Black garlic
Black garlic is to a raw bulb what a dried fig is to a fresh one: same fruit, less water, a different century. Nothing is added — no smoke, no sugar, no fermentation worth the name. Only time and gentle heat.
The bulbs are grown by Casa Negrilho in São Teotónio, Odemira and cured whole, skin on, in a chamber held at a low, steady temperature and high humidity for sixty days. No additive, no starter culture, no smoke — the chamber does one thing and does it slowly. Over those weeks the cloves pass through amber and bronze before settling into near-black, and the raw bite disappears entirely.
We look for food with a sense of place and a person behind it. Black garlic passes on both counts: one ingredient, one small producer, and a process whose only shortcut would be to make it worse. Nothing here scales politely — which is exactly the point. See How we choose.
Squeeze a clove straight from the skin onto warm bread and let it melt — that is the whole recipe, and the first thing we would ask you to try. After that: mashed into butter for steak, whisked into a vinaigrette, folded into mayonnaise for chips, or dropped whole into a stew. It is sweet, so treat it as a condiment rather than an aromatic. Hint: it never needs cooking.
Five more things to do with a black bulb — one of them a dessert — are in the Journal: Black garlic: what weeks of gentle heat do to a bulb.
Ingredients: garlic. That is the entire list — no preservative, no acidity regulator, no added sugar. The declaration printed on your unit is the version that counts.
Allergens: none of the fourteen allergens the EU requires us to declare. Garlic is not one of the fourteen allergens the EU requires us to declare, but the room where a product is packed can be: the room where they are packed also handles nuts and sesame.
Nutrition per 100 g: energy 620 kJ / 148 kcal, fat 0,5 g, carbohydrate 33 g of which sugars 12 g, protein 6 g, salt 0,04 g.
If you are managing an allergy, write to us before you order and we will send you a photograph of the full label.
Unopened, keep the bulbs somewhere cool, dry and dark — a cupboard, not a windowsill. Black garlic is shelf-stable: the long cure took out most of the water that would otherwise spoil it.
Once opened, once opened, refrigerate and use within three weeks.
Best before: 12 months from packing. The date and the batch number are printed on the label of every unit.
Two things that are normal and not defects: a tacky, slightly sticky surface on the cloves, and white crystals on the skin. Both are concentrated sugars. A clove that has gone firm is not a defect either — it will soften in warm food.
Garlic is a slow crop that looks fast: planted in autumn, lifted in early summer, then dried in the field before it is worth anything at all. How well that first drying goes decides everything that happens later, including the sixty days in the curing chamber.
Portugal cooks with garlic in almost everything and with black garlic in almost nothing. It came here as a technique rather than a tradition — an idea that travelled from East Asia and found a kitchen culture already committed to the raw material. Casa Negrilho works with Branco de Vila Nova, the variety Odemira has been planting for generations.
Everyone calls it a ferment. Nothing ferments: the sugars and amino acids simply rearrange themselves, slowly, in the dark. Glocal, in one bulb — a global method, a strictly local ingredient.
EVERYTHING LEAVES FROM PORTUGAL
Every physical order is packed and dispatched by us, in Portugal. This page has the countries, the costs, the times and what happens when something goes wrong. Digital products do not ship at all — they are covered on Digital Downloads.
WHERE WE SHIP
We ship to the countries listed below. If yours does not appear at checkout, we do not have a rate for it yet — write to us and we will tell you whether we can arrange one.
| Zone | Countries |
|---|---|
| Zone 1 — Mainland Portugal | Mainland Portugal |
| Zone 2 — Madeira and Azores | Madeira and the Azores |
| Zone 3 — European Union | Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the other member states |
| Zone 4 — Rest of Europe | United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway |
| Zone 5 — Rest of the world | United States, Canada, Brazil and Australia |
SHIPPING COSTS
Shipping is calculated at checkout from the weight of the order and the destination zone. The exact amount appears in the order summary before you pay, and nothing is added afterwards.
| Zone | Up to 500 g | 500 g to 2 kg | 2 kg to 5 kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | 3,90 € | 5,50 € | 7,90 € |
| Zone 2 | 6,90 € | 9,50 € | 14,00 € |
| Zone 3 | 7,50 € | 10,90 € | 15,50 € |
| Zone 4 | 11,90 € | 16,50 € | 22,00 € |
| Zone 5 | 14,90 € | 21,00 € | 29,00 € |
Free shipping applies from 60,00 € in mainland Portugal. An order that mixes an e-book with a physical product is charged shipping only on the physical part.
