Garlic Cream

Garlic cream with black pepper from the Languedoc

The garlic cream from Rue Traversette is a vegetarian spread made from 82 percent garlic, olive oil, and black pepper. Creamy and fragrant, mild rather than pungent, because Stéphane carefully simmers the garlic until only the round, warm aroma remains.

Garlic cream from Rue Traversette is a savory paste made from 82 percent garlic, olive oil, salt, and black pepper, rounded off with a splash of vinegar. Through gentle simmering, the garlic loses its raw pungency and becomes creamy, sweet, and fragrant. In France, it is known as "Ail au poivre." For anyone who loves garlic, a spoonful replaces an entire clove, with no peeling, chopping, or pressing required.

Mild garlic, simmered to creaminess

On the spoon, the garlic cream is light and creamy; it has an intense garlic aroma, but it is warm and rounded, not sharp. The color is ivory, the texture spreadable with a bit of substance. There is no comparison to a raw clove that stings the mouth; here, everything is soft, warm, and rounded.

The gentle simmering takes away the garlic's raw sharpness, leaving behind a mild sweetness that is subtly underscored by the black pepper. Creamy, savory, aromatic, with a splash of vinegar that keeps everything fresh. This preserves the garlic's beautiful aroma without the aftertaste lingering all day, and where raw garlic can easily dominate, this cream remains pleasantly in the background.

For garlic bread, with meat, and in sauces

As a vegetarian spread, the garlic cream joins our vegetable spreads and creams, turning a slice of baguette into garlic bread in seconds. Add a little butter, put it in the oven for a moment, and the kitchen smells just like a trattoria.

One spoonful replaces a whole clove: stirred into pasta, into a salad dressing, into hummus or an aioli, or into a marinade for grilled meat. It goes just as well with lamb, beef, and poultry as it does with Mediterranean roasted vegetables. It also adds instant depth to mashed potatoes or bruschetta, and on toasted bread with a marinated anchovy, it is a little classic.

When you have guests, stir it with a little olive oil and lemon for a quick dip, or spread it on a mezze board next to the aubergine cream. It enjoys bold neighbors.

Simmered at Rue Traversette in the Languedoc

The garlic cream is made at Rue Traversette in Saint-André-de-Sangonis, where Stéphane Strobl has been making much out of a few ingredients since 2005. He is picky about his garlic because it is meant to play the leading role here, not just provide seasoning.

The ingredient list is short: garlic, olive oil, salt, black pepper, a splash of vinegar—nothing else is needed. Slow simmering makes the paste creamy without any tricks, because good garlic does not tolerate shortcuts. Such honesty has been Stéphane’s signature for over 20 years, starting in a tiny garage in the Hérault after he previously sold corks to the local winemakers.

We have carried his spreads for over 15 years, ever since those early days in that very same garage. Today, there is a cannery built in 2015 where a small team continues to cook in kettles, with the same eye for detail as on the very first day.

A spoonful in warm olive oil makes garlic oil

The garlic cream is easier to spread at room temperature, so take the jar out of the cold shortly before use. After opening, keep it refrigerated and use it up within a few days. For a quick garlic oil, stir a spoonful into warm olive oil—delicious with pasta or focaccia.

It works just as well with grilled steak or stirred into herb butter. Beside grilled meat and fresh bread, it feels right at home among the other spreads from Rue Traversette, from aubergine to bell pepper.