Pickled Garlic

While some love the taste of garlic, some folks tend to keep away from it lovers due to the bad breath they impart. However, for those of you who dislike the strong pungent flavor of garlic, pickled garlic is a good option. Garlic cloves preserved in vinegar or brine solution masks the overbearing flavor of garlic, imparting a wonderful tangy taste to it.

Pickled garlic can be quite expensive when purchased from the stores. The best thing to do would be to prepare your own pickled garlic at home. This way you can save on those extra expenses and relish those wonderful garlic cloves.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups garlic cloves (peeled)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pickling salt

Procedure:

Take a large pan and add water to it. Allow it to boil and then drop the 6 cups of garlic cloves into it. When the water bubbles again, allow the cloves to boil in it for a minute. Then drain the cloves out and pack them in hot half-pint jars. For pickling, the jars and lids need to be boiled to sterilize them.

Make sure ½ inch space is left on top of each bottle. Now take the rest of the ingredients: the sugar, vinegar and pickling salt and boil them together. Bring them to a boil and pour this solution into the garlic packed jars. Fill till about ½ inch head space is left.

To remove any trapped air bubbles, run a plastic or wooden spatula through. Place completely dried jar lids to their positions and seal the bottles. Apply screw bands and keep the pickled jars in a boiling water-bath canner for 10 minutes. This pickling procedure will yield 6 pints of pickled garlic.

Ingredients:

• Garlic cloves (one bunch)
• One quart white vinegar
• 1 ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes

Procedure:

Boil vinegar, oregano, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and black peppercorns together for 2 minutes. Be careful the fumes can choke you with its spice! Once it's boiled, add peeled garlic cloves and boil for another minute or two. As mentioned in the other recipe fill it into the jars and once cool, refrigerate for 4 weeks before consuming.

Ingredients:

• Garlic cloves (peeled)
• Sugar
• Rice wine vinegar
• Soy sauce

Procedure:

Pack the peeled cloves in a jar. Pour in some water till about 2/3 of the garlic cloves are submerged. Now pour out the water and measure it. Whatever the amount, you need the same amount of soy sauce for this recipe. Moreover, for every cup of soy sauce, you need 1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar and 1/3 cup of sugar.

Take these ingredients together and bring them to a boil. After simmering for 7-9 minutes allow this solution to cool and then pour it into the jar filled with garlic cloves. Store the jar in a cool place for 3 weeks at room temperature. After opening the jar, it needs to be placed in the refrigerator.

Pickled garlic cannot be added to any dish, especially cream based sauces because it conduces to unpleasant curdling of the sauce. One problem that can arise during garlic pickling is the blue coloration that develops after keeping it in the water bath.

This happens due to the reaction of certain compounds and enzymes with the small amounts of copper found in the water supplies. However, even though the color has changed, the garlic is perfectly safe to consume. It just looks a little weird! The all popular garlic has been used for centuries together for both medicinal as well as culinary purposes.

Consuming one to two garlic cloves a day benefits the body in several ways. The health benefits comprises anticoagulant properties, cholesterol lowering properties, immune boosting abilities, lowering blood pressure, etc.

Weighing the merits and demerits we find that garlic is not only flavorful but it also has great health benefits. The merits overshadow the bad breath drawback. It's not fair to completely avoid these wonderful cloves of garlic just because of the bad breath they impart. Look at its positive side and enjoy!