Home made garlic powder.

[Gary350]

I grew about 70 garlic plants in my garden last year. I harvested them all about July 2012. I have been cooking with them and keeping them in the pantry for about 9 months the cloves keep getting dryer and dryer. 2 weeks ago broke the garlic bulbs apart and pealed off all the skins. I got the garlic out today to cook beef stew and they were all dried up. I put about 1 1/4 cup of dried garlic pieces in the kitchen blender and 60 seconds later it was ground up into very tiny pieces. WOW it sure does smell good. It made the whole house smell like garlic. Beef stew turned out great. Garlic bread turned out good too.

I have the chopped garlic in a zip lock bag. I hope the garlic will be ok in the spice rack. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Susan W]

I would definitely have them in a bag or something that breaths. A closed ziplock recipe for funk.

[rkunsaw]

If they are completely dry, as seems to be the case, then the spice rack in a close container would be the proper place.

I have thought about grinding fresh garlic cloves and drying them in the dehydrator but haven't tried it yet. Maybe this year if we get a good crop.

[gumbo2176]

A lot of folks here in La. will put peeled cloves or chopped up fresh cloves in a jar and top with olive oil for storage. The garlic stays pretty pungent and fresh while the oil is deeply flavored with the garlic.

[Dillbert]

[quote="gumbo2176"]A lot of folks here in La. will put peeled cloves or chopped up fresh cloves in a jar and top with olive oil for storage. The garlic stays pretty pungent and fresh while the oil is deeply flavored with the garlic.[/quote]

this is not a good practice unless it is used up within a few days.

botulism spores - all over everything that comes out the soil - require two conditions to reproduce: low oxygen and non-acid pH.

garlic (& etc) in oil of any kind create ideal conditions.

[LA47]

gumbo, that's mostly what I use but I've always bought jars at the grocery store. I like it better than garlic powder. This fall I'm going to plant garlic.

[Gary350]

I tried garlic in oil a few years ago. The oil and garlic developed a very bad flavor in about 2 months. If I put any of this in food it tasted so bad no one would eat it. I threw the garlic away. I'm not willing to do this again.

The garlic I ground up in the blender is dry enough it breakes into pieces sorta like breaking walnuts of pecans by hand. After it is ground up it is a little bit sticky. I am a bit worried bacteria or mold might start growing in it all sealed up in a zip lock bag. I also worry if I leave it exposed to air all the good flavor might evaporate away. Maybe the zip lock bag should be in the freezer. Garlic extract is made with pure grain alcohol and the ground up garlic.

[gixxerific]

Anything would be good with it. I make a large Parmesan container full of ground garlic every year. It is about gone thanks for reminding me time to grind up the rest, well not all of it you need some coves.

Love love love garlic