No Amazon?
No Problem for Black Garlic North America

Get black garlic FAST by shopping black garlic from North America!

If you’re anything like me, you are probably spending more time on your computer and mobile devices these days. Many governors have issued “Stay at Home,” “Safe at Home,” and in Wisconsin, “Safer at Home” orders to protect us from the novel Covid-19 pandemic that has now been declared the #3 cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer, according to Newsweek. 

To protect the vulnerable among us and to avoid overwhelming healthcare workers, many of us are working from home, teaching children from home (A+ to all the parents), and generally just spending more time at home. In this new world we have access to our personal computers and our cellphones 24/7, and many are shopping online for items they might purchase at brick and mortar stores. If any of this sounds familiar to you, then you have probably wandered onto Amazon.com a time or two in the last few weeks. #guilty.

I was just shopping on Amazon last night, trying to buy a puzzle for my parents to put together while they stay home. Amazon pages declared the puzzles were in-stock but whenever I added a puzzle to my cart one of two scenarios would occur:

1.    The puzzle would no longer be available from a supplier I trusted.

2.    The puzzle would be available and would ship to my home… in June.

I didn’t buy a puzzle on Amazon.

As many of you know, Amazon is currently prioritizing the items that consumers most need during this time – which is absolutely what we all should want. As a result, shipping delays for many items will be common and Amazon makes this clear in a statement located at the top of their website. As part of Amazon’s prioritization plan, at least 53% of Amazon sellers are currently not allowed to send shipments of their products to Amazon to fulfill (FBA) – see data from Jungle Scout. This includes sellers from outside of the USA. 

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) allows sellers to send their products to Amazon to hold their inventory, ship their products, and offer customer support on their behalf. Amazon sellers were given almost no advance warning of this temporary change and are currently forced to store their own inventory, ship their own orders and provide customer support, even though the orders for their items are placed on Amazon.com. This big change will have an impact on the speed of many orders – especially if the seller is based in China or another area outside of the U.S. as those sellers will have to ship their items internationally to get them to you if their Amazon inventory dwindles to zero.

For some sellers, this inventory shortage has already occurred. As a result of the coronavirus outbreak in China, some of the items you would normally see stocked from Chinese sellers on Amazon may not be available. According to a Reuters article from March 6th, “China’s exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year… as the health crisis triggered by the coronavirus outbreak caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.” The same article cites a 17.2% decrease in overseas shipments from the same months in the previous year, according to customs data.

What does all of this have to do with Black Garlic?

Many black garlic brands source their garlic from China and Korea and produce their black garlic outside of the United States. According to MW Polar’s Amazon seller page, their black garlic originates in China, as does OneTang brand. RioRand brand black garlic is possibly made from garlic sourced in Korea, according to an article on BestProducts.com, and stickers on their products read “Made in China,” according to many surprised Amazon reviewers. As of yesterday, I was no longer able to shop the Organic version of RioRand black garlic on Amazon. Other brands of black garlic produced in the UK, such as Balsajo black garlic and The Original Black Garlic brand are made from garlic sourced from Korea, according to Amazon Seller Pages and the website Natural-Grocery.

Black Garlic North America gets all of our fresh garlic from North America and produces our black garlic in our home state of Wisconsin. Though one of our storefronts is on Amazon, we sell our black garlic on our online retail store and ship orders made on our site directly from our location in Wisconsin. Our shipping is fast and free, and we don’t have minimum orders; it’s basically Black Garlic Prime every day on our online shop! Not every black garlic supplier can make the same claims.

The black garlic we sell is 100% natural, preservative-free, gluten-free, vegan and Kosher-certified, and we offer certified organic black garlic as well. We have more products than the competition with our whole bulbs, peeled cloves, pureed black garlic and even granulated black garlic powder (umami fairy dust!), and we test each batch of our black garlic for the active component of S-allyl-cysteine, which is scientifically proven to lower cholesterol and improve heart health. 

If your brand is getting low on inventory, or their shipping times have increased due to the temporary Amazon FBA freeze, or you simply want to support an American black garlic company that ensures the highest quality and the best taste while employing a team with more than 50 years of experience in the food industry, then we hope you will support a family business and try Black Garlic North America. Taste the difference and show us what you made with our black garlic on our Instagram @blackgarlicna and on Facebook. 

Ready to shop our online store for delicious black garlic with free shipping and no minimum orders? Shop Now! And check out our Shipping Time Estimate Map to see how fast you will be getting your black garlic (hint: it won’t be June)!

P.S. I found a company that makes puzzles in America from recycled materials that can ship to me with only a short delay in Standard shipping times. 😊

Future Articles: Why buying American is so important, how black garlic is the perfect ingredient for your kitchen RIGHT NOW, and the differences between black garlic brands and products.