Garlic and Onions

ok i gotta ask this question before i forget it:

How do you keep garlic powder and onion powder from clumping?


it's so annoying! what causes clumping? humidity? when u first open one of those lil jars or shakers, the garlic and onion powder is all nice, fresh and granular. a few meals later, u open it again, go for a shake into the pot or pan and hardly nothing comes out. why? b/c it's all clumpy!

so seriously, what are your kitchen tips and tricks to avoid these annoying clumps? also which of these is your fav clump?

Seriously, I like 'em both, but onions win out for me.

Now about that pesky clumping: has it ever occurred to you that the last time you sprinkled it from the jar, it was above & into a pot of cooking food?

The steam rising from the cooking food is what makes your garlic or onion powder clump, so to prevent that, never sprinkle it directly into food on the stove-
sprinkle it into a little dish, then toss it into the cooking food.

I (or my husband) usually just shake into a small bowl where we mix up spices. Since it isn't over heat with hot moist air coming up into it, we don't get much clumping in ours unless it is well over a year old.

But I have been told that they use small amounts of dry rice in salt shakers at restaurants exactly for that reason, to stop clumping. I would bet it would work well for other spices as long as the holes it shakes out of won't let the rice come out when you don't want it to.

I'm not sure if it needs replacing over time or not; I'm sure restaurants don't worry because enough salt gets used quickly enough.

The dry rice absorbs the extra moisture in the container as that is usually what causes clumping.

And I'm 100% garlic. Not a fan of onion powder, though actual onions are good.

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rice!

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I beat the hell out of the jar to break up the lumps. Lol

I keep my spices away from the sink and stove so usually don't have this issue though.

And garlic powder all the way... I don't use onion powder, I just use fresh onions.

You can just take the top off and grind it loose with the back of a fork or spoon. A lot easier than banging it and usually a lot more effective.

As far as which I like better. Neither. I almost always use them in tandem. Usually I'll do Garlic Pepper, Onion Powder, and ground Sea Salt or course Kosher salt, on just about every meat I barbecue. I'll add other spices but that is the base.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

I beat the hell out of the jar to break up the lumps. Lol

I keep my spices away from the sink and stove so usually don't have this issue though.

And garlic powder all the way... I don't use onion powder, I just use fresh onions.

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I like fresh onions better than powdered too, but use both fresh & powdered onions & garlic.

Better than beating up your jar- use a fork or other pointed utensil to break up clumps (just take of the inner sifting cap).

Garlic salt and onion powder. And I used to have a clumping issue till I started pouring it in my hand/bowl and then mixing it in. I’ve also never over spiced it since then

Dry white rice does the trick.

If you live in a humid place it doesn't matter if you pour over pot or not, they will clump.

Paul

I use both, but probably use the onion a little more because of late nights working and not wanting to take the extra time to dice and sauté fresh onion...though I do that too. As for clumping, everyone else beat me to it...try not to use over a steaming pot and either beat the jar against my hand for light clumping (thank you southern humidity) or stab it with a fork. I use rice in my salt shaker because I rarely use the salt and that keeps it fresh longer, southern humidity and all.