In your supermarket there’s a new item next to the asparagus and blueberries, but it’s not a frankenfruit or a new vegetable flown in from Asia. This refreshingly authentic garlic spread comes from California and is available at most grocery stores in the produce aisle.

Frieda’s Garlic Delight is a new garlic product made from 100% all-natural ingredients. The basic garlic spread has four of them (ingredients, that is): California-grown garlic, canola oil, lemon juice and salt. It is based on a Mediterranean recipe and is touted as cholesterol-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, low-carb and contains no trans fat.

Those claims tend to deflate those of us who enjoy food. We suspect there will be no flavor or weird textures. Never fear! The number one ingredient in Frieda’s Garlic Delight is garlic.

The other three flavors available are Green Olive, Chipotle, and Sun-Dried Tomato. The Chipotle flavor has one extra ingredient: chipotle chilies. The Green Olive flavor adds green olives, oregano and white pepper. The Sun-Dried Tomato flavor also contains sun dried tomatoes, basil and paprika.

The garlic spreads enable anyone from the home cook to the professional chef to create meals and appetizers without the work of peeling and chopping fresh garlic. The spreads can also be used alone as a dip or spread on a sandwich. Each package comes with a recipe and more are available at Friedas.com.

When the Food Channel panel gathered to sample Frieda’s Garlic Delight, the sounds between bites were of… delight. There were other products the chefs were supposed to sample that day, but they kept going back to the garlic spreads.

Overall, the panel enjoyed every flavor, but the Chipotle and Sun-Dried Tomato were the favorites. It was agreed these two flavors are excellent simply served as a dip with table crackers. They decided the Green Olive and Original Garlic flavors might be better used as part of a recipe.

The Original Garlic spread was admittedly very garlicky but the chefs decided it was convenient as an ingredient or base in a recipe. One chef mentioned the spread could be used in place of a compound butter. Another chef was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of the Spinach and Artichoke Dip recipe on the Original Garlic spread container.

No matter which flavor you use, make sure you have mints available. Our panel appreciated the peppermints which were sent with our samples!