Garlic

[Glory]

My husband has developed an allergy to garlic. What can I use as a substitute in recipes? Thanks.

[Gail]

Boy oh boy, what a bummer. Although nothing is ever going to taste the same, here's an entry from our faithful Cook's Thesaurus ( www.foodsubs.com (http://www.foodsubs.com) ) which gives some suggestions:

Garlic

Synonyms: stinky rose


Almost every cuisine on our planet has found an important role for garlic. Europeans mince it raw and add it to salad dressings, or sauté it and use it to flavor their sauces. Asian cooks add it to to their stir-fries; Indian cooks to their curries; Hispanic cooks to meats and vegetables. And Americans have lately taken a fancy to roasting whole bulbs, and then spreading the garlic like a soft cheese on bread or crackers. Garlic's good for you, too. Researchers believe that garlic can bolster the immune system, lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease, and at least some people believe that it can ward off vampires and insects. The only downside is that raw or undercooked garlic tends to linger on the breath, though many people are more than willing to pay that price.
Types of garlic include the mild green garlic, the purple-skinned Italian garlic and Mexican garlic, and the common white-skinned garlic = California garlic, which is the most pungent of all.




Equivalents:

A head or bulb of garlic usually contains about 10 cloves. 1 clove = 1 teaspoon chopped garlic = 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic = 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder = 1/2 teaspoon garlic flakes = 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic = 1/2 teaspoon garlic juice

Substitutes:

granulated garlic (provides flavor, but not texture) OR
garlic flakes (Substitute 1/2 teaspoon garlic flakes for every clove of garlic) OR
garlic powder (Substitute 1/8 teaspoon powder for every clove of garlic called for in recipe.) OR
garlic salt (Substitute 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt for every clove of fresh garlic called for in recipe. Reduce salt in recipe.) OR
asafetida (powder) OR
rocambole OR
garlic juice (especially when you want the flavor, but not the pungency, of garlic) OR
shallots OR
onions OR
garlic chives

...no garlic... Wow.

[Jewel]

I feel for you Glory! DH and I feel that Onion and Garlic are a food group! Is it an allergy that just came on? Is it all garlic or just raw? Since roasted garlic is so much more mellow, I wonder if he would have the same reaction to roasted, or garlic powder. Either of those could give you at least some of the garlic flavor you'd be missing otherwise! Good luck! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Ed]

Hi Gail,

I just found out about Garlic Chives and have planted a couple of plants of them in the Herb Garden. I believe in about 2 to 3 weeks I'll have some to snip for recipes, and I'm looking forward to trying them.

Depending on the recipe we're making we may use Garlic Powder, Garlic Flakes, or Garlic Juice instead of the real thing.

I agree it would be tough to have to go without Garlic.

Ed

P.S. I had to edit this message just to put the T in "Planted." I should have planed ahead.

Ed

[This message has been edited by Ed (edited 06-18-2001).]

[SusanL]

Glory, please accept our condolensces(sp?)! Is it a temporary allergy? My suggestions were the same as mentioned above, I hope he can eat them cooked, not raw. At least you wouldn't be going cold turkey!! If and rarely if we run out of garlic, I substitute shallots.

[SandyM]

<gasp>

Best wishes to you Glory.

Banishing garlic in my house would be like banishing wine. Where's that padded room again?

[LGBurns]

I would guess that the best substitute if he can't have anything garlic related at all (like powder or flakes, etc.) would be shallots, although they are much milder. Maybe I'm a purist but I would say some recipes just can't sustain substitutions of any kind (for example, I can't imagine pesto with anything other than real garlic--not powder, juice and definitely not shallots). What a bummer--how did he determine this allergy? Maybe it's actually a reaction to something else?

[AD]

I don't think I'm allergic, but I find garlic offensive and nasty as I do onions. I will not eat anything in which garlic or onion can be tasted. I even have to avoid many restaurant foods for this reason. I can't ever buy prepared sauces or seasonings and find my choice of prepared entrees limited. If a recipe calls for garlic and/or onion, I always omit it. One less hassle to worry about in a recipe. I wouldn't want a substitute; the basic food is good enough for me!

[Wendy w]

Originally posted by SandyM:
<gasp>

Best wishes to you Glory.

Banishing garlic in my house would be like banishing wine. Where's that padded room again?

Sorry to hear this Glory. I would have to have someone take me out and shoot me.

[SandyM]

Twice.

[Vanessa]

Wow garlic! This will be a hard one to deal with. As a person who has delt with allergies for yrs let me start by saying that your DH has to find out for sure if its an allergy or a sensitivity. He must see an allergist who will perform tests to pinpoint his allergies.
Also allergies can just appear. I used to eat beef, tomatoes, wheat then out of the blue I got sick every day. Mom got me to the hospital everyday for 1 week. They did (back then) tests on my arm and pinpointed the allergens. For a long time (yrs) mom had to inject me (like a vaccine) or allergy treatment. EArly on we knew my best defense was AVOID the food, read ALL labels twice and be sure what I was putting in my mouth. I stopped allergy treatments after careful reading you really don't get cured from food allergies. So I just learned to live with it, carry Benadryl and be aware of changes that will warn me I have an allergy. I do have the usual Spring Fall allergies but food allergies are serious.
My personal advice is after you are sure its an allergy, discuss it with your doctor and buy several allergy books, read and do research and ask if its only garlic or if its also plants related to garlic too. For example I am allergic to tomatoes but I can eat peppers others cannot because they are shade vegetables. In this cae your allergiest is your best source. I ran a quyick search on garlic allergy on the web & did not find much. In the meantime don't serve DH anything that has any garlic component. Raw, cooked, garlic salt, powder etc all contain the allergen. Please be very careful.

[Julie O]

I agree completely with Vanessa. Food allergies have specific symptoms, such as hives, rash, difficulty breathing, etc. Most people call other symptoms "food allergies" when they really are not, e.g., bloating, diarrea, etc. It's important to know the difference because food allergies can be deadly if not managed properly. I also have not heard of garlic causing allergies, but if it is a true allergy then he'll probably need to avoid other similar bulb plants (onion, chive, shallot, etc) as well as any form of garlic. It's expensive, but if he's had rashes or hives, he needs to find the cause. It could be something else in the food causing the problem (egg, wheat, soy, etc.), but you won't know without testing.

Good luck. Food allergies can be very scary to live with.