Garlic Oil
The essential oil of garlic can be recovered by steam distillation of the freshly crushed cloves, the yielding being 0.1 to 0.2%.
Garlic oil is a powerful flavoring agent and is widely used in seasonings either as a liquid flavor or dispersed as a dry-carrier.
Many problems arise when fresh garlic is included in a food product.
The commercially-available vegetable occurs as a compound bulb made up of 10 to 14 small “cloves” encased in a tough outer skin.
The bulb must first be cleaned and sorted, the outer tissues removed and the cloves separated. The garlic is then ready for mincing, cutting or crushing.
The whole process is tedious and the manufacturing department becomes permeated with the smell.
This can give rise to the problem of cross-contamination unless great care is taken.
Like all other natural products, the flavoring effect of fresh garlic is variable whereas that of garlic oil is relatively consistent.
It is not surprising, therefore, that garlic oil is now widely used in place of the fresh vegetable.
To overcome the objectionable odor associated with both fresh garlic and garlic oil, the use of an encapsulated garlic oil is strongly recommended.
This dry powder is almost free of odor and does not release its contents until the capsule is broken down by admixture with water.
Garlic Oil
