The Garlic Powder Hack You Need To Start Using
By LAUREN ROTHMAN
Food - Drink
If you love to cook, you probably draw upon garlic time and again, thanks to its flavor and versatility. Although garlic powder can have a bad reputation for being a shortcut, it has the potential to be even more flavorful than you know.
If you've cooked with garlic powder, you're probably used to shaking it dry into a spice blend or over some popcorn, but did you know that garlic powder tastes even more well-rounded if it's mixed with water first? Since garlic powder is just finely ground, dehydrated garlic, adding water is essential for maximizing its potential.
A flavorful compound called alliinase goes dormant in dried garlic, and it needs to be awakened with water in order for the compound to produce allicin. Cook's Illustrated suggests that an easy way to do this is to simply mix garlic powder into "an equal amount of water" before cooking.