Garlic powder just as the name suggests is dehydrated or dried garlic. The garlic bulb is put through a process and when this process is complete the end product is a powder. Garlic on its own is a species of the well known onion and is closely related to the red onion, leek, chive and shallot.
It grows in areas that have mild climatic weather patterns and the way to grow them is to put an actual clove into the ground. It is a good idea to use cloves from different bulbs and not plant cloves from a single bulb during the planting process. In areas where the climate is a bit chilly, they can be grown during the fall season before the soil freezes over to be harvested later in the spring.
That said, the garlic plant is rarely attacked by pests. In fact they repel moles and rabbits. They are however prone to pink root which consequently stunts the roots and turn them into a pinkish or reddish color. They can also get attacked by rot disease if the soil is infected with the same.
When the garlic bulb is harvested, it can be converted into either dried, fermented, or frozen. It is therefore common sense to say that the main ingredient of garlic powder is garlic. The process of turning the bulb into the powder involves breaking down the entire bulb into individual cloves. This is done by passing them through rubber rollers. The papery translucent shell is then removed from the clove via aspiration. After that the cloves are sliced by passing them under rollers and this causes them to form flakes. These flakes continue to be passed under a drier belt and once they are fine and dry they are packed immediately. This ensures that they do not absorb moisture from the surrounding atmosphere. The conversion is 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, per 1 clove fresh garlic.
What are the uses of garlic powder?
- Garlic in its natural form is a well known herb. It is famed for treating a variety of ailments and the same can be said about garlic powder. It contains antiseptic properties and can therefore be used to cook meals and as a result promote general good health.
- It can be used as a marinade. Combined with other herbs it can be rubbed into beef, chicken or pork to give it a rich flavor.
- It can be used together with vinegar and oil to prepare salad dressings.
- It is used in the preparation of flavored tomato sauce as a condiment.
- It has been used to make garlic capsules which help in giving the body a high immunity system.
- It can be used a seasoning to season practically every meal raging from soups, hamburger patties, eggs, popcorns, the list is endless.