How to Pickle Garlic

Garlic, you either love it or hate it. We love it and eat it regularly. We are finding it difficult to get good quality fresh garlic. When we lived in Northern Ontario we had a great source of organic locally grown garlic.

Fortunately, we have learned how to pickle it so that we can have a supply on hand all year around. It also means that when we can get fresh garlic we can pickle some for the future when we may not be so fortunate.

The following was slightly modified from a recipe that has been in my family for many years. I made a few small changes to suit my personal taste, reduced salt for example.

Ingredients:

12 large heads garlic, about 1-3/4 lb

2-1/2 cups white vinegar

1 cup dry white wine

1 tbsp pickling salt

1/2 tbsp granulated sugar ( or sugar substitute)

1 tbsp dried oregano

4 dried whole chili peppers (optional)

Preparation:

Prepare five 250 or 236 ml mason jars with SNAP lids.

Separate garlic bulbs into cloves.

To soften and loosen skins, blanch garlic cloved in rapidly boiling water 30 seconds; immediately immerse in cold water, drain and peel cloves.

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, wine, pickling salt, sugar and oregano.

Bring to a boil; boil gently 1 minute; remove from heat.

Add peeled garlic cloves to hot vinegar mixture.

Stir constantly 1 minute.

Pack garlic and 1 chili pepper, if using, into a hot jar to within 3/4 inch of top rim. Add hot liquid to cover garlic to within 1/2 inch of top rim (headspace). Remove bubbles and apply lids.

Heat process jars - 10 minutes.

There are many health benefits made for garlicbut that is not why we eat it. I do subscribe to the saying Let food be your medicine and medicine your food, but we eat garlic because it adds a deep flavour to so many dishes and when pickled tastes great all by itself.