Here's How To Use These Different Garlic Types, According To Alex Guarnaschelli

Going grocery shopping isn't exactly the most exciting errand to run, but every once in a while, you might notice a product that you have never seen before that really makes you think. What is fish sauce and how do you use it? Can you eat these banana flowers? Will homemade pizza dough turn out better if you use bread flour? Of course, you could do a web search for how to incorporate the new-to-you ingredient into your cooking, but that could send you spiraling down the black hole that is the internet for hours before realizing that you have read through 25 pages of results without actually getting the answers you are looking for.

Instead, why not just present your inquiry on social media to one of the most well-known Food Network stars... maybe chef Alex Guarnaschelli? That was one Twitter user's approach after a trip to the farmers market left them curious about how to use a few different types of garlic they found. Who even knew there was more than one in the first place? The "Chopped" judge was more than happy to share her wealth of knowledge on the flavorful allium, saving us all from an endless scroll through cyberspace.

We are all familiar with a clove of garlic, as well as its powdered and pre-minced forms (and know that, when a recipe asks for one tablespoon, we are actually putting in three). But did you know that there are even more varieties of this kitchen staple, like spring garlic, garlic scapes, and garlic chives? Twitter user @jmahnke found these exact items at the Union Square farmers market and knew exactly who to turn to on the path toward discovering how to use them: Alex Guarnaschelli.

"Very different ingredients!" the Iron Chef tweeted back to @jmahnke's inquiry about the trio of garlic products before diving into an explanation of ways to use each of them. "Spring garlic pretty tough & best slow cooked until tender. Great in a soup/stew," she said of the ingredient that Food52 describes as garlic that has not fully matured yet. As for garlic scapes, which look like thin and curly green stalks (via Bon Appétit), Guarnaschelli suggested chopping them up to use in a stir fry with other veggies, meat, or fish, or even using them in a chimichurri sauce, while the third ingredient, garlic chives, have a "strong garlic taste" and can be used similarly to regular chives.

So there you have it — instructions on how to go about incorporating three different garlic products into your cooking from the prestigious chef Guarnascheli herself! Make sure to pick these up on your next grocery run because, as we all know, there's no such thing as too much garlic.