Anybody vac seal garlic???

[linguica]

The Korean grocery store near my home sells jars of peeled and refrigerated garlic. The jar labels say the garlic will stay fresh for 1 month. At home we do the same thing, peel a cup of garlic cloves and put them into a ziploc bag. If not used in 2 to 3 weeks they will grow roots. When they root, the garlic is then planted in the yard. So far we have a never ending supply of the "Stinking Rose".

Could this be a better solution than trying to preserve it?

 

[venture]

For the love of all that is sacred, follow JJ's advice!

Way too many people have been poisoned doing their garlic oil on the counter.  Get it in the fridge and keep it there for a reasonable time only.  Or pasteurize it. Or sufficiently acidify it. 

Proceed with caution!

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[daveomak]

OK.... Here is the deal about Garlic from UC Davis.........

Interesting notes.... You can store garlic cloves submerged in oil in the freezer or wrap tightly in plastic and store in the freezer ....  So I guess vacuum packing frozen cloves and storing in the freezer is OK as far as I can tell....  However, they note.... do not store at room temp or fridge temp in a low oxygen environment....   Commercial garlic is stored at 32 deg.. or store your fresh garlic at 60 deg in the dark in a mesh bag....  

Read the file for clarity and safety.....  Dave 

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/7231.pdf

 

[daveomak]

OK, now I am confused..... Read the certification of the processing plant ..... HAACP, FDA etc and look at the amount of garlic they have vac-packed.......  In an open store room.....   

 .... 

http://www.weiku.com/products/13443460/vacuum_packed_peeled_garlic_cloves.html

 

[venture]

The problem here is room temp in an anaerobic environment.

Submerging garlic in oil creates an anaerobic environment.  Room temp is now a problem for botulism in particular, and sometimes with other things in general. We often see removing oxygen as a partial fix, but that is not always the case.

I will be vacu packing and freezing some garlic as a test.  I don't foresee problems freezing other than changes in the texture of the garlic, but if I see any gas forming in the bags?  You know where it will go. I haven't heard of problems with garlic in oil at fridge temps,  assuming reasonable timelines have been followed. Still, I take my garlic oil up to temp and hold it there before placing it in the fridge.

With fresh garlic so readily available in our country these days?  I just don't see the need for jumping through all these hoops? 

Interesting info from our friends in Canada:

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/food-aliment/garlic-ail-eng.php

 

[roller]

If you remember that, then what about the smell of the fields of drying onions in Vacaville in the mid '60s, A smell to this day i still recall.

Mid 60`s I was smelling Napalm...

 

[big casino]

wow never realized this about garlic or mushrooms, we have always kept mushrooms in the fridge, and have always kept garlic the same as we keep our onions,

is the reason for not vac sealing soft cheeses the same? and by soft do they mean soft like american, muenster? or do they mean soft like cottage or ricotta, or feta?

 

[chef jimmyj]

Sorry I am getting back to this late but yes Dave, Freezing Garlic is no issue. I get 5Lb Plastic Jars of Whole Peeled Garlic from the Hotel my wife works for. It sits happily in our Refer and lasts 4-6 weeks. Like Venture, if I find the cloves are starting to get soft, they go in a food processor and then into a Pan of Oil, Veg/Olive Blend, and is heated to 200*F, cooled and goes in jars and back in the Refer to be used as needed...JJ