Pickled Garlic (Making Christmas Gifts)

Easy to make in small quarter pint jars and you don’t have to have any special equipment. The process is water bath method and can be done in a stock pot or any large pan. This recipe can be either spicy or dill flavored. The recipe makes 3 cups total. It is a wonderful condiment for garlic lovers. There is so many uses for pickled garlic in cooking. I had to buy the small quarter pints because I have not bought any of that size in 20 years. The recipe gave me 6 quarter pints of each flavor of pickled garlic. That used up the 12-jar flat.

I purchased a bag of peeled garlic from Sam’s Club. The cloves of garlic were large and perfect for pickling. I had this recipe for few years and was wanting to try. Seeing the bags of lovely garlic reminded me that I could pickle some to add to my Christmas baskets. I chose to use quarter pint jars for this because I knew I would not need a full half pint for my cooking and eating. I made 2 flavors of pickled garlic to use up the bag. The original recipe called for a red chili pepper which I didn’t have so I used crushed red pepper. After I made that I thought a mild pickled garlic would also be nice. I had plenty of garlic cloves left and jars to make that.

I followed the water bath method of sterilizing the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. Then packing the jars with garlic and adding hot brine and spices. Then sealing the jars and put in back into the hot water bath. When they begin to full rolling boil, start timing the processing for the time recommended for your area. You can find all this information online.

Pickled Garlic Spicy or Dill

Difficulty: easy
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Makes 3 half pints or 6 quarter pints. You can change spices to your liking.

Ingredients:

2 quarts water
3 cups garlic cloves peeled
Coriander seeds (3 seeds or 6 seeds per jar)
whole black peppercorns (2 peppercorns per jar)
mustard seeds (1/8 teaspoon per jar)
bay leaves
whole allspice (1 for each jar)
dried chilies or crushed red pepper flakes
dried dill weed (instead of hot peppers)
1/8 teaspoon pickling crisp for each jar optional
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons canning salt

Directions:

Peel garlic. Bring 2 quarts of water to a full boil. Add garlic and blanch for one minute. Drain garlic. This will prevent the garlic turning blue when pickled.

Boil jars for 10 minutes to sterilize. Leave jars in hot water until jars are ready to fill. You want your jars hot when adding hot brine to them to prevent the jars from breaking when processing.

While the jars are being sterilizing make brine. In a saucepan combine white vinegar, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil to dissolve the salt and sugar. Remove from heat.

Pack jars with garlic leaving one inch space from the rim of the jar. That head space is needed to prevent siphoning the liquid out of the jar.

Add 3 coriander seeds, 2 black peppercorns, 1/8 teaspoon mustard seeds, half bay leaf, 1 whole allspice, and small piece of dried red chili. You can substitute 1/8 teaspoon red crushed red pepper or for no heat 1/8 dried dill weed. Optional is pickling crisp 1/8 teaspoon that will help the garlic not get so soft.

Ladle in the hot brine and wipe the rim with a clean cloth and seal. Put in water bath. Then do the next jar until done.

Process in a water bath for 10 minutes or what is required for your altitude.