Garlic (Lacto-Fermented)

Ingredients:
Garlic cloves (organic or non-irradiated)
Jar: 1 Liter Jar (or smaller)
Brine: 2%
Ferment: 7 days at room temperature (68-72ºF)

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Preparation: 
1. Prepare about 3 cups of 2% brine for a 1 Liter Jar.
2. Pour brine into Jar.
3. Peel garlic cloves (or just smack them with the flat side of a kitchen knife to loosen peels quickly) and put them into the Jar with the brine.*
4. Continue adding garlic until the cloves are almost up the the shoulder of the Jar.
5. Add additional brine if necessary to bring level up to just below the neck.
6. Place Brine (Submersion) Bowl, fill & insert the Airlock, lock the Jar & cover.
7. Leave at 70ºF for 7-10 days.
8. Move to refrigerator.  Garlic is ready to use in about a month, and will continue to ferment slowly in the fridge for about six months.  The more aged, the more wonderfully mild and delicious!


Notes:
*Peeling the garlic makes for a very nice looking jar of fermented garlic, but I don't enjoy peeling garlic one little bit.  Some advice out there recommends heating garlic cloves in the oven to loosen the peels, but that will kill the LAB and prevent a healthy ferment, so that's not an option for us.  I prefer the smacking method ~ not so pretty but it gets the job done!

Garlic, while fermenting, sometimes turns a color such as blue, purple, or green.  This is due to specific compounds in some varieties of garlic that are affected by acids and the fermenting process, and do not affect the flavor, nor do they indicate a problem with the ferment.  We do, however, recommend that the garlic be fresh, and not sprouting as in this photo, if you desire a firmer garlic clove after fermenting.  These cloves will be quite soft.

The brine out of the fermented garlic Jar makes a very nice addition to mayonnaise to create aioli.  

I love the raw fermented garlic in my guacamole.  The creative ways to use lacto-fermented garlic are endless!

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