Fresh Wet Garlic
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Wet garlic is garlic pulled straight from the ground before it has been dried or cured. Standard garlic — the kind with a tight papery skin and hard, dry cloves — has been through a curing process after harvest, hung in a warm, ventilated space for several weeks to drive out moisture and toughen the outer layers. This extends shelf life dramatically but changes the flavour: cured garlic is sharper, more pungent, and more concentrated. Wet garlic has not been through that process. The cloves are plump, moist, and soft enough to crush with the flat of a knife without any resistance. The flavour is milder, sweeter, and more rounded — garlic without the aggressive bite.
The difference comes down to chemistry. The pungency of garlic is caused by allicin, a compound that forms when the enzyme alliinase comes into contact with alliin as the cell walls are broken. In wet garlic, the higher moisture content dilutes the concentration of these precursors, and the cloves have not been stressed by dehydration, which means less allicin is produced when you cut or crush them. The result is a gentler, more nuanced garlic flavour that works particularly well in applications where raw or lightly cooked garlic is the point — dressings, aioli, and dishes where you want garlic presence without heat.
The outer skins are soft and sometimes still slightly green, and the cloves peel easily without the dry papery layers getting in the way. Use them more generously than you would cured garlic — the milder flavour can take it. Wet garlic has a short shelf life compared to cured bulbs; store in the fridge and use within a week to ten days.
Origin: France
Ingredients: Fresh wet garlic (Allium sativum).
