Kompas.com – Black onions are now ingredients that are often used in various dishes. However, this unique material is not new.
Black onions have been used since centuries and then in traditional Asian cuisine and also for treatment purposes.
Black onions are the result of the process of aging ordinary garlic for several weeks or months through the Maillard reaction, which requires very controlled temperatures and humidity to reach a distinctive sticky texture.
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With a softer taste and similar to molasses, black onions offer a smoother choice compared to raw garlic.
Even more interesting, black onions are very versatile and can replace ordinary garlic in almost all recipes.
In addition, reported from Kompas.com (2/2/2025), black onions have many health benefits, such as increasing immunity, protecting heart health, until controlling blood sugar.
The process of making black onions is actually not too difficult, even though it takes a long time. Black onions can be left cooked for up to 60 days, but are ready to use after three weeks.
One of the best ways to make black onions without additional kitchen utensils is to use slow cooker or rice cooker.
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This process is quite easy, although it requires patience to achieve sweet and delicious results. There are a number of things to note, especially about the sharp odor of garlic that will fill your kitchen during this process. The following steps:
Prepare the material
You need about 6 to 7 cloves of whole garlic that has not been peeled. Make sure to clean the dirt on the surface of the onion with a rough clean sponge, but do not wash or wet the onion. The aging process can be disturbed if the onion is too wet.
Prepare a tool
Rice Cooker There must be a temperature regulation. Set Rice Cooker in settings Warm (No Low). This arrangement provides the right temperature and humidity for the aging process without cooking onions.
.Put onions on Rice Cooker
Place the whole garlic that has been cleaned in Rice Cooker. Make sure the onions are not too tight so as not to touch each other. Cover and leave the onion cooked in the settings Warm for 2 to 3 weeks.
Maturation process
In the first two weeks, you might see the skin of the onion begins to turn black and the bottom burns. After about 14 days, cloves will turn black and hard.
However, let the onion stay in the cooker for a few days until the cloves start to shrink and feel softer when pressed.
Check the maturity
To find out whether black onions are cooked, press one of the onions. If it feels soft and chewy like a date palm, it means black onions are ready.
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Some cloves may not be completely cooked, so there is no harm in letting it longer a few more days.
Storage
After the black onion is cooked, keep it in an airtight container to maintain its freshness for up to three months. To use it, just press and take the black onion cloves as needed.
Watch out for the smell of onions
During the manufacturing process, there will be a strong smell of garlic in the kitchen, especially in the first days. To reduce this odor, try putting Rice Cooker In a well -ventilated area, like in the garage.
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