Ethiopia Garlic Processing

Overview of Ethiopian Garlic

Garlic is one of the most important bulb vegetables which are used as spice and flavoring agent for foods.
It has a wide application around the world for pungent flavor as a seasoning or condiment. It is an
essential ingredient in most dishes of various countries in the world including Ethiopia. Garlic adds a
taste to foods, and it helps to make foods more palatable and digestible. It is an important component in
the leading cuisine in the world. In Ethiopia, garlic is often used for preparing foods, particularly some
kinds of stew and in making dried foods for better storage.
Garlic is rightly regarded as the queen of kitchen, and one of the most important vegetable and spice
crops produced on large scale in Ethiopia, cultivated during dry and rainy seasons. Garlic plays an
important dietary as well as medicinal role for centuries in Ethiopia. Garlic is used in the treatment of
headache, bites, worms, tumors and also can be used to reduce the risk of cancer and chest pain in the
country.

Commercial Importance of Garlic in Ethiopia

Garlic has been an important cash crop in many places around the world, and its economic significance
is also quite considerable in Ethiopia. Garlic is one of the main commercial horticultural crops with high
return to cultivators and producers. It is grown as spice and used for local dishes flavoring. This crop is
produced for home use and as a source of income to many garlic farmers in many parts of the country.
Garlic is an important bulb crop produced by small and commercial growers for both domestic
consumption and export in Ethiopia. Production of cash crops like garlic and other spices is proved to be
income generating activity for farmers, especially for those who have limited cultivated land or small
holder farmers.

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Garlic Production in Ethiopia

Garlic is the second most widely cultivated Allium spices in Ethiopia next to onion. Adet, Ambo,
Debre-work, Sinana, Jimma and many other areas of the Ethiopia highlands produce the bulk of garlic
under the small-scale farmers sector. In Jimma area, south eastern Ethiopia, farmers produce garlic
under rain-fed condition during winter (August-December) and summer (March-July) cropping seasons
for consumption and commercial purpose.
As the second most important spice crops next to onion grown in Ethiopia, garlic is taking up a total
13,278.55 ha of land, taking up about 6.64% land area covered by total vegetable crops at country level;
yielding about 123,961.46 tons of vegetable production, contributing about 7.42% to the total vegetable
crops production at country level. During 2012 and 2013 growing season, the garlic annual production of
Ethiopia is about 22,254.793 tons.

Ethiopian Garlic-based Products Processing

Garlic-based products have wide application in food processing as well as many other industries. Garlic
oil and garlic powder are the two common commercial garlic products in Ethiopia. And there is a proper
potential market requiring these products.
Garlic Oil Processing

Garlic oil is a valuable flavoring agent in food and perfumery. And also it has a pharmaceutical value as
an antiseptic and bactericide. Garlic oil is derived from the crushed bulbs of garlic, and steam distillation
is the preferred method for essential oil produced in large quantities.
Extraction of garlic oil
The collected fresh garlic bulbs are separated to get garlic cloves; the parchment skin is removed from
the cloves; the cloves are chopped and later crushed (garlic need to be crushed first to remove the
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pungent property); the garlic oil is obtained by steam distillation after crushing the fresh bulb.
How does steam distillation work
Most essential oil is obtained from the plant material by a process known as steam distillation.
The steam is produced in a boiler and it is introduced into an evaporator that contains crushed garlic and
water. The garlic is placed on a grid with certain distance above the level of the water that fills the
evaporator bottom. The water is vaporized indirectly while the steam flowing in a pipe coil submerged in
the water. The water vapor and the distilled oil from the evaporator vessel are recovered in a separate
water cooled condenser equipment. The water-oil mixture flowing out of the condenser is separated by
decantation in a Florentine flask. The essential oil is collected at the top and the distilled water leaves at
the bottom of the flask. As water still contains some soluble parts of the oil, it is sent back to the
evaporator to recover the soluble components by means of second distillation.
Machines and equipment required
1. Garlic sorting machine (optional, to get a superior-quality final products, fresh garlic can be sorted
beforehand)
2. Garlic bulb separating machine (necessary for large amount of garlic bulb breaking and cloves
separation)
3. Garlic peeling machine (remove the layers of papery skin of garlic for a good preparation for next
processing)
4. Garlic chopping/crushing machine (necessary for the perform of steam distillation process)
5. Steam distillation equipment
6. Liquid oil packaging machine
Garlic Powder Processing

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Garlic powder is a product used as spice for different foods preparation. It is obtained by grinding dried
garlic.
Production of powdered garlic
Collecting fresh garlic-Sorting-Garlic bulb separating-Garlic clove peeling-Garlic clove slicing-Sliced
garlic dehydration-dry garlic slices grinding-Packing

Machines and equipment required

1. Garlic sorting machine
2. Garlic bulb separating machine
3. Garlic peeling machine
4. Garlic slicing machine (sliced garlic can get good drying result)
5. Garlic drying machine (garlic powder is produced on the basis of dried garlic flakes)
6. Garlic powder grinding machine
7. Garlic powder packing machine (the final product have to be packed to avoid moisture resorption)

Proper Market of Ethiopian Garlic Oil and Powder

Garlic oil and powder are both widely used for the preparation of food, and garlic oil also can be used for
production of non-alcoholic beverage and pharmaceutical in Ethiopia. However, the countrys demand for
garlic oil powder is met through import, so there is a proper domestic market of these two products.
There are some markets information indicates that Japan, Canada, Hong Kong of China, The Middle
East, European countries and some African countries are potential markets.

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