I am not really sure if it is due to surface area directly, but more with the number of garlic cells being crushed, causing the potent component to be released in defense.
Pickled garlic=Even sweeter.
This is also partially due to more cells in the garlic being crushed and the intracellular compounds reacting with things on the outside.
It’s also important to note that allicin breaks down with time, acid, or the application of heat.
Another note here, it takes time for the allicin to form. So your maximum flavor is about 10-15 minutes after crushing the garlic. After that, you start losing flavor.
That said, allicin is only one of many flavors. And different preparations can highlight those flavors. A rich tomato sauce that has simmered for hours is elevated with garlic, but fresh garlic is a waste. Use jarred or even powdered (soaked in room temp water for a few minutes first) and it will taste much the same.
Food science is probably my favorite science
It is the tastiest science. Now, I have not personally tested that statement for every science, but I have licked a lot of things over the years.
Licking things to see how they taste is the essence of science.
Girl BoyScientist dinner
You see those influencers doing fresh garlic into ice cube trays, well I found those at one of the grocery stores, now I buy those, because they are perfect for long cooked tomato sauces, you can add a lot of garlic to those and I absolutely despise the stickyness of fresh garlic when you peel it, well no more of that for me, I just take out one or two or let’s be honest, 4 cubes of frozen garlic and use that in those recipes.
If you want to make your own version. There are a couple tricks. Take an entire head of garlic, place it on a solid surface and crush it with the heal of your palm. Then throw the entire mess into a mason jar, or even two matching bowls closed up. Then shake the piss out of it for 10-30 seconds.
Then dump the contents and pick out the fully pealed garlic.
Then just finely chop or crush the garlic and put it into an ice cube tray. You can then add a thin layer of olive oil to help cut the freezer burn, or just cover the tray.
A food processor and a spoon can also be used to keep from touching the garlic juice.
Yeah, but Goodfellas said to mince and slice for tomato sauce
Proof! Except the results have almost nothing to do with surface area and everything with chemical reactions and compositions. :D
This reminds me of the time we went to SanFran for a conference and 30 of us all went to the Stinking Rose (a notorious garlic overload restaurant) for dinner then all took the same red eye back home.
The smell on that plane was causing complaints from passengers.
“Surface area, Jerry!”
