Getting the Garlic and Onion Flavour and How to Test for Them

The low Fodmap diet for irritable bowel syndrome can seem a little boring once you have removed garlic and onion for the elimination stage of the diet, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Other ways to include their flavour exist. Watch my video to find out about them and also to learn how to test for your tolerance levels of garlic and onion.

Transcription

Welcome to your weekly video. Today I want to talk about garlic and onions.

Both of them have fructans in them, and so are high FODMAP. But it doesn’t mean that we have to do without the flavor of garlic and onions. In fact, garlic and onions are soluble in liquids, but they’re not soluble in oil. So, don’t get fooled into thinking you can throw a clove of garlic into a soup or a stew, and then pull it out, and you’ll be fine. The FODMAPs have actually leeched out into the water, or the liquid. So, you can’t do that. But you can do that if you’re making something like a stir fry. You can heat up your oil, put your garlic in, cook it for a while, take it out, and then cook the rest of your ingredients, and you’ll have a lovely flavor but without any of the FODMAPs in it. You can also add the onion flavor just by chopping up the green part of leeks or spring onions, and using it in exactly the same way as you would the onion, although it would require a lot less cooking than the actual bulb of the onion.

So, those are various ways of getting the flavor. There is also an Indian spice whose name I can’t actually say properly. It’s something like asafetida. I’ve never tried it, because apparently it’s got a very strong smell. But it does give an onion flavor so you’d be using just a little bit. You could experiment with that if you wanted. But when I need a base in which I would usually have used onion and garlic, I’d just put a little bit of garlic infused oil, and the green part of the spring onions or leeks. That’s just my normal routine now, and I don’t miss the flavor because it’s in there.

When it comes to testing these things, I’ve done another video about testing garlic and onions, but there’s no harm in repeating the information. I actually had a client just today who was supposed to be testing garlic, and I do it in three tests. The first one is to put the garlic into a soup or a stew, cook it, and then take it out before you actually eat the meal. And the second test is you chop it up, and put it in, and cook it, and you don’t take it out. And the third test is to have it raw. Now, she decided, or she misunderstood what I had said, and cut up a whole lot of garlic, put it into her scrambled eggs for breakfast, and ate it all. And not only was that the second test, that was almost the third test, because it wouldn’t have cooked very much sitting in scrambled eggs. And she got a terrible bellyache, and when I spoke to her not long ago, she still had a terrible bellyache. So that could take a couple of days to clear through her system.

To summarize, in the first test, take it out. You might not get away with that, but at least you won’t have terrible symptoms because at least that’s a mild test. But if you get away with it, then do try the next test too, which is to leave it in, but make sure it’s cooked. And then if you get away with that, and a few of my clients have, just chop it up, and have it raw in a salad, or in a sauce, or however you prefer. I have had one, maybe two clients, who have got away with having it raw. It really is one of our bigger triggers, both garlic and onion. But if you fail the tests, you still know you can have the green part or leeks or spring onions, you can have garlic or onion infused oil, and you can enjoy it that way. And that’s how I enjoy it because they’re both big triggers for me. I hope that’s helped clear up a few questions. Thank you for watching and goodbye.