Garlic Nutrition Facts, Calories and Carbs per Clove

A head (bulb) of garlic is a cluster of cloves wrapped in papery skin. USDA's record is for raw, peeled cloves, and its clove weight is a small to medium clove; large cloves from the grocery store weigh noticeably more.

• Softneck garlic: the common supermarket type, with many cloves in layers and a soft stem that can be braided.
• Hardneck garlic: fewer, larger cloves around a stiff central stalk, and the source of garlic scapes.
• Elephant garlic: very large and mild, but botanically closer to a leek than to true garlic.
• Black garlic: whole heads held at warm temperatures for weeks until the cloves turn dark, soft and sweet.

Garlic's sharp bite comes from allicin, which forms only when the clove is cut or crushed. The finer you chop it, the stronger the flavor, and heat tames it. That is why raw grated garlic in aioli or salsa tastes much stronger than the same amount slowly cooked in olive oil, and why roasting a whole head turns the cloves soft, sweet and spreadable. Garlic burns quickly in a hot pan and turns bitter, so it usually goes in after onions or other aromatics have softened.

• Garlic bread. Bread spread with butter and minced garlic, then toasted. White Bread · Butter
• Aioli and garlic mayonnaise. Raw garlic pounded or blended into an emulsion of oil and egg yolk. Olive Oil · Egg · Mayonnaise
• Marinara sauce. Garlic cooked in olive oil before tomatoes are added. Tomato · Olive Oil · Pasta
• Garlic shrimp. Shrimp sauteed quickly with plenty of sliced garlic and butter or oil. Shrimp · Butter
• Hummus. Chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon and raw garlic. Chickpeas · Olive Oil

Keep whole heads in a cool, dry place with air circulation, not sealed in plastic. Once the head is broken, the cloves keep for a shorter time. Garlic stored in oil needs care: raw garlic covered in oil at room temperature can allow the bacteria that cause botulism to grow, so homemade garlic oil should be refrigerated and used within a few days, or frozen.

Weigh peeled garlic rather than counting cloves, because clove size varies so much, and enter it in the label generator. If you use jarred minced garlic or garlic powder, enter that ingredient instead: powder is dehydrated, so it has more than twice the calories per gram of fresh garlic, and jarred garlic may contain water, oil, salt or acid that belong on the label. Garlic is usually a small share of a recipe, but it still has to appear in the ingredient list in order of weight; the ingredient formatter handles the order.