Garlic Preserving

Keeping a stash of minced frozen garlic in my freezer is right up there with tomato paste as a kitchen essential. You can absolutely freeze whole cloves and I usually do one bag, but I much prefer having the rest already minced and ready to go.

Let’s be honest—the most tedious part is separating and peeling all those cloves. But every time a recipe calls for garlic and I can simply grab a ready-made portion from the freezer, I’m so glad I did the prep.

This year, when I was down to my last basket of garlic, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. A few years ago, I bought a food processor that came with—of all things—a potato peeler attachment. At the time, I remember thinking, “Have we really become too lazy to peel potatoes?” Needless to say, it sat unused.

Then one morning, while peeling garlic with my little rubber roller, it hit me—what if that potato peeler could do the hard work for me? So I gave it a try… and it worked brilliantly.

I filled the base of the processor with garlic cloves and added a small amount of water, attached the peeler, and gave it a quick 10-second spin. The skins were either completely removed or loosened enough to slip off easily. From there, it was just a matter of tipping everything into a sink of water, scooping out the peeled cloves, and removing any remaining skins.

It was an absolute game changer. What used to take many hours per basket was done in just one.

Preserving Process

1. Divide all you garlic bulbs into cloves, setting aside any large ones for replanting

2. Peel the cloves

3. Place in a food process with blades and process till finely minced

4. Transfer to ice cube containers or use a cookie scoop to make little pods onto a tray with baking paper.

5. Freeze for 24-48 hours then place in zip lock bags for use throughout the year.