Pickled Garlic

Pickled Garlic - Recipe at the end of the post!

I love to can anything.  I grew up in a family where pickling every fall was just part of the routine.  But I lived in Canada, where things grow happily in the ground throughout the summer.  When I was 23 I moved to Arizona where the summer temperatures and infrequent rain do not exactly contribute to happy growth in the garden.  It didn't matter to me though because I was too busy working and partying to care.  Fast forward to a couple of years ago where I am now a wife and a mom and a homeowner.  I realized that I kind of missed the routines of my youth (which seems to happen more and more as I grow older).  So houseparty.com was hosting a Ball canning party and I applied and I got it.  They sent me everything I needed to learn (and show others) the wonderful art of preserving.  And I was HOOKED.  Since then, I've been known to put anything that strikes me into jars.  Thanks to Pinterest and google I can find a recipe for anything.  My problem is that I cannot leave a recipe alone.  Somewhere in my twisted little mind I can and will improve upon it.  So everything I make is an adaptation of a recipe online.  I try to give credit to the original but I have to tweak something.  It's like a sickness.  Just so you know.

Yesterday we went to my MIL's for dinner.  As we were leaving, she handed me a bag of garlic.  "Take this home with you.  I won't use it all."  So my mind immediately went to what could I do with a bag of garlic?  "Well, pickle it, of course." said the little voice in my head.  I have always wanted to do it but never have.  So as soon as we got home I was on Pinterest and Google, reading about pickled garlic and BOTULISM.  I had second thoughts for about 6 seconds then promptly pulled two pickled garlic recipes from the web.  One was found on allrecipes.com (Laura's Pickled Garlic) and one was off of MarthaStewart.com.  I compared the two very similar recipes and then realized that they require an overnight standing period.  Although it was 10pm I figured I'd better get started.

The first obstacle was peeling that much damned garlic.  Seven heads.  SERIOUSLY.  What was I thinking?  So after about 5 minutes of cursing, back onto the internet I went where I found this article that made my life easier.  http://allrecipes.com/howto/peeling-garlic/  If you want, this recipe will accommodate fourteen heads of garlic with the same amount of brine.  It will make two jars instead of one.  See the *note below the jar picture.

The rest of the recipe was a piece of cake.  These ingredients are all stuff I have on hand.  That makes it easier.

So basically, after the peeling of the garlic is accomplished, you put the rest of the stuff into a saucepan (NOT stainless steel - it reacts with the garlic and bad bad things happen LOL).  You bring it to a boil, boil for 2 minutes and then add the garlic and boil for another 5 minutes.  Allow to stand for about 10 minutes and put the whole saucepan in the refrigerator overnight.  One of the recipes called for leaving it on the counter overnight but I couldn't help but think of botulism...  Fridge is safer, IMO.

In the morning, you have two choices.  You can put in into a jar and put it in the refrigerator where it is said to be at full flavor in 2 weeks and will keep for 6 to 8 weeks OR you can water bath can it and it will keep until you are good and ready to eat it.  If it has to sit for two weeks anyway, I don't need it sitting there tempting me.  I'm a believer in water bath canning, so in order to do that, you first need a wide mouth pint jar.  Looks like this:

* Now if you're an overachiever and you have peeled 14 heads of garlic, the brine that you have made will be sufficient to fill TWO pint jars.  That's a LOT of work so I applaud you.  You, overachiever, will need two pint jars for the next step.

Water bath canning is not a hard thing to do.  All you need is a pot deep enough to submerge the jar 1/2 to 1 inch under the water and something to put at the bottom of the pot so that the jar does not rest directly on the bottom of the pot.   If you don't put something between them , the jar will crack.  I've had it happen and it's not pretty.  So there are fancy canning racks that you can buy or you can throw a little wire cooling rack into the bottom of the pot (if it's wide enough) or you can just use four jar rings and twist ties to make your own.  Since this pot is small (I was only doing one jar so I wasn't pulling out the big pot), this is what I made to sit in the bottom of my pot:

So fill the pot with water, put the rack in to the bottom and get the water on to boil.  Once it's boiling, put your jar(s) in to the water, making sure to fill them.  Turn the heat down to a simmer so that they're getting sterilized but not bouncing around. Put the ring(s) and the lid(s) that you're going to use in too and boil for about 5 minutes to sterilize the jar(s).  In the meantime, reheat the saucepan of garlic and brine.  If you put it cold food into hot jars and then put the same jars into boiling water then they'll crack.  Can you tell I've had this happen a few times?  Temperamental little jars!  Pull the jars, rings and seals out of the water, dumping the water from inside back in and set on a tea towel.  You're now ready to fill them.  

The easiest way I found to do this without creating a terrible mess is to first strain the solids from the liquids.  If you do it so that the liquid goes into a big measuring cup with a spout, it's easier to fill the jars.  Take your garlic, peppercorn, pepper, bay leaf and pack the jar(s).  You don't want to go higher than about 1/4 - 1/2 inch from the top of the jar.  Then take your big measuring cup of brine and fill the jar(s), leaving about 1/4 inch from the top of the jar.  This is called "headspace" and is important to get the jars to seal properly. 

BEFORE you put on the lid, take a damp paper towel and wipe the rim of the jar(s).  Then repeat with a dry paper towel.  You may now put on your lid(s) and put on the rings.  Do NOT overtighten.  Put on the ring with one hand and only go until it is fingertip tight.  You can tighten later but for now the air bubbles have to have a way to escape.  Put the jar(s) into the water bath, making sure that the water covers the lids by 1/2 to 1 inch.  Turn the heat back up and boil the heck out of the jar(s) for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and let the jar(s) stand in the water for 5 minutes after the fact.  Remove from water bath and set on a tea towel on the counter.  LEAVE THEM ALONE.  You'll hear a pop as the jar seals and the lid will be sucked in.  This is good!  If they don't get sucked down, something went wrong and the jars should be reprocessed using new lids.  Assuming everything has gone right, you can tighten the rings now if you want. 

I've read that it takes a full two weeks after canning for the garlic to be ready.  Be patient.  You'll be glad you did.  Enjoy!

Here's my adapted recipe:

Pickled Garlic

Makes 1 wide mouth pint jar (7 bulbs garlic) or 2 jars (14 bulbs garlic)

Ingredients

7 bulbs garlic or 14 bulbs garlic (overachiever!)

4 cups white vinegar

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

4 whole cloves

1 tbsp honey

1 bay leaf

2 dried red chile peppers

1 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

Peel  garlic. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, peppercorns, cloves, honey, bay leaf, chile peppers and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, and continue to boil for another 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let stand overnight in the refrigerator.

Sterilize one pint sized wide mouth jar (or two if you’ve used 14 bulbs of garlic).  On stovetop, re-warm saucepan of brine and garlic until hot.  Strain solids from liquids into a large measuring cup if possible. 

Pack garlic, peppercorns, peppers and bay leaf into jar.  Fill with brine to ¼ inch headspace. 

Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Allow to stand in hot water for additional 5 minutes. 

Do not open for two weeks for maximum flavor. 

NOTE:  If making only one jar, leftover brine can be used for salad dressings and marinades wherever vinegar is used.  It is now spicy garlic infused vinegar.

Adapted from “Laura’s Pickled Garlic” recipe on allrecipes.com and “Pickled Garlic” on Marthastewart.com