A few years ago, Chef Stephen Paprocki discovered black garlic in his unending quest for new things to do in his kitchen.
He learned that, like regular garlic, black garlic has properties that provide health benefits, like being rich in antioxidants … and unlike regular garlic, it didn’t give people bad breath.
He also discovered it was very expensive and difficult to find and decided to figure out how to make his own.
It took him some time to determine the best process to make the black garlic consistently, but after lots of trial and error, he came up with his own system.
Black Garlic results when garlic bulbs are heated or “fermented” for a period of time at a constant temperature. The heat causes certain enzymes and sugars in the cloves to break down. The cloves, still inside nature’s packaging, first turn a deep brown and, once the process is complete, a soft black.
Like an alchemist, Chef Paprocki transforms the raw white cloves into soft black ones he now calls “Texas Black Gold Garlic”, a new substance with an unexpected sweet, mellow flavor profile.
The chef is also impressed with its versatility.
“I use the black garlic for all kinds of things, as an ingredient in other dishes or just by itself on a cracker. Some people like it so much they spoon it right out of the bulb. I’ve already prepared salads and dressings, appetizers, entrees and even desserts with it,” he said.
Top chefs have been using black garlic for years, and more and more people are interested in making it a staple in their own kitchens.
“I use the black garlic for all kinds of things, as an ingredient in other dishes or just by itself on a cracker. Some people like it so much they spoon it righout out of the bulb.”
– CHEF PAPROCKI
It can be difficult to get black garlic because it’s in short supply, and local chefs, interested in trying something different, started asking Chef Paprocki to turn their heads of garlic black, too.
It’s no wonder that demand started to grow, and grow, and the chef finally decided to break out and make and package the black garlic as his own. He recently started to sell the new product at Mercado O’liva monthly open-air market and just started to offer it online. Last month he debuted his Texas Black Gold Garlic at Gaucho Gourmet, the gourmet specialty food store.
Bonus: The cloves of rich, black garlic Chef Paprocki makes come from white garlic grown right here in Texas, thanks to local farmers. Farmer Doug Havemann of Mesquite Field Farms is already growing bulbs for Chef Paprocki’s new venture and the chef hopes to add more local farmers to his list of suppliers soon.
So San Antonio now has its own, LOCAL source of black garlic.
The chef’s new side business is called Texas Black Gold Garlic, and the company donates 5 percent of all proceeds generated by the sale of Black Garlic to the Chef Cooperatives Initiative, a group of chefs (including Chef Paprocki) who host and create quarterly farm-to-table dinners to benefit local Texas farmers – one farm at a time.
