Pickled Garlic

Since I posted lately (here and here) about my desire that my fermented veggies contain a hint of garlic, I thought it might be fitting to make pickled garlic the next experiment in my Urban Fermentation Project. Boy, am I ever glad I did!!

By far, this is the most delicious (and perhaps the most versatile) fermented goodie I have made to date.

This jar was full, originally...

It really is that yummy. And I have a few ideas for future brews, too.

It all started with a dozen heads of garlic. I used organic garlic, so the project wasn’t cheap to set up (at least not in comparison to cabbage for sauerkraut!!). 12 heads of organic garlic ran me $14 where I am. Guess who’s planning to grow some next year in planters on the patio?

I mixed the garlic with sea salt, whey and oregano, and left it on the counter for three days. The recipe in Nourishing Traditions suggested placing the heads of garlic in the oven until they popped open, to make removing the skins easier. It did make that process easier, and it also imparted a lovely roasted taste and creamy texture to the finished product. Next time I will try leaving the cloves completely raw, just to experiment with the different possible tastes, but I’m very pleased by the way this brew turned out. I may also try different spices next time. I am imagining that a hot-pepper garlic brew would be incredibly delicious too.

Word to the wise: don’t use powdered oregano. I didn’t even know that powdered oregano existed, but it does, and when I added it accidentally to my salt/whey mixture, I knew immediately that it would be best to start over. Who wants their picked garlic sitting in a liquid that looks like green slime? Not me. The flecks of regular dried oregano are quite pleasant-looking in the jar, and the visuals of this project are important to me. Maybe when I’m less of a newbie it will be all about taste, and I won’t care how the jar looks, but for now the fact that it looks appetizing matters too :) I promised I’d be honest, right??

Now on to the official review!!

Experiment Wrap-Up:

Rating: Two Thumbs-Up!!!

Simplicity: 2.5 (It’s a lot of garlic. It didn’t take too long to get it all ready, but it wasn’t as simple as, say, the marmalade in terms of set-up).

(1 being “a monkey could do it”; 5 being challenging)

Notes on Taste: Yum. Taste and texture are very pleasing. So far, we have mashed this and whipped it into a fresh salad dressing (of lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper), and eaten it on the side of hard-boiled eggs, but I feel that the possibilities are endless here as a garlic lover. Here are a few ideas bouncing around in my head: whipped at the last minute into slightly cooled mashed potatoes, as a component in fresh homemade salsa or guacamole, whipped into butter for an herb garlic butter, in a homemade caesar salad dressing, in an aioli for dipping raw vegetables, in pesto, and as a vampire deterrent. That last one wasn’t my idea. In a previous post, I mentioned the help of a nicely muscled friend in setting up my kraut. That friend happens to be my husband, who seems to have endless ideas for the possible uses of this brew. He also notes rather emphatically that this garlic is great for eating just as it is, right out of the jar, when you’re walking by the fridge :)

Questions/Hesitations: None, really! If you haven’t fermented anything before, I would even go so far as to recommend that you start with this. It is easier to set up than sauerkraut, and its deliciousness makes it so versatile. If I had to come up with one hesitation, I would say that maybe, just maybe, your office colleagues might not appreciate all the garlic you might start consuming in your lunches if you make this…consider yourself warned :)

Anyone have any other ideas for this potent brew? Any fellow garlic lovers interested in giving this a try?

This post is submitted to Fight Back Friday, Monday Mania, and Real Food Wednesday!