Roasted Garlic Soup with Coconut Milk

If you like garlic, then this mellow tasting garlic soup recipe is one that you will no doubt love.

It is garlicky, creamy and bold, standing head and shoulders above other more plain soups.

One hundred cloves of garlic, or roughly two cups can pack a powerful punch! 

This soup is really lovely, and to a garlic lover heavenly, and definitely worth being on the best soup list. 

Another big positive is that you will be safe from vampires with all that garlic in the air!

Beautiful Tasting Garlic 

Raw garlic is intense in flavor, quite strong, spicy and hot in many cases.

Warm, spicy, and earthy are probably the best words to describe the taste of garlic.

This warm hot spiciness mellows and sweetens as the garlic bakes, or cooks giving it a very distinctive taste.

Heads of garlic can be grown easily, then dried and stored for long term keeping for use throughout the year.

Garlic is composed of several compounds that when crushed give the strong odor and flavor garlic is known for.

These compounds have a strong smell and can stay on your breath for a period of time telling everyone around you that you’ve eaten garlic!

This is one of the reasons why it’s a good idea for everyone to eat a garlicky dish together. 

Parsley is said to be one of the few things that when eaten after garlic can reduce the robust smell.

And often why parsley is included in recipes that call for a lot of garlic.

What is Roasted Garlic Soup?

Soup is defined as a liquid food that is usually served hot, but can also be served warm or even cold.

Humans have been making soup since the invention of the clay pot with various ingredients in water heated over fire.

Soup is a lovely comfort food, and especially welcome when the days are rainy and cold.

Garlic is often added to different soups to give extra flavor, and garlic soup is that extra flavor all by itself!

There are several variations of garlic soup all around the world, often made with potatoes.

Some are made like a french onion soup with toasted bread croutons and melted cheese on top.

The Spanish make an egg drop soup version by mixing egg whites into the garlic soup.

How to Make Garlic Soup

Begin by preheating your oven to 400ºF (200ºC).

Remove the outer layer of loose and dry garlic skin, leaving the cloves in the tight skin surrounding them.

Wrap the heads of garlic in aluminum foil, place on a tray and bake for 45 minutes or until the cloves have softened.

Allow the garlic to cool, then cut off the bottom end of the head of garlic and squeeze out the soft and cooked cloves.

You will end up with a paste of roasted garlic, which you will place in a cooking pot.

Add a few tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice and coconut milk, then mix with the paste.

Add the vegetable or chicken stock and blend using an immersion blender, then add the salt.

Stir and serve hot.  

If you want a richer and more lucious soup add cream and chicken broth for a nonvegetarian option.

An alternative way to make the soup and give it a stronger garlic flavor is to peel the garlic and mince it.

Put the minced garlic in a large pot with some olive oil, over medium heat and stir.

Once the garlic begins to become fragrant, turn down the heat to very low, stirring occasionally.

Stir for a few minutes and be careful the garlic does not burn.

Then add the lemon juice, coconut milk, salt and pepper.

Cook stirring until the soup heats up, 15 minutes to 20 minutes.

Health Benefits of Garlic

The consumption of garlic is well known to boost your immune system helping your body stay healthy.

This plant has been around for a long time, found in Ancient Egyption tombs, and mentioned in both the Bible and Quran. 

Used to enhance a healthy lifestyle and help cure disease in ancient civilizations, garlic has been written about extensively in medical journals. 

Garlic is known for its antimicrobial benefits, as potentially an anticancer supplement, and a help to good cardiac health.

Types of Garlic to Use

There are essentially two types of garlic, softneck garlic and hardneck garlic, and these are broken down into subcategories. 

The softneck varieties are known as either artichokes because of their overlapping cloves, or silverskins, for their silvery color.

Artichokes come in several varieties such as California Early, Red Polish, Italian Purple, as well as a few other types.

Silverskins are the type used in garlic braids and are known as Polish White, Chef’s Italian Red, or Kettle River Giant.

The hardneck variety tends to have larger cloves and are easier to peel with a more intense flavor.

Some of the hardneck varieties are known as Polish White, Persian Star, Polish Hardneck and Purple Stripe.

All of these varieties will be appropriate for garlic soup, with the hardneck types providing the most flavor overall.

Some people consider Elephant Garlic as a third type of garlic, however, that plant is actually a relative of the leek plant.

Can I Grow my Own Garlic?

Being someone who is interested in homesteading and living off the land I always advocate for growing your own.

Garlic is relatively easy to grow in your backyard as long as it is a place that does not collect water.

Well draining soil is important so that the bulbs don’t become diseased or rotten from any surrounding dampness.

Plant the cloves with the pointy side up four to six inches apart and cover with a few inches of mulch.

It is also a good idea to feed garlic plants with manure and 10-10-10 fertilizer for best results.

It will be time to harvest your garlic plants when the green stalks become completely dry.

Pull the bulbs out gently, spread them out in a dry and well ventilated area allowing them to dry fully.

Interesting Facts About Garlic

Garlic gets its name from the combination of two Anglo-Saxon words for Spear Plant.

China is the largest producer of garlic providing about 75% of the world’s supply, South Korea and India come second and third.

Long known to keep vampires away, it is less known that if you eat lots of garlic mosquitos will avoid you.

Apparently some people have a phobia of garlic, known as Alliumphobia. 

It’s actually a real thing, where people can become anxious, or even start to sweat and shake around garlic.