Hood River Organic Seed Garlic - Garlic Tips

How to store your extra culinary garlic and seed garlic
Garlic stores best when it is kept cool and dry. We store our garlic seed in our garage that is kept at about 59 degrees. Make sure it is out of direct sunlight, away from any source of heat and that it has good air circulation. During winter months it is important to keep it from freezing. Here are a few ideas for using and storing your organic garlic.

How to peel garlic: Easy Garlic Peeling Trick
Put one quart of water in a pot and heat. The water should get hot but not boiling. Place your garlic cloves in the water and stir around for 5-6 seconds. Drain off hot water and place garlic into ice water. Let sit for 20 minutes before peeling. Now the skins of the garlic should be loose and come off easily.

If that doesn't work try the EZ-Roll garlic peeler.

How to Dehydrate and make Garlic Powder
Start out with some nice big bulbs of garlic. Marbled Purple Stripes and Porcelains are great because they are easy to peel. But remember not to use those varieties if making garlic powder for cats and dogs. (see Garlic for Pets). Green garlic (garlic that is not cured) works great because it is easy to peel. Peel about four pounds of organic garlic, see Easy Peeling Trick above for how to peel large amounts of garlic.

It will take approximately two pounds of fresh garlic to make one pound of dehydrated garlic. Two pounds of crushed garlic will fill up three trays on your dehydrator. I like to use the culls and shovel hits for my organic dried garlic. By December or January, if you still have some garlic left over it is a good idea to start to make it into garlic powder (at this time it is not getting any fresher!)

After you have peeled your garlic, place in Garlic Chopper and chop. If the trays do not have the plastic liner, line the trays with waxed paper. Using a rubber spatula or a spoon spread the chopped garlic evenly on the tray.

Dehydrate for up to 48 hours, until the moisture is gone and the garlic is crunchy. (May take longer, especially in colder weather.) When drying is complete, scrape garlic off the trays. I find it is easiest to transfer the dried garlic onto a large plate or tray before placing into the food processor. Chop again until you have a nice fine garlic powder. This will take several rounds of scooping out the larger chunks of garlic (they will sit on top of the mixture ) and setting aside small finer grounds. I put my finely ground powder directly into a jar. Continue to regrind the large chunks until you have a fine powder.

Store your organic garlic powder in a tightly sealed jar or zip-lock bag.
Now you and your family are ready to enjoy some wonderful fresh dried garlic and your pets will enjoy some pest free summer days. This garlic powder recipe is truly a labor of love. You will find that this is the best garlic powder that you have ever tasted. The reason is that most garlic powder is made by the entire bulb of garlic. Skins, stalks and all! Therefore the flavor is not as true as the 100% pure organic garlic powder that you have just made.

Storing garlic in a Mason jar
Peel one or two bulbs of organic culinary garlic at a time and chop with EAsy Chop Food Chopper by Zyliss or in a Cuisinart. Put chopped garlic into a jar and pour extra virgin olive oil covering all the garlic. Refrigerate and enjoy the convenience of having chopped garlic to use whenever you are cooking. Jarred garlic should keep safely in your refrigerator for 5 to 6 days. To avoid spoiling your garlic in olive oil, always use a clean spoon to measure it out.

Garlic Butter- Garlic Butter logs make great gifts! Everyone loves receiving your handmade garlic butter.
Another way to store your garlic is by blending it into garlic butter and freezing it. The Garlic chopper on our Garlic accessories page works great for preparing your garlic for garlic butter.
To make and store organic garlic butter:

1 and 1/2 cups of butter

1 cup of crushed garlic ( you may add more garlic up to 1/2 cup )

Mash garlic cloves in mini chopper and mix into soft butter. Add chives, parsley and salt if desired. Form into logs, wrap in waxed paper, place in freezer bags or plastic wrap. Store in freezer and slice as needed.

How to make Garlic Butter Nuggets:

You can cut the frozen butter log into individual sized pieces and refreeze them. Now you can enjoy the added convenience of having individual portions ready to use anytime you need them!

Frozen Garlic in Olive Oil

You can also make crushed garlic in olive oil.

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup crushed garlic( you may add more garlic if desired )

Simply crush the garlic as you would with the garlic butter. Then evenly distribute the crushed garlic into the bottom of a zip lock bag. Add enough olive oil to completely cover all the crushed garlic and blend gently by rubbing the outside of the bag.

How to make Garlic in Olive Oil Nuggets:

Place inside the freezer so that the bag is sitting upright and your garlic in olive oil will freeze in a log type shape. When the garlic in olive oil is completely frozen you can remove it from the bag and place on a cutting board. Then take a chef's knife and carefully cut the garlic log up into one inch long pieces. Place the garlic chunks back in the freezer bag and put back in your freezer. Now you will have small individual size portions of garlic in olive oil at your convenience. When you are ready to use them, simply remove from bag and add right into your other ingredients.

Note: The frozen log of Garlic in Olive Oil melts faster than Garlic Butter logs, so be sure to have everything ready to get the nuggets back in the freezer.

For this reason, the Garlic Butter Logs make better gifts than in olive oil.

Some new garlic tips from Jane Burkhouse in Woodburn, Oregon. Another great way to freeze garlic is to peel it and place the cloves on a cookie sheet, then place them in the freezer. After the garlic cloves are frozen, place in a freezer bag and return to freezer. You can use them anytime in soups, stews, roasts and garlic butter.