Maker Β· Pantry
Umami Family Foods
Black garlic from Liguria, made with Japanese fermentation technique. The garlic ages for weeks and turns sweet, balsamic and savoury.
The story
Who's behind it
Umami Family Foods sits in Stella San Giovanni, a village in the province of Savona in Liguria. Behind the brand is a collaboration between an Italian and a Japanese family. They bring two kitchens together: Italian raw materials from the area and classical Japanese fermentation technique. What's on the pot is what's in it.
Umami, the fifth basic taste, is what this house is after: a full, savoury flavour that rounds off a dish. The products are made in small batches, with raw materials from small producers.
Why black garlic
The base is black garlic. That's ordinary white garlic aged for weeks at low heat and high humidity. Over that time the cloves turn deep black, go soft as tapenade and the flavour shifts from sharp and pungent to sweet, balsamic and savoury.
Umami Family Foods turns that base into products you use straight away in the kitchen. The black garlic cream is used straight, to finish with. The ketchup and hummus are made from it, with the same dark, sweet-savoury tone. There's also black lemon, half-dried, which gives a concentrated, lightly acidic umami.
You open a pot and have a flavour you would otherwise need weeks to age yourself.
In your kitchen
A stroke of cream under a piece of meat or fish gives your dish a savoury base that keeps guests guessing. The ketchup goes with chips, a burger or grilled vegetables. The hummus works as a bar snack or as a base under a vegetable plate.
A few flakes of black lemon over fish, over burrata or through a dressing give acidity and umami in one ingredient.
Chefβs tip
Black garlic cream is concentrated. Start small and build: half a teaspoon in a jus or beurre blanc already gives a savoury note.
How to use it
Ideas for your menu
Meat or fish with black garlic
A stroke of cream on the plate gives a savoury base that keeps guests guessing.
Black garlic ketchup with the side
With chips, with a burger or with grilled vegetables. Sweeter and darker than regular ketchup.
Black lemon over fish or burrata
A few flakes give acidity and umami in one ingredient.
Hummus as appetiser or base
Under a vegetable plate or as a dip with the same sweet-savoury tone.
For your menu
βBlack garlic from Liguria (Umami Family Foods), aged with Japanese fermentation technique. Sweet, balsamic and savoury.β
Products from Umami Family Foods
What we carry from this maker
Black garlic cream (180g pot)
Straight, to finish with. Soft as tapenade, sweet and balsamic.
Black garlic hummus (130g pot)
Chickpea base with the dark umami of black garlic.
Black garlic ketchup (130g pot)
Sweet-savoury ketchup with the same mature tone.
Black lemon, half-dried (180g pot)
Concentrated, lightly acidic, savoury. Flakes over fish or through a dressing.
Prices and availability are in the portal. Become a customer or log in to order.
Taste it in your own kitchen
Book a no-obligation tasting with Niels and taste it for yourself.