Garlic peeling is the separation of cloves from the bulb and removal of the papery skin, typically using compressed-air systems, and produces the clean whole cloves used as base material for frozen, dried and paste garlic products.
In trade practice
Bulbs are first split into individual cloves by a clove-breaking machine before entering a compressed-air peeling chamber. Peeled cloves are sorted by colour, size and defects, with discoloured, damaged or incompletely peeled cloves removed before further processing. Residual skin is a common defect flagged at intake inspection for dehydrated garlic products. Suppliers are expected to document peeling line settings and defect rejection rates in batch records, which buyers may request during audits.
In a specification
A specification for peeled garlic cloves or dehydrated garlic should state the maximum allowable proportion of cloves with remaining skin, acceptable colour range and any size grading requirements applied after peeling.