Preserves: Garlic Pickle

Having harvested my Garlic a few weeks ago, these have been drying out outside for a few weeks now with the Garlic. I've never had so much Garlic so I was a little unprepared to what I could do to store this. I know Garlic can last a long time, but as I left mine in the ground too long and I've managed to destroy the outer layer and exposed the cloves, I wanted to see if I could preserve these some how.

So the trusty Preserves book came out again and I found a Pickled Garlic recipe which is perfect for my small batch of Garlic. I have kept four of my best undamaged bulbs complete, as I'd like to use these for planting next year and also use some for cooking, plus they small delicious and look great.

                                          Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2012

500g Garlic
200ml Cider Vinegar
50g Granulated Sugar
A good pinch of Saffron
12 Black Peppercorns
2-6 Bay Leaves
Half a teaspoon of Fennel Seeds
x2 Small Jars & Lids

Firstly I sterilised the jars, by washing them in the dishwasher. To prepare the Garlic, this was washed and then placed as bulbs, in a pot of boiling water for one minute to loosen the skins, they were then dried off and each clove was peeled and placed in one of the warm jars. The recipe says to use 3 jars, but as I didn't have the 500g Garlic, I was just slightly under; I only managed to fill two.

                                                        Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2012

Once all the Garlic is in the jars, the fennel, black peppercorns and bay leaves were added to the jars as well, I still used the same amount of these as the recipe stated, but I only added 2 bay leaves to each jar. The cider vinegar, sugar and saffron were then added to a pan and brought to a boil over two minutes and then left to boil for two minutes and then added to the jars, were the lids where put on and the jars were left to cool down.

Once sealed they need to be used within a year.

Preserves: Infused Oils

Creating Oil Preserves has always been something I love to do, but this can be a very sensitive area, as I've read that flavored Oils should only be kept for a certain amount of time, so normally I only create small amounts that I use within a few days. Having recently purchased the book 'Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2', by Pam Corbin, I found some great tips and ways to keep Oils for longer, so I thought I'd try some.

One of the best ways to keep Oils longer is to make sure the bottles are sterilised, for this I added the bottles to a pan with lukewarm water in and slowly brought this to boiling point, once the water is boiling I removed this from the hob and left the bottles in the water till needed. This does take sometime, but another way to achieve this is to simple put the bottles in a dishwasher and wash as normal, once done leave to dry on a drainer for when you're ready add the Oil and flavor.

The Chili Oil with Black Peppercorns was my boyfriend Zac's idea and for this he decided to use his Thai Dragon Chilies, which he has been growing over the summer, but any Chilies are fine. We heated Extra Virgin Olive Oil up (as this was all we had Oliver Oil should really be used) to a simmering boil, added the Thai Dragon Chilies, with a cut through each chili and the Black Peppercorns into a bottle and then carefully poured the Oil into the jar using a funnel, locked the lid and left to cool down and infuse.

The Basil and Garlic Oil didn't require the Oil to be heated, so we placed three peeled whole Garlic Cloves and a small sprig of Basil into a bottle before funneling the Extra Virgin Olive Oil into the bottle; again this was closed and left to infuse.

I also had a small bottle which I normally use for creating small batches of flavored Oil, for this I added the leftover heated Oil to dried Chilies I had in the cupboard from last years Chili plants.

                                                                                   Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Sept 2011

Thai Dragon Chili Oil with Black Peppercorns
x1 500ml Swing-Top Preserving Bottle
x3 Thai Dragon Chilies (fresh)
x10-12 Black Peppercorns
Olive Oil

Basil & Garlic Oil
x1 500ml Swing-Top Preserving Bottle
x3 Cloves of Garlic
x1 Small Sprig of Basil
Olive Oil

Chili Oil
x1 Small Bottle
x6 Small Chilies (dried)
Olive Oil

These should then be left to infuse for 14 days, sieved of there content, re-bottled and enjoyed, storing in a cool place and used within 6 months.