Trader Joe’s Premium Peeled Garlic. Fresh package on the left, 3-month old package on the right.
I use a lot of garlic when I cook. I hate peeling garlic. Ergo, I use already-peeled garlic cloves. I have tried several brands from Asian markets and also the Spice World brand, which is sold at my local big box store. The price is great, currently $4 for a pound of the Spice World. But the cloves start to deteriorate as soon as the package is opened and by the time I’m halfway through most of the cloves are moldy. Of course I’m too cheap to just throw them away at that point, but trying to find usable cloves among moldy ones is not a lot of fun.
A closer look at a sealed packet of Trader Joe’s garlic. No mold!
Recently I was traveling and picked up a package of Trader Joe’s Premium Peeled Garlic. I’m a fan! It’s $2.49 for only 4 ounces which does not sound like the kind of thing a cheapskate would go for, but I brought the remainder home with me and am still using it three months later. The package contains several smaller packets of a few garlic cloves each, sealed in what is not quite a vacuum pack but definitely has had some air removed and maybe neutral gas pumped in? (No, they’d have to say that on the label.) That’s why the garlic can stay fresh, though the cloves are viable for a while if you have leftovers after the little packet is opened.
Trader Joe’s Premium Peeled Garlic is “grown in California” which is a bonus if you’re concerned about buying fresh food from an overseas source that has reached your produce shelf at the end of a long journey. Look for it among the refrigerated items in the produce section.
