Farmer banking on black garlic

P.E.I. farmer Al Picketts is experimenting with black garlic because it's a high-priced food product coveted by chefs and cooks in Canada.

Black garlic is a specially-fermented product, believed to have originated in Korean cuisine. Picketts is hoping it could be the next big food trend. He's made his own fermenter, converting an old fridge. It's sealed in insulating blankets and attached to a water heater.

Over three weeks in the well-sealed, warm fridge, the garlic slowly turns dark, chocolate brown.  

"Kind of a cross between chocolate and balsamic vinegar and dates and prunes and a whole bunch of things all rolled together," Picketts said of the flavour.

Black garlic can be used in sauces, soups, pasta, or even just eaten like candy. Picketts's efforts are getting praise from the local Korean community.

"I think it's very good. Nice taste. I say it's very good," said Lee Min Soo, owner of the Sushi Jeju restaurant in Charlottetown, who grew up in Korea.

Picketts himself likes his black garlic better than what he has tried in the past. While the taste is the same, his is less chewy and easier to chop.

"If it takes off and people like the stuff, then I'm going to have to start growing more garlic," he said.

The pay-off for Picketts is the price. He figures he can get five times the price for black garlic as he does for unfermented garlic.