Garlic Recipes

Pickled Garlic Recipes – 23/10/2012

Arlington Gardens partner Flora Lee Wagner sent us all three of these pickled garlic recipes mid-summer. Now that we’ve delivered storage garlic in larger quantities, we thought it was time to post them.

On the farm, we stick to basics, i.e., we just store our garlic in a cool, dry place (less than 15° C, in a basket or a paper bag, not in plastic, and never in the fridge). Flora Lee says pickled garlic “tastes like garlic, only marinated.” She’s been pickling hers for years and made some again this Canadian Thansgiving weekend. The refrigerator pickled garlic (numbers one and two) is quick and easy.  Number one is “French Pickled Garlic,” a recipe she picked up from the October 1999 edition of Epicurious; Flora Lee adds that number two, Kim Gunderson’s Soy Refrigerator Pickled Garlic,  is probably best for Asian cuisine, “fantastic in a vegetable stir-fry served with rice, noodles or quinoa.” Number three we’ve christened “Canadian Garlic,” if only because she told us she found it on Canoe.

Pickled Garlic 1: French Pickled Garlic (Epicurious, October 1999)

½ cup white wine vinegar ½ cup dry white wine 1 small dried chile pepper 1 small thyme sprig 1 small rosemary spring 1 small bay leaf 10 black peppercorns 2 tsps sugar ½ tsp pickling salt 1 cup peeled fresh garlic cloves

Put all ingredients except garlic into nonreactive saucepan. Bring contents to a boil; boil gently for 5 minutes. Add garlic. Return contents to a boil, then cover pan, and remove from heat. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Bring contents of saucepan to boil again, then transfert them to a half-pint jar. Let jar cool, cover tightly with a nonreactive cap. Store the jar in the refrigerator.

Pickled Garlic 2: Kim Gunderson’s Soy Refrigerator Pickled Garlic (G&H Garlic Farm in Littleton, NH)

Whole, peeled garlic cloves 5% vinegar of your choice Kikkoman’s light soy sauce with reduced salt

Place the cloves of garlic in a jar with a lid and add enough vinegar to cover. Place lid on jar and store in the refrigerator for two weeks to “cure”. Drain vinegar off and use separately as garlic flavored vinegar. Place cloves into jar and add soy sauce to cover. Wait a week or more before eating. These should keep almost indefinitely, covered and refrigerated.

Pickled Garlic 3: ‘Canadian’ Pickled Garlic (from Canoe)

Makes 5 250 or 236 mL jars.

12 large heads garlic, about 838 g (1 ¾ lb) 625 mL (2 ½ cups) white vinegar 250 mL (1 cup) dry white wine 15 mL (1 tbsp) pickling salt 15 mL (1 tbsp) granulated sugar 15 mL (1 tbsp) dried oregano 5 dried whole chili peppers

Separate garlic bulbs into cloves. To soften and loosen skins, blanch garlic cloves in rapidly boiling water 30 seconds; immediately immerse in cold water, drain and peel cloves. Place 5 clean 250 or 236 mL Mason jars in a boiling water canner; fill with water, bring to a boil. Boil SNAP lids 5 minutes to soften sealing compound. 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 dried whole chili pepper into a hot jar to within 2 cm (3/4 of an inch) of top rim. Add hot liquid to cover garlic to within 1 cm (1/2-inch) of top rim (head space). Using rubber spatula, remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Centre SNAP lid on jar; apply screw band just until fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat for remaining garlic and liquid. Cover canner; return water to a boil. Process — boil filled jars — 10 minutes. Remove jars. Cool undisturbed 24 hours. Check jar seals. Sealed lids curve downward. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store in a cool, dark place.