Bill's Recipes

Pickled Garlic

Peel the garlic. You can blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds, but be sure to use distilled water if you want to avoid green results.

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and bring to a boil. Add the garlic cloves and boil gently for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and pack into jars, and fill with solution.

Spicy Pickled Garlic

To make peeling the garlic simpler, the cloves are blanched first, which makes the skins loosen and come off easily. Although this adds a step, it will save you a lot of time since you will be peeling roughly 50 cloves. Quickly dropping in boiling water will not cook the garlic and will keep the cloves intact.

All you need is a one-pint jar and a little patience as the garlic needs at least a month to pickle. The garlic will last for a year when kept in the fridge. Ingredients

4 to 6 bulbs garlic 3 dried red chile peppers, such as arbol, optional 1 cup unseasoned rice vinegar 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 teaspoon sugar

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, separate the garlic bulbs into cloves. Drop the cloves into the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds.

Drain and rinse the cloves with cold water to stop the cooking. Peel the cloves.

Pack the cloves in a 1-pint jar, adding in the chiles, if you like.

Combine the vinegar, salt, and sugar in a bowl, stirring until the salt and sugar fully dissolve.

Pour the mixture over the garlic cloves to cover them completely. (You may have some leftover liquid.)

Cover the jar with a lid and store it in the refrigerator for at least one month before using. The pickled garlic will keep, chilled, for at least a year.

Why did my garlic turn blue?

If you checked on the garlic as it was pickling, you may have been surprised to see that it had turned a shade of blue. Don't be quick to throw it out—this discoloration may be unappealing, but it does not make the garlic dangerous to eat. This is caused by a chemical reaction and can happen when garlic comes into contact with an acid, like vinegar. This may be avoidable by using the freshest garlic you can find; purchase firm bulbs that are void of any blemishes, mold, and soft spots, and free of any green sprouts, which are a sign of age.

Can You Eat Blue or Green Garlic?

Garlic that has turned blue or green during pickling or cooking is perfectly safe to eat, and the presence of color has no effect on the garlic's flavor. Some cultures even prize colorful garlic. In China, garlic is deliberately pickled in such a way that it turns a jade-green and is consumed during the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival. This "Laba garlic" has a sour, slightly spicy flavor and is considered both beautiful and healthful.

Don't Want Blue Garlic?

If you want to avoid the blue or green color when pickling garlic, try the following solutions. Keep in mind that some garlic is more prone to coming out colorful, due to soil and irrigation conditions, and possibly the age of the garlic:

Use distilled water for pickling; distilled water doesn't have the trace metals found in a lot of tap water.

Use iodine-free salt; most kosher salt and sea salt does not have iodine.

Use stainless steel or enameled cookware and utensils; avoid copper, aluminum, cast iron, and tin. B

lanch the garlic briefly (about 10 seconds or so); this may or may not prevent coloring and can affect the taste, so try this judiciously.

Store fresh and pickled garlic away from sunlight, which can lead to chlorophyll formation.