[PeterP]

I note that it is some time since pickling garlic was discussed.
As a family that loves using garlic, pickled or otherwise.
I was wondering if anyone had anything new to add to the subject ?
We do have our own recipes here, but new ones are always great.
In fact, it would be interesting to know how people preserve garlic
for future use.
Drying is the obvious way. But it does have a limited life before it starts sprouting or going soft. Has anyone tried freezing ?
Last year our garlic crop was rubbish.
I have pulled three bulbs this year up to now, and they have been in the 60/70gram range. Which is a great size for pickling etc.

[arugula]

Hi Pete and welcome! I'm personally not keen on pickled garlic, unless you hae a gorgeous recipe that would tempt me into trying it again. I would normally dry or perhaps make flavoured oil, but as you point out there's limited shelf life there...

[Trillium]

You can smoke garlic in a backyard smoker. Fruit woods add a very nice flavor to them. But I'm not sure how long they'll keep.

A friend of mine loves garlic stuffed green olives in vinegar brine, which costs a small fortune per pound. Don't have a recipe for it but I'm sure you can find one online.

[PeterP]

Thanks for reply,
Trillium, I know the olives you mean.
I tend to cheat by buying the pre-stoned green olives (Queen size are best), then putting our pickled garlic in them. Much cheaper.
My wife likes them with anchovies stuffed inside.
But of course you can put anything in there.
Always makes a nice little side dish.

[Trillium]

Do you have a recipe for the pickled garlic as I'd like to pass it onto my friend so she can make her own. She buys them readymade at the shops right now and always moans about the price.

[PeterP]

Trillium,
Will sort a couple out over the next day or so.
Pete

[PeterP]

Just trying this simple one with Garlic.
Started with a small quantity to see how it goes.
Simply put the prepared garlic cloves in a smallish jar,
cover with white wine vinegar (or cider v.). Leave it for
three or four weeks giving the bottle the odd shake.
After what ever time period filter the vinegar off and save
as Garlic Vinegar.
Leave the cloves in the jar and cover with low-salt Soy sauce.
Will keep for ages it says and can be used in all kinds of dishes.

[PurplePixie]

You can freeze garlic and it keeps quite well. Best thing to do is peel the cloves, chuck them in a blender with a tiny drizzle of olive oil just to loosen it, squish it into an ice cube tray , if you've got some left over and run out of ice cube trays just seal it in something and keep it in the fridge until the first batch has frozen, put the tray into a freezer bag to stop EVERYTHING smelling of garlic, freeze until solid and then press the cubes out and store in a zip lock freezer bag.

Just chuck in as many as you need for whatever you're cooking and just whack them with a rolling pin or poke with a veg knife it they stick together 

Asda sell frozen garlic cubes made by a company called Taj which is just garlic and no oil but if you try to blend just garlic it's a bit too dry to freeze properly.

[shokkyy]

I generally do a small amount of 'easy garlic' each year, just as a backup in case disaster strikes my stored garlic. I just chop it up, stick it in a jar and cover it with white wine vinegar.

[mrsbean]

thanks for recipe. just put mine in pickling vinegar otherday now it,s turned blue.
everything was sterile, anybody know whats wrong...

[Trillium]

Did yours happen to be the pink/purple type of garlic?

Pickling vinegar is usually stronger than wine vinegar, which is what shokkyy used. It simply might have been too potent.

[mrsbean]

it was shop bought with just a few of our cloves to pack jar.not sure of colour.wanted to try before using ours, just aswell.  will now do it with wine vinegar...
galic is now a strange green colour.

[Trillium]

Eeuuuw. I personally wouldn't eat it. 

[suziet88]

I am pleased I'm not the only one suffering from bluey/green garlic.  I put some in white wine vinegar and some in red wine vinegar.  Strange thing is that not all of the garlic is affected.  I have now separated them and wait and see what happens!

[PeterP]

hm!
been busy for a few days & now see we have multi coloured garlic!
Mine was okay in the white white vinegar, and I have just changed over to Soy.
The original vinegar is lovely and garlic flavoured.