Preserving Garlic

[Karen_D]

I want to be able to preserve garlic in vinegar - like the stuff you get from the English Povender Company. Does anyone do this? Any particular type of vinegar and anything else I need to know?

I'm not keen on keeping it in bunches as it tends to sprout and I've an allergy to most of the allium family except garlic, but if I eat the green shoots it's as lethal as the rest of them.

Wassail

Karen

[Jack]

Gidday

I am not sure about presurving in vinegar but have heard that it dehydrates very well, then you can powder it in the kitchen whizz thingie and am told it is a great way for long term storage. I have recentely harvested mine and am intending to do some like this as a trial.

[Wombat]

G'Day Karen!

In Oded Schwartz's book "Preserving" he gives the following recipe -

500ml of distilled malt vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of salt
1 kg of frsh garlic.

Bil the vinegar up for a couple of minutes.
Separate garlic cloves and blanch to remove the skin
Blanch the garlic in bopiling water for i minute, drain and put into sterlised jars.
Pour in the vinegar & Weight down the garlic.
Seal. The garlic should be ready in a month

Hope this helps

Nev

[the.fee.fairy]

Ah...LJ...

Um, yes, smoking garlic. Its yummy and something i believe you can do at home. Smoke the huge bulbs, as they shrink a bit.

We've got a bulb that we've had a for a few months, and its still nice and ok to eat.

[Jack]

Gidday

Comeone there, please tell us more about smoking garlic.

[the.fee.fairy]

Hi jack.

I'll have a look in my book about Preserving, its got instructions on making a home smoker in there. As far as i can work out, you just stick the bulb in the smoker and smoke away, Don't cut it or separate the cloves.

We bought our bulb, but they said it was quite easy to dso if you know how to smoke things (i think they were trying to keep their secrets...).

When i dig out the book (i know its at the bottom of a box...) I'll get the instructions for you.

[Jack]

Gidday

Thanks Fairy. It sound very interesting. I grow and use heaps of garlic but am still learning myself.

[cat chloe]

mmmm smoked garlic sounds yummy! I'd love to try making some of that!

[arun]

We just chucked all the garlic cloves in a jar, unpeeled and covered in white wine vinegar, has kept us going for 2 years, when you take them out the skins just about fall off ;)

Arun and Ginny

[red]

but where they crunchy like the ones you can buy? when i pickled garlic I salted first then packing in vinegar.. like you do with onions, but they were soft not crunchy - but the vinegar was fab!

[ohareward]

One way of preserving garlic is to remove the skins and put it in the food processor and make it into a paste. Put it in air tight jars and it will last for months. You just have to spoon it out as required.

Robin

[Nikki]

Garlic.... mmmmmmmm

Couple of things that are worth keeping in mind.

* The longer you keep garlic, the more pungent it becomes.
(you might want to wait a while after harvesting/buying before preserving)
* Home-grown or locally grown garlic will keep for 3-12 months depending on how healthy it is to begin with.
* Anything that is preserved is no longer the same as when fresh.
* Some varieties do well in winter.
(an important consideration if you want true garlic taste year round - fresh is best)

Probably the 3 main ways to preserve garlic is drying, freezing, and pickling (vinegar).

Drying is an excellent option as it means no extra ingredients (very Ssish), energy efficient if using a solar oven, an aga, any oven already on, or even the sun, and most importantly, it retains most of its characteristics. Dry until crisp but not going brown. If you do it in something like a solar oven or the sun, it can take anythig from several hours to a couple of days. Drying does lose garlic its crunch. It then keeps for years if correctly stored. Once re-hydrated, you get the chemical reaction happen that gets us the great garlicky taste.

A benefit of pickling garlic is that the eater won't get garlic breath. The vinegar neutralises it, although it takes months to do completely.
You can keep it up for to 5 years! And it gets better with age. I've never had any that long. Any vinegar works, depending on your personal tastes. It retains its crunch but loses some garlickness (can't think of a better word). Still a great option.

Freezing garlic works fine too. However, if you're interested in the health benefits of gralic, crush the cloves first and wait about 20 minutes before freezing. (it's a chemical thing)

Garlic in oil? YUUUUUMMMMMM Preserving garlic in oil - bad idea.
Low acidic foods in oil are only good for very short term preserving (not really preservation at all, just a few weeks in the fridge). These foods have the risk of forming certain bacteria.
The garlic in oil you buy in shops has been acidified.

Favourite way to use garlic in oil is to make garlic oil. I leave the garlin in the oil for about 1-2 weeks and then remove the cloves. You get lovely flavoured oil but the bacteria won't grow without the food to live off (the cloves).
Dried garlic in oil is okay, but I've never worked out why I'd want to do that.

[Nikki]

How could I forget!? For those that aren't big fans of vinegar, it doesn't suit favourite recipes, or just want to try something different, then try preserving garlic in wine.

It's only a short-term method though. In fridge for a 3-4weeks.

I make a lot of salsas, and preserve garlic in red wine. I then use both wine and garlic for the sauce. Red wine vinegar is a good inbetween option. Or, using 2 parts vinegar and 1 part wine.

My absolutely fave way to eat garlic, is roasted. I drool as I type. lol Anyone tried preserving roasted garlic?

[Clara]

Oh yes and very tasty it was too...

The recipe.

2 medium heads of garlic
200ml olive oil plus 2 teaspoons

To roast the garlic, slice the tops of the heads to expose the flesh then drizzle 1 tsp oil into each one. Wrap in foil and bake at 220 degrees C for 25 - 30 minutes, til soft.

Leave to cool, then squeeze out the flesh into a bowl

Combine the garlic with remaining olive oil and store in the fridge in sterilised airtight container for up to 3 months.

Easy peasy.

[Mare Owner]

Thank you Clara! Roasting is what I hope to try this winter with my garlic. YUMMMMMM.