Bart’s new garlic pastes: elevating meals to exceptional

For a little bulb that grows in the ground, garlic remains one of the world’s most beloved ingredients. It’s used in eastern and western cooking in equal measure, and while it was still seen as relatively exotic in the UK as recently as the 1980s, we now chop up cloves as much as we do onions.

However, finely chopping garlic cloves isn’t exactly the most exciting activity. If it’s rushed, you end up with big chunks of astringent garlic throughout the dish, and it can be time-consuming to chop them down into a paste-like texture, where they can really work their magic in sauces, rubs, marinades and stir-fries. That’s why garlic pastes are such a popular purchase at the shops – ground garlic cloves can simply be added by the spoonful, rather than a requirement for knives and chopping boards. Garlic paste is used extensively in Indian cookery in particular, but more and more time-strapped home cooks are using it when preparing dishes from all sorts of international cuisines.

Garlic’s powerful, unmistakable flavour can be improved upon, however – something Bart’s new duo of garlic pastes proves perfectly. One contains cloves that have been given the oak-smoked treatment, while the other provides a simple, accessible way to experience black garlic, packed with incredible flavour.

Read on for a little more information on each, before taking a look at two recipes we’ve created that showcase the pastes’ flavours in simple yet impressive dishes.

Garlic cloves are slowly hot-smoked over smouldering oak wood for six hours until sweet, unctuous and infused with deep, smoky flavours in this delicious paste. They're then blitzed with Bart's own smoked garlic granules for extra oomph. The result? A simple way to get plenty of smokiness into dishes using nothing more than a spoon. Stir it through mayonnaise, add to creamy sauces for an extra depth of flavour or try it simply melted into butter for frying mushrooms, served on top of sourdough bread.

We made the most of it by incorporating the oak-smoked garlic paste into a rich and satisfying mushroom stroganoff – perfect for chilly evenings when you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. Serve it alongside rice, crusty bread or tagliatelle for a cracking midweek meal.

Black garlic is still a relatively unknown ingredient in the UK, but its distinctive flavour can completely transform dishes. It’s made by gently fermenting fresh garlic cloves in a warm, humid environment until they turn black and soft. The resulting flavour is a little like balsamic vinegar, a little like liquorice and full of sweet umami-heavy notes. It works incredibly well when stirred into sauces to give them an extra depth of flavour, or used in marinades and rubs to bring out the umami flavours of meat.

While whole black garlic cloves have been available in the shops for a while, Bart is the first company to sell a black garlic paste in supermarkets, which is available to buy in Waitrose. Each jar contains a whopping thirty black garlic cloves (around three whole bulbs), ensuring a powerful, punchy flavour in every spoonful.

Our recipe for black garlic and chipotle roast beef shows just how transformative this striking paste can be. The flavours intermingle and bring out the beef’s deep savouriness, whilst adding fiery heat and a sweet, almost tangy finish thanks to the black garlic. The carrots are placed in the bottom of the pan, absorbing all the rendered beef fat and flavours from the marinade, creating a wonderful side dish that’s perfect if you’re after something a little different for your Sunday roast.