Food trends come and go. Bagels, goat cheese and Kobe beef have all had their 15 minutes.
Let's not forget the infamous edamame that was so popular even McDonald's tossed the bean into its salads.
Now comes fermented or aged black garlic. What the Washington Post is calling the "it" ingredient for 2010 is hitting Connecticut Restaurants.
Black garlic was created in South Korea in 2004.
Ordinary garlic bulbs are cured over high heat for 40 days. The end result is dark colored, chewy garlic with a mild and softly-sweet finish. One benefit is the lack of the lingering effects of its paler ancestor - the infamous garlic breath. So kiss bad breath good-bye!
"It kind of tastes like molasses," says Scott Kim, owner of Black Garlic Inc., in Hayward, California. He is credited with bringing this delicacy to the states.
Black garlic comes with some health benefits, too. It has twice the antioxidants of regular garlic. Plus, it contains S-Allyl cysteine - a compound proven to help prevent cancer.
Scott Miller, executive chef at Max's Oyster Bar in West Hartford, uses it as a rub on the rare ahi tuna dish.
At Assaggio Restaurant in Branford, general manager Ryan Durant says black garlic is used in a dish called saketti, or a drawn beggar's purse.
Other Connecticut restaurants using the ingredient include Caseus Fromagerie and the Ivy Lounge, both in New Haven, theFisherman Restaurant in Groton and the Litchfield Country Club.
For now, foodies who want to incorporate black garlic into their dishes can only get it online through sites like Mondo Food and SauceNSpice.com.
A package of two bulbs will set you back almost $4.
