caress that precious ivory, smell its irate fragrance ...

April 9, 2019 9:24 AM

A recipe for Garlic Jam by Jack Monroe, via The Jam Lady. (Title excerpt from Pablo Neruda)
posted by taz (16 comments total)

I was using Purple Carrot, which sends you a head of garlic every week and then tells you to use two cloves. I ended up with a lot of garlic.

I made garlic confit. Super easy, can use up any amount of garlic.

The best use of the garlic confit ended up being adding it to ricotta and whipping it up in a Magic Bullet. Yum. We also used some of the confit to top focaccia.

I also made some Meera Sodha-inspired garlic raita, which I could eat with every meal. Going to have more for lunch.

Sodha also has a recipe for a 100-clove curry.
posted by tofu_crouton at 9:46 AM on April 9, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've been getting a head of garlic a week from my CSA, and these are all great ideas, thank you. There's also Mojo de Ajo.
posted by Fig at 9:51 AM on April 9, 2019 [4 favorites]

These recipes sound fantastic and I want them all, NOW.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:10 AM on April 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also, "irate fragrance" will be the name of my next sockpuppet.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:11 AM on April 9, 2019 [4 favorites]

Anyone who has an excess of garlic might want to look into toum. I keep finding places that do what they call shawarma but use tahini or hummus as the sauce, when the true great glory is pita bread slathered with toum and piled with spiced meat.
posted by tavella at 11:08 AM on April 9, 2019 [4 favorites]

Oh, this is so going to be a xmas gift, once I consume enough to make double, triple sure I'm doing it right.

I never heard of that oven method for sterilizing jars and lids. Sounds a whole lot less cumbersome than boiling them. Has anyone else used that oven method? Works well?

Also, anyone have thoughts on using roasted whole cloves and crushing them into the mix?
posted by Thorzdad at 11:56 AM on April 9, 2019

I was wondering about the oven as well, and generally whether the vinegar made it acid enough for home canning to be safe. Garlic is vulnerable to botulinum, that's why it's generally not recommended for home canning, just pickling.
posted by tavella at 12:27 PM on April 9, 2019 [2 favorites]

I also wondered about the oven sterilization thing, so as usual I started looking around online - and discovered a mishmash of varying and contradictory information (including different oven temps and cooking times, the oven method doesn't sterilize, the jars will shatter, you can sterilize them in the dishwasher...). Since my lunch break is almost over I couldn't dig any deeper. But "boiling the jars" seems to be the most constant and consistent option.

Let's just say I'd rather not use a botulin-friendly food to experiment with the other methods, myself.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:55 PM on April 9, 2019 [4 favorites]

Monroe's recipe has a lot of sugar as well as the vinegar and jams are generally safe. She isn't processing for room temperature storage either as she specifies refrigerating. That said, I have noticed that European canning instructions are sometimes less rigorous than American ones and if I am going to so much trouble to preserve I'd rather use the most careful methods. University extension agencies and the Ball books are pretty much the standard.
(But sweet garlic doesn't sound very appealing to me.)
posted by Botanizer at 1:37 PM on April 9, 2019 [2 favorites]

Speaking of "sweet" garlic, as anyone tried black garlic? The process makes it lose all of its bite/heat, and it tastes like--well, like nothing else, but it's got a depth of flavor something like a cross between blackstrap molasses and balsamic vinegar (but milder and incredibly yummy). You can probably find it in upscale grocery stores, or (if you try some and decide you could eat the stuff like a superior sort of candy) in bulk various places online.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:21 PM on April 9, 2019

Baking the clean jars at 300 degrees for 10 minutes is better than boiling. But, you do wash the lids and bring them to a boil, you don't bake the lids. For real canning the lidded jars have to be boiled from 10-15 minutes depending on altitude, it is a minute per 1000 feet after ten minutes up front.

These garlic recipes! The marmalades!
posted by Oyéah at 4:30 PM on April 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nichijou - Jam Tasting (3m7s)
posted by glonous keming at 4:46 PM on April 9, 2019

Garlic is vulnerable to botulinum, that's why it's generally not recommended for home canning, just pickling.

As I understand it, the risk only applies to raw garlic? In this recipe, it's pretty thoroughly cooked through - first slowly and then at a vigorous sugary boil - so I don't think that should be a concern.
posted by vincebowdren at 1:41 AM on April 10, 2019

Another possibility for extra garlic is to make mayu - a black garlic oil that is used as a topping for ramen. It pumps up any ramen from fancy to store-bought. It is different from the aforementioned black garlic which is fermented. This is actually burnt garlic mixed with sesame oil. It’s very bitter but once on soup it’s amazing. It’ll keep for a long time in a jar in the fridge. Here’s a good recipe.
posted by misterpatrick at 12:56 PM on April 10, 2019

Botulism is the big danger with garlic preparations. If you include something acidic like the wine and vinegar here it'll help a great deal.
posted by poe at 3:47 PM on April 10, 2019

Apparently the issue with baking your jars is that most ovens aren't consistent or even accurate. Boiling water is (depending on altitude) pretty much always hot enough.
posted by PennD at 6:35 PM on April 11, 2019