20 Seconds to Easy Peeled Garlic
Peeling garlic can be an annoying task, especially if your recipe calls for several cloves of garlic; not to mention your hands end up smelling like garlic and you get that sticky garlicky residue on your fingers. In this video, Renee Maddison from Dinner4Two by Kitchen Charm shows you how to effortless peel an entire bulb of garlic all at the same time and what you end up with are several beautiful perfectly peeled cloves of garlic.
We love that this method of peeling it even allows you take out some of the day’s frustration while peeling your garlic. You’re going to love how easy it is and actually its fun too!
To start take your bulb of garlic and remove as much of the outer layers of the thin skin of the garlic as possible. Grab two bowls and put the peeled garlic bulb in one of the bowls and place the other bowl on top. While clasping the two bowls together shake the fire out of the bowls for about 20 seconds. Peek inside your bowl, you should have peeled garlic cloves. Who knew it could be that easy! If some of your cloves aren’t peeled simply remove the ones that are and place the other bowl back onto top and shake again for another 20 minutes. This is the fastest way we have found to peel multiple garlic cloves in a super short amount of time.
If you’re the kind of person that likes to have a bunch of garlic on hand here’s some great ways to store those peeled cloves from Jean Nick of the Nichol Pincher. Peeled garlic cloves will last up to two weeks in the fridge in a tightly covered container.
Freezing Garlic cloves
You can also freeze these little jewels. The quickest way to prep it for freezer storage is to put the peeled cloves into a food processor or blender with a little water, pulse until they are evenly minced, and then freeze the puree in ice cube trays or spread it out in a thin (and eventually breakable) layer on a silicone sheet. Once frozen, store the cubes or pieces in an airtight container.
Dry your Garlic
Making your own dehydrated garlic is very easy. Thinly slice your peeled garlic (a food processor with a batch loader can do this really quickly), and pop the slices into your food dehydrator, or into a barely warm oven with the door propped slightly open; you want to maintain a temperature of 115°F. Once the slices are crisp, store them in an airtight container as is or chop them in a blender before storing them in an airtight container. Dried garlic stores well at room temperature for many months, as long as the container is airtight and tightly sealed.
Make Flavored Oil
Once you have dried garlic slices, you can make delicious garlic-flavored oil by putting a handful of the slices in a small jar and covering them with olive oil. Use the softened slices and/or the flavored oil for making salad dressings or cooking.
Please note: Putting fresh (undried) garlic in oil creates the perfect environment for botulism to develop and you really, really don’t want to mess with botulism. If you do make a fresh garlic and oil mixture, always keep it in the fridge and plan to use it up or toss it within three weeks.
Roasted Garlic
This is my absolute favorite way to enjoy garlic, and roasted garlic can be stored in the freezer indefinitely. It’s also a great way to rapidly deal with a bumper crop, since you don’t have to peel the garlic at all! Roasted garlic is more mellow than fresh and can be used for just about anything you use fresh garlic for. It’s amazing spread on good crusty bread or dropped onto a pizza.
To roast garlic bulbs, lightly grease a casserole dish with olive oil, chuck in some clean bulbs, and bake at 350ºF until the bulbs are soft and squishy, usually about 45 minutes. Snip the tips off the bulbs and cloves and squeeze out the incredibly tasty, and now soft, flesh. Freeze the garlic in an airtight freezer container (it’ll last about a week in the fridge). Its high oil content means it never freezes hard, and you can scoop the clove contents out with a spoon as needed.
Pickled Garlic
One final way to store all your garlic is to pickle it. Pickling mellows garlic out, making whole cloves mild enough to be tossed raw into salads or served as nibbles along with olives and such. An easy way to make pickled garlic involves nothing more than tossing your peeled garlic cloves into a jar with some salt and vinegar and leaving it in the back of your refrigerator until you run out; they’ll keep indefinitely.