Country Boy grows a lot of garlic. The problem with growing this much though, is that we find that it rots before we can use it all. Naturally enough, we wanted to find a way to preserve the garlic so that we can use it through out the year.

Last year we bottled some garlic cloves and they were fantastic for using in cooking throughout the year. Unfortunately though, we ran out well before our next garlic crop was ready. This year, we are preserving even more. Hopefully we will have enough to last us until next harvest. I love that we always have garlic ready to use on hand.

You will need:
1 kg of garlic
500ml white wine vinegar
2T salt
Jars

1. The first step is to skin all the garlic. The easiest way to do this is to break the garlic head into individual cloves, and then place the whole thing into a large bowl. Place a second bowl (the same size) upside down over the top, and then shake the heck out of it for a minute.

It will then look like this:

2. The papery skins will loosen and fall off some of the cloves, and it will be a lot easier to remove the remainder of the skins. Peel all the cloves.

3. Boil a saucepan of water, and then blanch the peeled garlic for a minute, then run the cloves under cold water, and let them to drain. This stops the garlic going a spectacular turquoise blue colour (which is harmless but unattractive).

4. Stuff the cloves into some sterilized jars.

5. Heat the vinegar and salt together, and then pour over the garlic. Seal the jars while the filling is still hot.

6. The garlic will be ready in about a month. Just take them out of the jar and use in cooking in the same way you would use fresh garlic.