Soothing Roasted Garlic Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you soften the taste of garlic? ›

Acidic ingredients like lemon juice or vinegar can help to cut through the strong flavors of garlic. Adding dairy products like milk, cream, or yogurt can also help to mellow the taste and create a more balanced dish.

Allow the garlic to cook for just 30 to 60 seconds before adding liquid or other ingredients to the pot. This is our best practice when cooking just about anything with minced garlic—from chili to pasta sauce to vegetable soup.

You can put a big handful of whole garlic cloves in a small pot of soup and hardly even know there's any garlic in it. The more you cut the garlic, the more of the allicin is formed and the stronger the flavor. If you cut a clove into 8 slices, it will have more flavor than if you cut it into only 4 slices.

It turns out that there's a ton of flavor in the papery outer layers of onions, and same for garlic. The skins on both alliums are unpleasant to eat, as well as possibly a choking hazard, but they're absolutely wonderful for infusing flavor into soups, sauces, and stock.

We tested four methods: blanching whole cloves in milk for 5 minutes, blanching them in water for 5 minutes, microwaving the cloves until warmed through, and toasting them in their skins in a dry skillet until lightly browned. Both forms of blanching worked equally well, as did microwaving.

Make garlic mellow by roasting it

Put the head (or heads) in the center of a piece of foil and drizzle with a little olive oil. Gather the foil around the garlic like a pouch and place it in a small baking dish (just in case there's a leak). Roast at 350°F until the garlic is completely soft and golden brown.

You can significantly reduce garlic's intensity by neutralizing alliinase. The way to do this is with heat. By cooking garlic at temperatures above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, you can deactivate alliinase and mellow out an overpowering garlic flavor.

But of course, the main reason to make roasted garlic is the taste. Unlike raw garlic, roasted garlic doesn't have any sort of bite. Its flavor is sweet, mellow, nutty, and rich. It also softens as it roasts, becoming tender, creamy, and spreadable.

Garlic bulbs in peak condition should have plump, firm cloves tightly covered by white or purplish papery husks. Take a pass if you see shriveled cloves or browned husks, or if the cloves are soft when pressed. Green sprouts from the top of the bulb are a sign of improper storage, so avoid garlic with these.

Though tempting, avoid refrigerating or freezing garlic at all costs, as it can ruin both the texture and flavor.

Why did my garlic turn green in my soup? ›

As soon as you start cutting or grating garlic, chemical reactions begin occurring. These reactions are sped up with higher temperatures, so it's a good idea to keep your garlic in the fridge to minimize them. Similarly, sweating garlic or simmering it at relatively low temperatures can cause it to rapidly turn green.

The bottom line. Garlic is highly nutritious and associated with a variety of health benefits. However, if you eat too much of it, it may cause side effects like bad breath, acid reflux, digestive issues, and an increased risk of bleeding.

Garlic soup is a highly medicinal soup that helps boost your immune system while reducing inflammation throughout the body. Many versions of this soup are found in an array of cultures from Spanish to French and Polish to Mexican.

The garlic bulb is enclosed by a paper-like, often transparent peel (hereafter referred to as the outer peel) and composed of multiple cloves each enclosed by the so-called garlic skin (inner peel) (Figure 1).

Make sure the garlic is submerged in the oil, and cook slowly on low heat until garlic is soft and tender. This took me about 45 minutes but could take as little as 30 minutes (and even an hour!) You aren't looking for deeply browned garlic, just garlic that will easily smush with a fork.

Eat produce like apples, spinach, or mint

If you're having a particularly garlic-heavy meal, eat apples for dessert or chew on fresh mint leaves. One study indicated that the chemical makeup of raw or heated apples, lettuce, and mint helped deodorize garlic breath. Hot green tea and lemon juice may also help.

Since crushing breaks the most cells, crushed garlic cloves taste stronger, whereas coarsely chopped or sliced garlic cloves taste milder. Intact garlic cloves are mildest of all. Mashing minced garlic with a pinch of coarse salt can help tame the harsh flavor.

But for those who want a quick and easy solution to rid themselves of that garlicky taste and smell ― which can last for as long as 24 hours after eating certain foods ― there's a quick and easy garlic breath remedy.

Cooking affects the intensity, softening the sharpness and adding depth of flavor to the overall dish without being overwhelming.