I love to buy fresh locally grown garlic in the fall, but it only keeps well for a few months. A couple of years ago, I learned I could lacto-ferment garlic in a salt brine. The process is similar to how cabbage is fermented into sauerkraut. Like kraut, fermented garlic keeps well for a long time. Another benefit -- the garlic is still pungent and flavorful, but it is much less upsetting to my stomach.
I started a new batch today, and thought I'd share how I do it --
I bought three large heads of garlic thinking they might fill most or all of a 1 pint (500 mL) jar. You don't have to completely fill a jar, however. The jar I used for my first batch was only about half full and that worked fine.
Break the heads apart into individual cloves, discard loose husks, and peel the cloves. The quickest way I've found to peel garlic is to shake small handfuls of cloves in a closed container. I used an aluminum shaker jar, but any sturdy container with a lid will work. I shook the cloves long enough to loosen the husks, but not so much that the cloves get banged up a lot. After experimenting a bit, I learned about 20 seconds of moderate shaking worked well.
I worked outside to minimize the mess and odor in the house and also to enjoy a few minutes out in the sun -- a rare treat during this long, snowy winter.
Rinse the cloves to remove any last bits of skin. Trim off any damaged areas.
Make a 2% brine of water and plain salt. I estimated I would need about a cup of brine for my pint jar, so I measured about 1 cup (8 oz / 250 mL / 250 grams) of water. I used distilled water for this batch, but I have used regular drinking water too with good (if sometimes unexpected) results.
Why did I use distilled water in this batch? I have made two batches of fermented garlic with tap water. The garlic in my first batch stayed white, just as I expected. The garlic in my second batch startled me by turning a vivid blue-green. I checked several reputable sources and was reassured this green garlic is perfectly safe to eat. I learned minerals in tap water can react with certain chemicals in the garlic to form green compounds during fermentation. See https://www.thespruceeats.com/garlic...ickled-1327752. For my third batch, I want to see how garlic fermented in distilled water turns out.
It's not super critical to weigh the water and salt, as I did for this batch -- volume measurements are fine. For every cup of water, add a level (not heaping) 1 teaspoon (5 grams) of Morton's kosher salt. For regular fine-grained table salt, measure a scant teaspoon of table salt per cup of water. Stir the salt into the water to make the 2% brine.
Dump the garlic in a freshly cleaned canning jar or similar container. Pour enough brine into the jar to cover the cloves by at least 1/2 to 1 inch (10 to 25 mm).
Cover the jar loosely with a cap. Gases produced during fermentation must have a way to escape, so don't torque the lid down tight. If you have a fermentation air lock, feel free to use it, but it's not strictly needed for fermenting garlic.
Put the jar in a dark place at room temperature for about 3 weeks, give or take a bit. Bear in mind a bit of garlic odor might waft from the jar for a few days, so pick a spot where sensitive noses will not be offended. The odor will subside with time.
You might see a few tiny bubbles during fermentation, but in my experience, garlic does not bubble much. The main change is the brine will become cloudy.
After about 3 weeks, cap the jar securely and store it in the refrigerator. Use the garlic in cooking as you would fresh garlic. The fermentation brine can also be used to add a bit of a garlicky pickle-y punch to a dish.
The garlic shown below was fermented in October, and I'm down to my last 3 cloves. This is the batch that turned a startling green during fermentation. You can see the cloves have gradually morphed from green to gold during storage. Regardless of color, garlic cloves become slightly translucent during fermentation.
I started a new batch today, and thought I'd share how I do it --
I bought three large heads of garlic thinking they might fill most or all of a 1 pint (500 mL) jar. You don't have to completely fill a jar, however. The jar I used for my first batch was only about half full and that worked fine.
Break the heads apart into individual cloves, discard loose husks, and peel the cloves. The quickest way I've found to peel garlic is to shake small handfuls of cloves in a closed container. I used an aluminum shaker jar, but any sturdy container with a lid will work. I shook the cloves long enough to loosen the husks, but not so much that the cloves get banged up a lot. After experimenting a bit, I learned about 20 seconds of moderate shaking worked well.
I worked outside to minimize the mess and odor in the house and also to enjoy a few minutes out in the sun -- a rare treat during this long, snowy winter.
Rinse the cloves to remove any last bits of skin. Trim off any damaged areas.
Make a 2% brine of water and plain salt. I estimated I would need about a cup of brine for my pint jar, so I measured about 1 cup (8 oz / 250 mL / 250 grams) of water. I used distilled water for this batch, but I have used regular drinking water too with good (if sometimes unexpected) results.
Why did I use distilled water in this batch? I have made two batches of fermented garlic with tap water. The garlic in my first batch stayed white, just as I expected. The garlic in my second batch startled me by turning a vivid blue-green. I checked several reputable sources and was reassured this green garlic is perfectly safe to eat. I learned minerals in tap water can react with certain chemicals in the garlic to form green compounds during fermentation. See https://www.thespruceeats.com/garlic...ickled-1327752. For my third batch, I want to see how garlic fermented in distilled water turns out.
It's not super critical to weigh the water and salt, as I did for this batch -- volume measurements are fine. For every cup of water, add a level (not heaping) 1 teaspoon (5 grams) of Morton's kosher salt. For regular fine-grained table salt, measure a scant teaspoon of table salt per cup of water. Stir the salt into the water to make the 2% brine.
Dump the garlic in a freshly cleaned canning jar or similar container. Pour enough brine into the jar to cover the cloves by at least 1/2 to 1 inch (10 to 25 mm).
Cover the jar loosely with a cap. Gases produced during fermentation must have a way to escape, so don't torque the lid down tight. If you have a fermentation air lock, feel free to use it, but it's not strictly needed for fermenting garlic.
Put the jar in a dark place at room temperature for about 3 weeks, give or take a bit. Bear in mind a bit of garlic odor might waft from the jar for a few days, so pick a spot where sensitive noses will not be offended. The odor will subside with time.
You might see a few tiny bubbles during fermentation, but in my experience, garlic does not bubble much. The main change is the brine will become cloudy.
After about 3 weeks, cap the jar securely and store it in the refrigerator. Use the garlic in cooking as you would fresh garlic. The fermentation brine can also be used to add a bit of a garlicky pickle-y punch to a dish.
The garlic shown below was fermented in October, and I'm down to my last 3 cloves. This is the batch that turned a startling green during fermentation. You can see the cloves have gradually morphed from green to gold during storage. Regardless of color, garlic cloves become slightly translucent during fermentation.
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