a dust, while granulated garlic is milled to a desired grind.

Again, this comes down to preserving the flavor compounds. Granted, neither technique is particularly delicate with the product, but somehow, I feel like smashing the fuck out of something repeatedly is just a little gentler than running it through a set of burrs once or twice. Call me crazy.

Also, a coarser grind means the surface area to volume ratio for granulated garlic is considerably lower. This means each granule has an undisturbed nubbin of garlicky goodness within, while in powder form, there's next to nothing left of the original fatleaf. And since, like any dried herb or spice, the flavor comes out with rehydration, having more garlic at the core should, logically, lead to a fuller, more comparable garlic flavor. (On the rehydration tip, remember that time and moisture works to your benefit. So if you like garlic powder on your pizza, better to hit the entire pizza at the getgo rather than wait to flavor each slice.)

3) Garlic powder has a much higher chance of containing an anticaking agent than granulated garlic.

A minor concern, of course, since anticaking agents are widely known to be harmless. Still, I like to operate with as few ancillary ingredients as possible, so if I can skip the silicon dioxide (or calcium silicate or sodium aluminosilicate or whatever the fuck), I'd prefer to.

So there you have it, guys. If I had the time to infiltrate McCormick's and get to the nitty gritty of things, I might have been able to get more details to you. But as it stands, I'm feeling pretty confident in my continued decision to use granulated garlic over garlic powder. If anyone's got any further information on the subject, I'd love to hear it.

Until next time!

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