Pickled Garlic

We harvested this year's crop of hard neck garlic on July 15th, which is the usual date that our garlic is ready. We did have about a half dozen heads that were starting to split, so we should have been paying better attention and perhaps harvested it a few days before. About 40-50% of the bottom leaves should be turning brown, with the other half still green. This was a good reminder to, "Watch the plants, not the calendar!"

All is not lost though. The splitting garlic will not store well, so I cleaned up the cloves and pickled them. They must be kept refrigerated and should last 2-3 months, as long as they stay submerged under the pickling liquid. 

The rest of the crop is drying quite nicely and usually gives us about a year's supply of garlic. 

Here's the pickling recipe I used:

• 2 cups garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 cup vinegar, white or cider
• 1 cup filtered water
• 1 tsp. kosher or pickling salt

Optional adds: sugar, peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, dill weed or seeds, hot pepper. 

Place garlic cloves in a clean pint jar. Bring vinegar, water, and salt to a boil. When the salt is dissolved, pour hot liquid over the garlic and place the lid on the jar. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour then refrigerate. Let it mellow for about 1 week before testing.