Garlic Processing Tips

Garlic processed!

Usually I don’t get to this, or need to, til February, but with how dry the fall was I noticed my garlic (specifically one variety) wasn’t holding up as well.

When my garlic starts to dry down, or sprout, I finish processing it for the season three ways:

1 - cloves that are still nice and solid get left to use fresh (no need for extra work).

2 - freeze the rest of the peeled cloves on cookie trays, then transfer to jars in the freezer. I want a minimum of 2 quarts jars for our use.

3 - throw garlic in a food processor, add olive oil until it’s a nice consistency to stick together. Throw tablespoon sized plops onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze. Transfer frozen plops to a jar. I will use these mostly for salad dressings.

Garlic is an easy Minnesota Grown item you can get away with eating all year long - never buying CA garlic from the store. MN garlic keeps longer and tastes better. Plus, you can get nerdy and try different varieties. Garlic is easy to find locally, it is also easy to grow and store.

This doesn’t feel like enough for me to have on hand, but John thinks we go through about 1.5 quart jars. We shall see!

Glad I planted more than I planned last fall. In June we can harvest green garlic and full garlic harvest happens mid-late July.