Image Credit: Dorot Gardens
Dorot Gardens’ pre-portioned garlic and herb cubes are turning up in freezers across the region
Anyone who has bought a bunch of cilantro for one recipe knows how it ends: forgotten in the crisper, slimy by the weekend, straight into the trash. Fresh herbs and garlic are some of the first things to go bad in any kitchen, and most of us waste more than we use.
Dorot Gardens built a brand on solving exactly that. The company freezes garlic and fresh herbs into small, pre-measured cubes. You pop one out, drop it in the pan, and skip the peeling, chopping, and measuring. The cubes are stocked across the Southeast, and South Florida shoppers can find them at stores close to home.
The appeal is obvious in a city that cooks the way Miami does. So much of the food here, from a garlicky mojo to a herb-packed chimichurri to a ginger-forward marinade, starts with the fresh aromatics that are the most annoying to prep. A ready-to-go cube takes that chore off the table.
“Our mission is simple, to make cooking delicious meals easy, convenient, and stress-free,” said Michele Abo, General Manager at Kayco, the company that supplies Dorot Gardens in the United States. “Home cooks are busy, and summer should be about enjoying the season, not spending it prepping in the kitchen. Families across the region can find Dorot Gardens right in their local frozen aisle.”
The cubes come in garlic plus a range of herbs, including basil, parsley, cilantro, dill, ginger, and turmeric. That covers most of what a home cook reaches for in the summer, whether it’s a marinade for the grill, a quick sauce, or a handful of herbs stirred into something at the last minute.
Summer is when a product like this earns its keep. Grilling season runs long in South Florida, and grilling itself is nearly universal nationwide. The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association reports that roughly three-quarters of U.S. households own a grill or smoker. The way people cook on them has shifted, too. Instead of one bottle of sauce doing all the work, home cooks are layering flavors with marinades, rubs, and fresh herb finishes, and garlic and herbs sit at the base of nearly all of it.
The flavors having a moment right now lean directly on what Dorot sells. Chimichurri runs on parsley and garlic. Jerk and other spice-forward marinades depend on fresh aromatics. The sweet-and-spicy combinations all over menus this summer usually start with garlic or ginger. For anyone trying to recreate that at home on a weeknight, having the ingredients pre-portioned in the freezer is the difference between cooking and calling for delivery.
There’s a cost angle as well. With groceries expensive and more families eating in, people are watching waste more closely. Fresh herbs are among the most frequently tossed items in the produce section, since a bunch tends to spoil before it gets used up. A bag of frozen cubes that keeps for months is an easier buy than herbs that wilt in a few days.
The company’s own suggestions show how the cubes work. Melt a few garlic cubes into olive oil with lemon and paprika for a shrimp skewer marinade. Drop some into ground beef before forming patties for a better burger with no mincing. Stir herb cubes into melted butter and brush it over grilled corn. None of it takes more than a couple of minutes.
Dorot Gardens is available in the frozen vegetable aisle in such stores as Winn-Dixie, Whole Foods, Wegmans, and Harris Teeter, which puts it within reach of shoppers across Florida and the rest of the Southeast. Its parent company, Kayco, sells other products in the area too, including Mighty Sesame Co. and Absolutely! Gluten-free, both of which are carried at Publix.
Kayco is based in Bayonne, New Jersey, and makes a range of kosher and specialty foods, including the Craize and Wonder Juice brands. Dorot Gardens is one of its better-known lines, built for people who want fresh flavor without the prep that usually comes with it.
For more information, visit Dorot Gardens.
Written in partnership with Tom White
