Vampires beware 🧄

I LOVE garlic! The very first time I planted garlic was the fall of 2020. I planted it and never ended up harvesting as we sold our house and moved to Waupun, WI. I was really discouraged and only planted a few cloves the fall of 2022. 

Last fall was the 2nd time I have planted garlic in my current garden. I put over 175 cloves in the ground. This year I had the most beautiful harvest! The bulbs were amazing in size and flavor, the only problem is I didn't label each variety so I'm not 100% which types I planted and where. 

I would like to shout out Mad River Garlic Growers. If I do order bulbs, I get it from them and they have fantastic selection. I have planted music, dog house and elephant garlic from them and those are part of the mix of varieties I put in last fall. 

I ended up pulling the garlic in late July and hung it in the garage to dry. I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of the beds this summer, or once it was bundled. Anyway, It was last week that I brought it all in and separated the nicest heads from the not so great heads, that I use to dry, mince and just keep around the kitchen.

This past week I spent a combined total of about 4 hours pealing cloves to be minced. My hands are permanently garlic scented, but I don't mind. 

Once I had all of my cloves peeled, I put them in my blender on the lowest speed and minced it. 

After that I put it into half pint size mason jars and the pressure canned. Below is the "recipe" I followed.

PROCESS:

••Prepare GARLIC for food processor and mince. Set all aside until water has boiled.

•• bring enough WATER TO BOIL to cover garlic. Turn off burner

•• ADD MINCED GARLIC, cover & let set in hot water 10 minutes

•• STRAIN minced garlic in add to cleaned pint jars

•• ADD GARLIC BROTH a inch from rim

•• clean rims seal. 

••PRESSURE CAN 30 minutes for PINTS at your altitude

My entire house now smells like garlic! Next on my list is to get next year's garlic in the ground. I will probably do that this weekend while the weather is nice. 

I do have several heads still set aside to peal and dry for garlic powder. I powdered garlic last year and honestly, the flavor was so strong I only used half the measurements recipes called for! 

Garlic is a staple and I would recommend it in any garden!