Pickled Garlic

Garlic season, for me, started with wet garlic. First in the box, then on the balcony and, of course, in much of what I ate. Wet garlic is garlic that is planted late (December on the balcony, though many of my books say early spring...) and so doesn't have the growing time to form cloves. In looks it's like the garlic equivalent of spring onion. It has a delicious fresh taste about it and I've heard rumours that it is nice raw. Although when I tried it my response was to wave at my mouth and go 'ohh ohh oh' if anything I think it's a bit more pronounced than the dried stuff.

Then came the fresh new seasons stuff. It has cloves but it isn't dry yet. I got mine from the supermarket. Next year, with any luck, the balcony. But this year it looked stylish in the supermarket and I knew I had a recipe for pickled garlic in Preserves so we bought some. Not the most thrifty thing to do but I was interested in preserving garlic in a way other than drying. So I did. With bay leaves foraged off a local tree and spices scraped together out of my cupbord. I now have this lovely amber brew sat in my pantry.

Of course the last lot of garlic we get is the standard dried stuff. Which can turn almost any dish into pure heaven. Garlic, it seems, was made for preserving in one way or another.