Badia minced garlic in olive oil. 8. oz.

Badia minced garlic in olive oil is the jar that lives on the counter of cooks who refuse to peel cloves at 6pm but won't touch garlic powder either. Real garlic, already minced, suspended in olive oil — ready by the spoonful.

A spoon goes into the pan when the onions start to soften, building the sofrito before the tomato and ají hit. Another spoon goes into mojo for yuca, or into the marinade for pollo asado the night before. Badia is a Miami-based, family-owned spice house that has been stocking Cuban-American pantries since 1967, and this jar is one of their workhorses.

Common Uses: sofrito base for frijoles negros and moros y cristianos, mojo criollo for yuca and lechón, marinades for ropa vieja and picadillo, camarones al ajillo, garlic rice, quick weeknight stovetop sautés.

Pantry Role: sofrito starter and base seasoning — the shortcut that doesn't taste like a shortcut.

Cultural Context: Cuban cooking runs on garlic the way Italian cooking runs on garlic — but in heavier doses, browned harder, leaned on for depth. A jar of pre-minced garlic in olive oil is how working households keep that flavor on the table without the prep time. It's a quiet diaspora staple: not romantic, just relied on.

Pairs With: comino, oregano, bay leaf, naranja agria, Spanish olive oil, white onion, green bell pepper.

Ships nationwide to households that go through garlic faster than they can mince it.