Flavor← the wheel
Black garlic
Savory & ferment· ferment vinegar

What it tastes like
On the nose: butter, almond. Among its measured molecules: Alliin, S-Allylsulfenic acid, 2-acetylfuran, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, furfuryl alcohol.
What goes with it
- Coffeeboth carry furfuryl alcoholcite
- Bacon fatboth carry furfuryl alcoholcite
- Black teaboth carry furfuryl alcoholcite
Salt and acid
Salt
Salt not measured yet.
Acid
Acid not measured yet.
Unusual pairings
Pairs the library can cite that almost nobody makes.
- Black garlic + Tequila reposado
both carry 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, caramel musty (19 of 338 carry it)
- Black garlic + Coffee
both carry furfural, almond (50 of 338 carry it)
- Black garlic + Caramel
both carry 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, caramel musty (19 of 338 carry it)
Every one of its 15 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.
acetic acidaromaacidreads as pungent (PubChem)Measured in 35 of 338 ingredients.cite
1.729% relative content in the unfermented black-garlic broth, and 1.610-1.905% across all four columns — the most stable compound in the table, essentially unchanged by the probiotic fermentations the paper applies — Ma et al. 2021, Frontiers in Nutrition (Table 2, row 'Acetic acid', column S1)furfuryl alcoholaromaalcoholreads as bitter (PubChem)Measured in 16 of 338 ingredients.cite
1.333% relative content in the unfermented black-garlic broth, the highest of its four columns — Ma et al. 2021, Frontiers in Nutrition (Table 2, row '2-Furanmethanol', column S1)furfuralaromafuranreads as almond-like odor (PubChem)Measured in 33 of 338 ingredients.cite
2.060% relative content — the largest genuine volatile in the unfermented black-garlic broth once the cyclohexanone internal standard is set aside; a Maillard/caramelisation product of the aging — Ma et al. 2021, Frontiers in Nutrition (Table 2, row 'Furfural', column S1)2-acetylfuranaromafuranMeasured in 7 of 338 ingredients.cite
0.853% relative content in the unfermented black-garlic broth; with furfural, 5-methyl furfural and 2-acetyl pyrrole it forms the furan/pyrrole set the paper groups together, all four of which are products of the thermal aging rather than of the garlic — Ma et al. 2021, Frontiers in Nutrition (Table 2, row '2-Acetylfuran', column S1)Methionine sulfoxideacidMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
10.04 ± 0.03 µmol in 20 g of black garlic, 2.0% of the organosulfur total — Moreno-Ortega et al. 2023, Antioxidants (Table 1, S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine derivatives block, row 'Methionine sulfoxide')(2R)-2-amino-3-methanesulfinylpropanoic acidacidMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
4.86 ± 0.03 µmol in 20 g of black garlic, 1.0% of the organosulfur total — Moreno-Ortega et al. 2023, Antioxidants (Table 1, S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine derivatives block, row 'S-Methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (Methiin)')5-hydroxymethylfurfuralaromaalcoholreads as butter, caramel, musty (PubChem)Measured in 11 of 338 ingredients.cite
N.D. at day 0, day 5 and day 10 of aging; 0.12 ± 0.05 mg/g dry weight at day 20; 1.81 ± 0.16 at day 30; 3.04 ± 0.57 at day 40; 3.43 ± 0.83 at day 45 — a Maillard product created entirely by the aging and absent from fresh garlic — Chang et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3 (The 5-HMF content of hot-water extracts obtained from fresh garlic and black garlic with different aging durations))AlliinaromaacidMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
112.2 ± 0.6 µmol in 20 g of black garlic — 22% of the organosulfur total and the second largest organosulfur compound, so alliin survives the aging in quantity rather than being wholly converted — Moreno-Ortega et al. 2023, Antioxidants (Table 1, S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine derivatives block, row 'S-Allyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (Alliin)')S-Allyl-L-cysteinesulfur compoundMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
667.51 ± 10.30 mg/kg dry weight in Thai black garlic aged 12 days at 70 °C and 80% RH, against ND in both Thai fresh garlic and fresh garlic powder at a 3.8 mg/kg limit of detection — the compound is created by the aging, not carried over from the raw bulb — Manoonphol et al. 2023, Foods (Table 4 (Comparative SAC content, total polyphenols, total flavonoids, antioxidant activities of Thai strain garlic...), row 'SAC contents')S-Allylmercapto-L-cysteineMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
8.16 ± 0.02 µmol in 20 g of black garlic, 1.6% of the organosulfur total — Moreno-Ortega et al. 2023, Antioxidants (Table 1, S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine derivatives block, row 'S-Allylmercapto-L-cysteine (SAMC)')γ-Glutamyl-S-allyl-L-cysteinetastenitrogen compoundMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
87.9 ± 0.4 µmol in 20 g of black garlic, 17.2% of the organosulfur total — the largest of the γ-glutamyl peptides, the class that carries kokumi mouthfeel rather than aroma — Moreno-Ortega et al. 2023, Antioxidants (Table 1, γ-Glutamyl-S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine derivatives block, row 'γ-Glutamyl-S-allyl-L-cysteine (GSAC)')S-Allylsulfenic acidaromaacidMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
18.70 ± 0.05 µmol in 20 g of black garlic, 3.7% of the organosulfur total — Moreno-Ortega et al. 2023, Antioxidants (Table 1, S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine derivatives block, row 'S-Allylsulfenic acid')
Sources
- Ma et al. 2021, Frontiers in Nutrition
- Moreno-Ortega et al. 2023, Antioxidants
- Chang et al. 2023, Foods
- Manoonphol et al. 2023, Foods