What is Garlic
Garlic is a flowering plant whose relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and more. The word comes from the Old English word garleac where gar means spear and leac means leek, so a spear-shaped leek. The plantโs stem can grow up to 3-feet tall, like a spear.
How to Buy American Garlic
A lot of times the regulations in other countries for how food is grown, handled, transported, and stored isโฆsuspicious to say the least. But U.S. standards are high. So how do you know if garlic is U.S. grown? The roots. American grown garlic still has the roots attached. All imported garlic has the roots chopped off. The more you know!
How Long Garlic Lasts
Once you break the seal and crack open a bulb of garlic, you are on borrowed time. That is why knowing how to store garlic, and your options for storing peeled garlic are important. Stored properly, a whole, unpeeled garlic bulb can keep for months. After you break open the bulb, you are looking at just a few weeks. Once a clove has been peeled, use it within a week, keeping it in the refrigerator until you do.
How to Freeze Garlic
Freezing garlic in oil is easy to do and one of my favorite ways to store peeled garlic next to my vinegar method. I prefer this method because the garlic is already prepped, ready to use, and super easy to use. Frozen in oil, which due to its high fat content, never forms a rock solid piece of ice. So by freezing it in oil, you can easily scoop out however much you need for cooking. Here is how to freeze garlic in oil.
Peel the Garlic
When it comes to peeling a bulb of garlic, you have options. My favorite method for peeling a whole bulb is my jar method. Add the bulb to a quart-sized mason jar with the lid. Make sure the lid is on tight. Then shake the hell out of the jar for about 10 seconds or so. It is magic!
Chop the Garlic
You want to prepare the garlic. So chop the cloves to your preferred consistency. Basically chop it how you would typically for any recipe. Chop the whole dang bulb, or more than one bulb if you like. You can freeze it this way for up to a year.
Store the Garlic
You need airtight container thatโs safe to store in the freezer. A plastic bag or reusable container work just fine, especially if itโs something you can label. Make sure it is clean. Then add the minced garlic.
You are going to use about two parts oil to one part minced garlic. I prefer olive oil as that I what cook with the most. Other cooking oils will also work. Add the oil to the minced garlic and mix to make sure the garlic is fully coated in oil.
Freeze the Garlic
Place the lid on the container or seal the bag, depending on what you are using. You should label the container with the date, so you know when it has been about a year. Place it in the freezer for storage.
Eat the Garlic
Because the oil will never fully freeze solid, you can easily scoop out or break off the exact amount you need, depending on if you used a container or bag. Then just add it straight into your pan for cooking.
If you find yourself using the same amount of garlic regularly, you can freeze the mixture into ice trays for ease of use. Just make sure itโs a tray you donโt plan to reuse for ice, as there may be a lingering garlic flavor.
Food Safety
I only recommend storing garlic in oil when frozen. For everyone who has commented on my video that they keep it in the refrigerator, I am super glad you have had zero issues. I seriously am. But you can do lots of risky things and sometimes it works out. The thing is, I see no benefit to the risk here.
Whatโs the risk: botulism.
Botulism spores found in soil are harmless when oxygen is present. But when you cover garlic in olive oil, you create oxygen-free opportunities between the garlic and the olive oil. This is with any oil. This environment, especially where the temperature is above 50 degrees F, promotes the growth of those spores.
Secondly, stored this way, in the fridge, even the USDA doesnโt recommend doing it for more than 7 days. So 1 year in the freezer or 7 days in the fridge with the risk of botulism. Choose your own adventure, Becky!
And if you do store it in oil, you should keep it at 40 degrees F in the fridge. And when you take it out to use it, you shouldnโt leave it out for more than 2 hours at room temperature. And no more than 1 hour if it is hot out!
Not. Worth. It.
