Fermented garlic

[HawkerXP]

Thanks!

[JeffJ]

This is a really nice write-up. Before coming to this site I considered myself extremely knowledgeable as it pertains to cooking. It's threads like this where I learn how much I DON'T know. Thank you for sharing this.

[Spinaker]

I Love garlic but I have never tried it fermented! This is incredible. Thank you so much for posting this.

[Sweaty Paul]

Thanks for the idea! Great write up.

[treesmacker]

Like all before me have said - great write up. I'm saving your directions in my One Note "fermented" tab. I especially liked your tips on peeling the garlic. Thanks!

[MBMorgan]

Just curious ... I've got a similar recipe for fermented garlic that specifies a 4% brine (by weight, of course). Is there a reason for you choosing a 2% brine? BTW, thanks for posting this...

[IowaGirl]

A 2% brine is a typical starting salt concentration used for veggies that aren't super watery, including garlic. The book Fermented Vegetables by K Shockey and C Shockey recommends 2% for most ferments except cucumbers (3%) and kimchi (4%). A 2% brine is even used for kraut, although the water comes from the cabbage not from the tap. You could certainly use more salt for a saltier end product, but I gather 2% is plenty good enough for food safety.

[Timbo54]

Here is the web site that I've used for fermenting. It is one of many but gives you a good idea about safety and brine concentrations. http://www.probioticjar.com/ I have 2 containers for fermenting as well as a small fridge to maintain 72 degrees with controller. My containers are a Premium Kimchi 1.6 gal. from Crazy Korean Cooking and a Boleslawiec 5 liter crock pot. Both work very well and I highly recommend, producing safe tasty fermented vegetables.

[IowaGirl]

Here's a direct link to the brine concentration article: http://www.probioticjar.com/brine.html The authors here also suggest 2% for most foods. They explain too much salt inhibits lacto-fermentation -- you end up with a salt cured product, not fermented. I don't know if a 4% brine would inhibit fermentation, but I do know 2% works fine.

[IowaGirl]

I think sometimes the thinking is "more salt = safer" when that's not really accurate. Sufficient salt is sufficiently safe. Another critical factor to keep in mind is making sure the food is submerged below the brine surface. This is especially important in the beginning stages of fermentation when acid levels are low. This isn't hard to do and doesn't require fancy equipment, although there are many fine crocks, air locks, and other products to make this easier to do.

[troymeister]

This is Awesome!! Thank you for sharing!!
Troy

[Troutman]

How in the world did I miss this one ??? What an excellent instructional write up, you even made Hits from the Pit with this one, congrats !! I always roast my garlic until its like butter smooth, I'll have to try fermented sounds great !! Girl, you got a future here, keep up the good work !!!

[andy.wpg]

Thanks for the write up. I’m going to make some of this on the weekend.

You mentioned using distilled water but you have another source of additives, the salt. Even our favorite salt has stuff to keep it running.

My reading has suggested that the additives in salt that make it free running can also cause lacto-pickle woes.

i use the salt in the link below, but the suggestion is to use any salt that has no additives.

Just my two cents worth.

https://www.celticseasalt.com/

[IowaGirl]

I suppose it might be iron from the anti-caking ingredient in the kosher salt and not the water. I'll be finding that out in a few weeks. I disagree, however, that sea salt is a sure solution, since sea salt is an unrefined salt that contains trace minerals. I can make a better argument for using canning salt, which is a refined salt with no additives.

[Attjack]

I bought some from the market the other day. It was called "black garlic" and it was indeed black. I used it this dish and it was good. My girlfriend thought it was pretty strong though.



When I got it I talked to the grocer and they said it was killer on pizza so I plan to you use the other bulb on pizza this weekend.

[IowaGirl]

It looks like black garlic is simple to make on the surface, but the devil is in the details. One procedure I looked at calls for more than 200 hours of heating and careful control of temperature and humidity. Wow.

I'm curious to hear what the pizza is like!

[Attjack]

I'll let you know!

[IowaGirl]

Here's an update at the end of Week 1 of my garlic fermentation. The brine has turned milky and there are some white solids floating in the brine.

The cloves are now floating loosely in the brine, but I'm not overly worried about that. I am keeping the lid on as much as possible, so the space above the brine is high in carbon dioxide and low in oxygen to inhibit undesirable mold growth on the surface of the brine. The lactic acid buildup as well as the salt are doing their job to keep the brine and the submerged garlic sanitary.



I see a little bit of white foam around the edges of the jar and a few tiny bubbles rising to the surface through the brine. If I saw anything unusual, such as dark speckles or weird growths, I would discard any cloves that were affected and skim the top surface of the brine to remove all suspicious bits. But everything looks normal.




The odor is (thankfully) diminishing. In the middle of the week, the ferment had a strong sulfur-y garlic smell, quite a bit stronger than my other batches. For a sec, I thought one of my dogs had a bad case of gas except they weren't anywhere around and my nose was hangin' over the garlic jar. Teach me to take a big whiff with the lid off! The odor is MUCH milder today -- it's about as strong as when I mince several cloves of garlic for a dish.

I cut a couple of cloves from this batch in half and compared them to a clove from my October batch. You can see how the older clove is translucent all the way through to the center core. The new cloves have some translucent patches, but are still mostly opaque in the center. The fermentation will be finished in another 2 weeks or so when the cloves are translucent all the way through. They're ready to be put in the fridge at that point. I let the garlic mature and mellow in the fridge for, oh, maybe another month, and then it's ready to be used.

[jumbo7676]

Thanks for posting this. I finally got around to making a batch on Saturday, so we'll see how it goes. It's on the shelf next to a jar of fermenting ginger carrots, some fermenting red cabbage sauerkraut, and a jar of preserving lemons.

I also used Morton's Kosher Salt, though I have read that it has an anti-caking ingredient that could have an effect on the fermentation process. Most fermenting websites I've checked out caution against using salt with any ingredients beyond just salt. They all seem to recommend Celtic sea salt (as I saw in one of the comments above), pink Himalayan salt, or pickling salt. There doesn't seem to be any concern for the naturally occurring minerals in the sea or rock salts affecting fermentation, but iodized salt seems to be a consensus "do not use" and salt with anti-caking additives is discouraged based on what I've read.

I am definitely no expert, just sharing what I've read in multiple places. Take it for what it's worth, which may not be much. It's possible all of these fermenting sites I've checked out all got their info from the same source and ran with it. All of my jars currently on the shelf have Morton's Kosher salt and I've used it in the past to make sauerkraut without issue. Sounds like you have used it with plenty of success as well. I've just recently become interested in fermenting and one batch of kraut a few months ago and the current jars on my shelf make up all of my experience with it. As I ramp up the variety and amounts I'm doing, I'll probably switch it up to Celtic sea or pink Himalayan salt in the future just to play it safe.

[Spinaker]

This is a great post! Thanks again for posting this!