How to Store Garlic

마늘[maa-neul]
Koreans eat lots of garlic. Garlic is on top of my grocery list too whenever I go shopping, and I always keep fresh garlic cloves in my vegetable basket on a corner of my countertop within easy reach. Since I use garlic a lot in my cooking, sometimes peeling and chopping garlic in the middle of cooking five different dishes at the same time can be quite hectic. So, those pre-chopped garlic that comes in a jar was quite tempting whenever I went on grocery shopping. My #1 rule of cooking which is to use the freshest ingredients, however, has kept me on the good side and I always buy fresh garlic instead. Few months ago, my mom who has 30 plus years experience of feeding a family of six on Korean diet showed me her shortcuts. She buys the freshest garlic from the market, peel, mince, freeze a batch, and cut it into pieces in size of approximately one serving. So, I compromised. I still keep fresh garlic in my vegetable basket, but I also have a bag of frozen garlic cubes in my freezer in case I run short of time when I am cooking.


Though we can find garlic in supermarkets year-round, the best garlic season is in summer. Couple years ago, we went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. I remember we both came back exhausted because of the scorching heat. It was one of those days when you can hardly breathe the air because of the heat. I don't think we are going back there any time soon, but it sure was an interesting experience. They sell everything garlic there including garlic ice cream and of course garlic fries, etc. The garlic ice cream was not bad at all. And I also really liked their garlic hat which is very cute.

Last, the health benefits of garlic is widely known that they don't need to be repeated here. We all know it's very good especially for your hearts.

1.

First peel off outer skin of garlic with hand.

2.

Now you can use this wonderful device, a garlic peeler. It works great especially when you trim off the ends of each clove with a knife before rolling them in one of these peelers.

3.

I measure about two cups of garlic cloves for each batch.

4.

Grind them in a mixer.

5.

Line a square container with plastic wrap and then evenly spread the garlic batch to about 1/2 inch thick. Then freeze overnight.

6.

Cut the frozen garlic into your preferred serving sizes.

7.

Store them in a zipper bag in a freezer.