Medicinal Pickled garlic

Medicinal Pickled garlic

I found this recipe in the book Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide .  If you do not have this book I suggest you look into getting it.  It is  full of wonderful information for home herbal uses.

According to Gladstar’s book, “Garlic is the herb of choice in treating colds, flu, sore throats and poor or sluggish digestion… makes a potent internal and external antiseptic, antibacterial, and antimicrobial agent effective for treating many types of infection.”  That is some powerful stuff!  There is much more information in the book, it is a wonderful addition to your homesteading or prepping library.

Peeled garlic cloves (enough to fill a jar)

Raw apple cider vinegar

Raw Local Honey

Fill a mason jar with garlic cloves; use any size jar you like.  Fill the jar with apple cider vinegar to cover the garlic completely.  Place the jar in a warm place for 3-4 weeks.

After 3-4 weeks, strain off the liquid(this is when you will add the honey).   Set ½ the liquid aside to use as you wish.  Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide said,” …to be used in salad dressings and marinades. “ Oh,  what about a brine for refrigerator pickle items?  Like pickled radishes!

Place ½ the liquid in a sauce pan and add an equal amount of raw honey.  Over VERY LOW heat; under 100F or 38C (as not to kill the good stuff in the cider and the honey), warm stirring until the is mixed in to the vinegar.   Pour this back over the garlic.  Allow this to sit for another 3-4 weeks in a cool dark place.  The pickled garlic should keep for a year.

Eat the garlic as you wish.  It is quite addictive.  When you eat one, for an unknown reason shortly after you will want another.  It is quite strange.  They are very tasty and offer all the benefits of fresh garlic without the slap in the face ya get from biting into a fresh clove!

***UPDATE***

I have had a few questions about garlic turning green or blue, this is a natural reaction.  The garlic is perfectly fine, it just looks different.  here is the long answer according to http://whatscookingamerica.net, “The discoloration is due to pigments that form between sulfur compounds in garlic and amino acids. When the garlic tissue is disrupted, as happens in processing, an enzyme is liberated and reacts with it to form thiosulfinates compounds that then react with the natural amino acids in the garlic to form blue pigments. The age of garlic determines how much isoalliin there is in the first place, and the nature of the processing determines how much enzyme is liberated.”

My current batch of medicinal pickled garlic has a few blue/green cloves amongst the group as you can see in the  picture, it started to turn before the first week of the pickling process…

 

For bulk organic herbs please visit Mountain rose herbs…

 

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