19 Jun 2011

By: LUA JIA MIN

Here is some garlic even non-vampires may baulk at: Black garlic that cost $60 or more for a pack of six bulbs.

However, these days, in chic kitchens, the black garlic is the new, well, black.

A type of fermented garlic, it derives its name from the colour of the cloves after an ageing process. Appearing in the market here about two years ago, the herb has gained devotees and advocates.

Oil painter Choo Keng Kwang, 81, has been eating around half a bulb of black garlic a day for the past few months. Mr Choo, who suffers from psoriasis – a skin disease which results in itchy red patches or flaky scales, decided to give the herb a try after seeing a newspaper advertisement for it.

He says in Mandarin: "The effect was obvious. After three to four days of consuming black garlic, the red patches disappeared. Previously, I’ve tried many skin creams given by doctors and they were not effective.”

He spends about $6 a day on this black garlic diet.

The blackened cloves are available at selected NTUC FairPrice and FairPrice Xtra, Giant hypermarkets and Shop N Save supermarkets. The black garlic at these stores are imported from China.

Black garlic is produced by fermenting whole bulbs of fresh garlic in temperatures of 65 to 80 deg C in a humidity-controlled room for nearly a month. After this, the garlic cloves will have turned black.

But the product at this stage would still not be ready for consumption "as the taste would be too bland”, says Ms Low Gim Noi, 46, managing director of Defu Foodstuff, which sells black garlic.

To achieve a sweet, prune-like taste, the fermented garlic is left to oxidise in a clean room for 45 days.

Black garlic can be eaten raw or cooked in the same manner as fresh garlic, she adds. She recommends cooking black garlic in dishes such as chicken baked rice and bak kut teh.

Singapore General Hospital dietitian Tan Ai Shan says: "Unlike fresh garlic, black garlic is sweeter in taste. The pungent smell and spiciness in fresh garlic is removed during the fermentation process.”

She points to experiments conducted by Japanese researchers in 2007 which suggest that black garlic is more effective in reducing the size of tumours in laboratory mice. The study was published in a Global Science Book journal about medicinal plant science.

However, as the majority of research on black garlic’s health benefits has been conducted on laboratory animals, Ms Tan stresses that "there is still a lack of scientific evidence to support the use of black garlic for health purposes on humans”.

Fermented garlic has greater health benefits than the common variety, says nutritionist Velumani Deepapriya of the Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Association. "Especially in improving blood circulation and increasing antioxidant levels in the body,” she adds.

This is due to the production of water-soluble amino acid, S-Allylcysteine, which contains antioxidant properties, during fermentation. Antioxidants are substances that may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Free radicals can lead to heart disease, blocked arteries and cancer.

Business consultant and part-time marathon runner Edward Goh, 50, started eating black garlic last June to lower his cholesterol level.

His cholesterol was considered high at 250mg/dL. According to the Singapore Heart Foundation’s guidelines, an average adult should maintain his total cholesterol level at less than 200mg/dL.

"I was not taking medication because I do not believe in having chemicals in my body.” says Mr Goh. "After eating two cloves of raw black garlic daily for a few weeks and doing constant exercise, my cholesterol level dropped to below 200mg/dL.”

Health reasons aside, Mr Goh, who spends $68 on a pack of six which lasts him around six weeks, is also a fan of the tangy sweet taste of black garlic.

He says: "There’s a balsamic taste I like. It’s really tasty.”

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Benefits

Black garlic is a pure natural nutritrition food adopting international leading special biological fermentation, screening high quality garlic carefully, fermenting spontaneously after 60-90 days, soft and slippery, sweet and sour taste, black-jelly shape. In garlic fermentation process, the protein breaks down into amino acids, carbohydrates, especially allicin breaks into the odorless, low irritating and deoxidizing alliin, so the garlic become black one. Black garlic changs the taste of garlic, maintains and enhances the edible and medicinal value, makes people absorb the nutrition more easily while eating, eliminates the spicy excitant odor, becomes a kind of pure natural green nutritrition food without any addition agent, which is rich of nutrition and delicious. S-allyl base homocysteine can prevent the combinatiopn of reactive oxygen species and harmful cholesterol; restrain the occurrence of arterial sclerosis.

Usage：6-10 cloves daily;
Note：With black garlic skin soaked drink will get better result. This product cannot replace drugs.

The Black garlic derives its dark appearance through the fermentation process. Fermentation takes place through two stages. In the first stage Organic garlic bulbs are arranged in wooden boxes and placed in a greenhouse-like room for about a month.

The room is kept at high temperature and humid conditions to create a dry steaming effect which is ideal for the garlic bulbs to ferment. By the end of the month, the garlic bulbs will acquire a light brownish color. They will then be transferred to another room for the next and final stage of maturation after which in would acquire its black appearance.

Simple though it may seems, these effects on the fresh garlic bulb includes decomposition, acid reduction, hydrolysis, synthesis and a host complicated transformation affecting more than 800 types of amino acids. Enzymes are broken down and proteins and sugar naturally found in the garlic will combine to create the black appearance, the sweet, balsamic taste and smooth soft texture that offers an amazing melt- in-the- mouth sensation.

In a Research into the Increased Anti-oxidative Potency of Garlic by Spontaneous Short-term Fermentation,(Emiko Sata, et al 2006), the report sugested that the black color is likely to be derived from anthocyanins so that a hypothesis is also raised that polyphenols are increased. This method of fermentation was also discussed by Professor Junichi Sasaki (Sasaki J, et al, 2000) , which the research team tested the anti-tumor potentials of the aged Black Garlic.

You can eat it by itself or cook with other food. It does not stimulate stomach in a way a raw garlic does. One or two cloves is a recommended amount of consumption per day.

Another benefit of black garlic is its antioxidant levels – it contains twice that of regular white garlic.

"Antioxidants are essential for our immune system as well as preventing and repairing damage to the body’s cells,” says Robert.

"Black garlic could also help lower cholesterol levels, and may offer some protection against infections as it’s a natural antibiotic.”

Natto is a traditional Japanese dish made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis1 . Keep in mind that we do not recommend eating soybeans unless they are fermented. The key element in natto is the fermentation of the soybeans, which make them easier to digest while increasing your body’s ability to absorb nutrients.

Matsutake mushrooms are also known as pine mushrooms or Tricholoma matsutake or Tricholoma nauseosum. They originated in Japan, but can be found in northern parts of Europe, Asia and North America. They are very popular and respected in Japanese cuisine for its distinctive flavor. Japanese respect these mushrooms so much that they are prepared to pay several thousands of dollars for a kilo of Japanese mushrooms. The imported Matsutake are much less valuable, but still used in the meals.

The tradition of using Matsutake in the healing started in ancient China, 3000 years ago. In these days, people believed in the magical properties of matsutake mushrooms and had used them in many rituals.