DISPATCH TIME
We dispatch within 1 to 2 working days working days of the payment being confirmed. Orders placed at the weekend or on a Portuguese public holiday are prepared on the next working day. Some food is produced in batches around the producer's calendar rather than the day you order it; when that is the case, the product page says so before you buy, with the expected date. We would rather tell you in advance than send an apology later.
DELIVERY TIMES
Delivery time starts when the parcel leaves us, not when you order. These are the carrier's working-day estimates, not guarantees.
| Destination | Estimated delivery |
|---|---|
| Mainland Portugal | 2 to 4 working days |
| Madeira and Azores | 4 to 7 working days |
| European Union | 4 to 8 working days |
| Rest of Europe | 4 to 8 working days |
| Rest of the world | 7 to 15 working days |
December and August are slower everywhere, in both directions. If you are ordering for a date, order early and tell us in the order notes — we will do what we can with the carrier.
WHO CARRIES IT
Parcels travel with CTT Expresso. The carrier is chosen by destination and weight, not by you, and appears in the dispatch email together with the tracking number. Deliveries are made on working days during business hours; if nobody is there, the carrier leaves a notice and holds the parcel at a pick-up point for 7 calendar days before returning it to us.
HOW WE PACK
Jars travel in moulded pulp or corrugated inserts inside a rigid outer box, with the label turned away from the seam, which is the part most likely to be scuffed. Textiles travel flat, in paper. We use paper tape, paper filling and no plastic void fill — not as a claim, but because it is what is in the packing room and it is what goes in your recycling without being separated. Nothing is over-boxed: a small order arrives in a small box.
TRACKING YOUR ORDER
When the order leaves us you receive a dispatch email with a tracking number and a link, and the same tracking sits in your account under Orders. The first scan usually takes a few hours to appear, so a status that has not moved by the first evening is normal. If tracking has not moved for 10 working days working days, write to us with the order number and we will open a query with the carrier.
CUSTOMS AND DUTIES
Inside the European Union, the price you pay includes Portuguese VAT and nothing further is charged on arrival. Outside the EU, import duties, taxes and clearance fees are set by your country and are payable by you as the importer, on top of what you paid us. We declare every parcel accurately, with its real contents and value; we do not mark orders as gifts or understate values, because a parcel held in a customs shed costs you more than the duty. the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, the United States and Canada
DAMAGED OR LOST PARCELS
If a parcel arrives damaged, photograph the outer box before you unpack anything, then photograph the contents. That first photograph is what settles a claim with the carrier and it cannot be recreated afterwards. Send both to us with your order number within 48 hours and we will replace the item or refund you in full, shipping included. If a parcel is declared lost by the carrier, the same applies — you deal with us, not with them.
DIGITAL PRODUCTS DO NOT SHIP
E-books and guides are delivered by email as soon as the payment clears. There is no address to fill in, no carrier and no shipping charge on a digital-only order. How the delivery works, which formats you get and what to do if a link fails are all on Digital Downloads. Returns, the 14-day withdrawal right and its exceptions are on Returns & Refunds.
| Origin | Odemira, Alentejo Litoral |
|---|---|
| Producer | Casa Negrilho, a two-person operation |
| Net weight | 120 g · three whole bulbs |
| Storage | Cool and dry, away from light · once opened, refrigerate and use within three weeks |
| Allergens | None. One ingredient: garlic |
| Shelf life | 12 months · date printed on every unit |
| Who it's for | Anyone who thinks they already know what garlic tastes like |
