I apologize if this is a little too exciting but I have been looking for this food the last few, uh, 119 days. I had it at this food festival, loved it, bought out the vendor (it was the end of the day and they only had a gallon left) but I may have fallen in love with toum (it’s a dip made primarily of garlic, oil, and lemon but that really doesn’t tell the whole story the garlic is sweet).
I found toum at the fancy grocery today :3
I spent the evening eating pita covered in labne (tangy Lebanese yogurt) and toum. There’s a farmers’ market a few towns over where this guy sells the best bolani and now I can’t wait until market day.
Photo: Joe Lingeman
I’ve made toum twice. The first time went great, but the second time I couldn’t get it to emulsify correctly. Also, peeling the garlic is pretty laborious.
More recently, I’ve just been buying it. The “Toom” brand is at least seasonally available at Costco, and Kroger has started carrying both that and store-brand (in a deli container – might be made in-store; not sure).
Fun trick: if you have a bunch of garlic to peel, separate the cloves, put them in a large bowl, put another large bowl over the top (inverted, like a clam shell), and shake the hell out of it. You’ll find all the cloves have completely separated from the papery outsides.
Was going to post the same advice. Works great.
I like using a jar with a few drops of water personally as it takes less equipment
And now a drum stops solo!