Three-way

Dark as night and chewy like dried fruit, black garlic seems to have little in common with the pungent beige stuff. But all that separates it from plain garlic is a monthlong fermentation process. “The taste is very light; you can eat it almost raw,” explains BOKA chef Giuseppe Tentori, who combines it with a soy protein emulsifier and froths it in the blender, creating a black-garlic foam that surrounds freeze-dried-red-pepper–topped whitefish. 1729 N Halsted St (312-337-6070)

At dinner with her sous chef at HotChocolate last year, Suzy Crofton, the chef/owner of Crofton on Wells, had her first taste of black garlic. Almost immediately, she began experimenting with it. Now she purees it and both drizzles it alongside and incorporates it into the reduction sauce served with grilled prime strip loin. “What we like about it is it’s sort of sweet and contrasts with the pepperiness of the arugula,” she says. 535 N Wells St (312-755-1790)

Ever since receiving a sample of black garlic from distributor Le Sanctuaire, the ingredient has popped on and off chef Tim Graham’s menus at TRU. “I use it as an accent flavor” rather than as the featured component, he explains, such as in a mackerel escabeche, in which the “licorice-like” notes of black garlic complement flavors of paprika and cardamom. 676 N St. Clair St (312-202-0001)

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