For almost any industrial application, dehydrated. Fresh garlic is the right choice only when the finished product depends on the raw, volatile character that survives neither drying nor most cooking steps.
What each form actually gives you
| Fresh peeled garlic | Dehydrated garlic | |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Chilled, limited life, sprouting and mould risk | Ambient, long shelf life against a water activity target |
| Consistency | Varies by lot, season and origin | Standardised to granulation, moisture and pungency bands |
| Microbiology | Raw soil crop, no kill step | Can be supplied steam treated and verified |
| Dosing | Requires wet handling and in-house prep | Weighed dry, disperses on hydration |
| Freight | Ships water | Ships solids |
| Flavour | Full volatile profile including raw pungency | Cooked-garlic profile, top notes attenuated |
The comparison most buyers get wrong
A kilogram of dehydrated garlic is not comparable to a kilogram of fresh garlic. Drying removes the great majority of the mass as water, so the dried product represents a substantial multiple of the fresh crop behind it. Any cost comparison has to be made on the rehydrated equivalent or on delivered dry solids. Compared on gross weight, dried product always looks expensive and always is not.
The second correction is labour. Fresh garlic arrives as a raw material that the manufacturer still has to break, peel, inspect, cut and clean up after, inside a food-safe wet area. Dehydrated garlic arrives as an ingredient. In a plant that is not built for wet vegetable prep, that difference is usually larger than the ingredient cost difference.
Where fresh still wins
Fresh is defensible in chilled prepared salads, in some sauce and dip products marketed on a fresh-preparation claim, and in food service kitchens where the volume is small and the raw note is wanted. It is also the only option where a label declaration or a product concept requires it, which is a marketing constraint rather than a technical one.
How to specify the dehydrated product
Do not stop at species and mesh. A workable specification names the grade, the granulation as apertures in micrometres with percentages passing and retained, the moisture and water activity targets, the pungency band expressed as pyruvate on a dry basis, the colour expectation, the microbiological criteria with methods and sampling plan, and whether the product must be steam treated. The grades and mesh guide works through each clause; the onion cost question covers the same arithmetic for the other allium.