In the heart of Aomori Prefecture, Japan’s top producer of garlic — both in terms of quality and quantity — you’ll find Grandma Fude’s black garlic. These Aomori-produced black garlic bulbs are slowly aged using an innovative production method, unique to this company. This brand boasts the garlic bulbs that have the same flavor of the company’s premium Oirase Black Garlic brand, but didn’t meet the brand’s strict size standards. This offers more people an opportunity to enjoy high quality black garlic, but at a fraction of the price. Grandma Fude’s black garlic is named for company president and product developer Shinichi Kashiwazaki’s grandmother, who influenced him to become the person he is today. The name and the product both serve as a form of filial piety, a lauded virtue in Japan.
The slow fermenting and aging process used reduces the distinctive strong taste and odor characteristic to raw garlic, and instead brings out a rich, fruity and sweet palette of flavors. Compared with regular white garlic, Oirase Black Garlic contains six times the amount of polyphenols, as well as more amino acids and other healthy elements. On top of that, each bulb is carefully selected by a skilled artisan based on size and shape to maintain a high level of quality and consistency. Oirase Black Garlic is already popular around the world and has been important to 24 countries, including the USA and France.