It looks like a black truffle, has the texture of fudge and its flavor has been compared to molasses, candy, coffee, balsamic vinegar, licorice, dark soy sauce, cheese, wine — even French onion soup.

A new kind of chocolate?

No, it's black garlic, a flavoring the Washington Post has called "the next 'It' ingredient."

Now a young Big Island company, Big Blue Imports, has become the exclusive distributor for an award-winning black garlic producer, MSDFarm of Pusan, South Korea.

Black garlic is made by a variety of methods, most of them proprietary, but it began simply as a form of preserved garlic, aged for years (literally) in crocks in chilly Korean temperatures. Koreans enjoy the jet-black, creamy-textured cloves as a healthful snack; they're believed to have all the healthful properties of garlic (mainly having to do with blood circulation, prevention of coronary disease and anti-inflammatory effects) and then some. MSDFarm and other producers have applied modern technology to the process, using a 21-day fermentation process in specially made clay pots.

Fermented foods have a long history in Korea, and MSDFarm has been in the food and medicine business for more than three generations. In 2006, MSDFarm patented its black garlic production technology after 10 years of research and experiments. The company won a grand prize at the 2008 Osaka Food Convention for the process it developed.

MSDFarm makes a pasteurized liquid extract that is drunk just as it is, peeled cloves sold in small packages or jars, and whole heads in shelf-stable packaging. (Individual 36-gram packs containing two heads of black garlic are $3.99 online from Big Blue Imports, and a 6.35-ounce jar is $14.99; larger containers are available, as well as boxed packs of extract — go to www.superblackgarlic.com.)

While health was its early selling point, black garlic has leapt into the culinary sphere in recent years with a California manufacturer, Black Garlic Inc., popularizing it among Mainland chefs. The Post reported that Le Bernardin used it in a spiced monkfish dish that appeared in an episode of "Top Chef: New York" and Ubuntu restaurant in Napa, Calif., invented a dish in which pureed black garlic becomes a sauce over warm fingerling potatoes.

Here, Big Blue Imports has been meeting with local chefs, culinary instructors and others to introduce them to the ingredient. Kelly and Matt Bennett of Kona, co-owners of Big Blue Imports, have found that it marries well with Mediterranean dishes: atop pizza and in simple pasta sauces. "When I bake it in pizza, the whole house smells like sweet garlic," said Kelly Bennett.

SUBTLE FLAVOR

Black garlic's subtle taste tends to disappear if it's incorporated into more complex dishes, or with intensely flavored ingredients, said Matt Bennett. "It's a less-is-more kind of thing," he said.

At a recent luncheon with chefs, Matt Bennett passed around black garlic samples, and the chefs reacted as though they'd found a new plaything. One plans to try it in bread baking in the way that whole fresh garlic cloves or whole pitted olives are sometimes incorporated into country-style loaves. Another friend of the Bennetts makes a butter-and-black garlic spread for crackers or toast, just puréeing the two ingredients together. A Kona-based ice cream manufacturer is testing a recipe for a black garlic frozen dessert.

"They were excited about it because of the color, how the food can be displayed. I think they're going to find a lot of uses for it in presentation. It's an area that needs to be explored. We're still learning how black garlic can be used," said Matt Bennett.

The Bennetts first came upon black garlic for quite a different reason. They were traveling in Japan, where they had gone for a long stay and to attend a wedding, and Kelly was suffering severely from tinnitus, ringing in the ears. She was miserable, and a friend gave her some black garlic extract to try. Drinking the potion daily, she began to feel better.

Later, back in the U.S., the Bennetts were unable to find the ingredient in the Islands, but they did find some in Los Angeles. Happenstance led them to someone who knew the chief executive of MSDFarm, and in the course of several conversations with him, the Bennetts not only were able to get some of the product, they were granted the North American distributorship.

Said Matt Bennett: "What began as an effort just to get our hands on the product became a business opportunity, but a business opportunity we liked. The extract is not a thing you have to pinch your nose and swallow down. It tastes good, very drinkable. At the time, we didn't even know they sold it as cloves. But they sent us a sample, and we saw that it had potential uses in the kitchen as well, and that opened up more opportunity."

Right now, Big Blue Imports/MSDFarm black garlic is available only online, but they are meeting with select retailers to discuss getting the product into grocery and other stores.