What Is the Best Way to Freeze Garlic Cloves? Can you freeze garlic?
Garlic can be frozen in a variety of ways and different forms. The most popular form for storing them is unpeeled cloves, but you can also peel the cloves or store the whole bulbs for later use. If you don’t wish to freeze raw garlic, you also have the option of coking and processing them first before freezing. This is probably a good idea if you have limited space in your freezer or if you want to use your processed garlic more quickly.
One of the essential things that you will immediately notice when cooking with previously-frozen garlic is the strong scent and flavors are already neutralized. Frozen garlic won’t be as crunchy as fresh cloves, but the flavor would still be the same, and you’d have all the garlic you need at your disposal, without the risk of them drying out or being unusable because there’s so much of them.
An alternative method of storing garlic is submerging the cloves in oil. The tricky part about this method is that even if the garlic is in oil, the low-oxygen environment is the right pathogen that causes botulism. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to keep a bottle of garlic and olive oil at room temperature. What you can do, however, is to puree your garlic and submerge them in olive oil. Place the oil and garlic in a freezer-safe jar and then store.
The resulting garlic oil is fantastic for so many different recipes, including mashed potatoes and pasta. Sautéed vegetables and stews would also get a hearty kick of flavor from the garlic in oil. If you don’t want to puree the garlic, store add peeled cloves to the oil and store. The oil would still be bursting with flavor, and you would have an all-natural, seasoned oil at your disposal at any time.
Why is it a good idea to store your garlic in glass instead of freezer bags? While freezer bags are technically sufficient for preserving garlic in a freezer, there is a small chance that the garlic’s aroma would permeate the freezer. You probably already have a story or two of awkward aromas in the fridge, and the smells don’t improve the freezer, either.
Freezers are notorious for harboring the strangest food-related odors.
What if you don’t want to use olive oil or any other media to suspend the garlic? Like we said earlier, you can store the garlic in whatever form you prefer in bags or jars. If there are no jars, make sure that the freezer bags that you use are sealed tightly. Feel free to put bands around them and roll the bag to keep those odors at bay. Sealing is essential when freezing items like garlic and herbs.
The sealing also prevents air from entering the containers, contributing to the spoiling of the frozen items and eventual loss of good flavor. We want to maintain the flavors and textures of the things that we freeze as much as possible, so we pay close attention to the containers that we use.
Some people use double-bagging or triple-bagging for the garlic because, in quantity, these things can smell. Save yourself from a stinky refrigerator by making sure that the garlic’s natural smell is sealed inside the bags, along with the cloves and bulbs.
How Long Can Garlic Be Frozen?
Frozen garlic can last for months – even up to a year. However, if you want to consume it in its best state before the crystallization can indeed reduce its flavor and natural texture, we recommend consuming your garlic no more than three months after freezing it. Plan, so you don’t over-purchase and only stock garlic that you can effectively store for three months all at once.
Otherwise, you may have to process or cook most of it so that the cooked garlic can last longer. Fried garlic chips for examples, can last well over three months because it has been cooked already. Cooked garlic only needs a dry environment and a colder temperature to maintain its stability.
How Do You Freeze Garlic Bulbs? Can You Freeze Garlic Cloves and Bulbs?
Garlic bulbs can be stored much like peeled and unpeeled cloves. Either you put them in airtight containers, or you can place them in large freezer bags and seal the bags. Freezing large quantities of garlic bulbs will work, but there’s the issue of the smell that you need to contend with. As we have mentioned above, you may want to try using two or three bags of time to create a genuinely airtight environment. Tape or bind the bags so that no natural odors escape from the container of the garlic.
How Do You Thaw Frozen Garlic? How long does minced garlic last?
Thawing garlic does not take long, unlike thawing meat. If you are thawing a large quantity of peeled garlic, you can thaw the garlic in a basin of water. Be sure to refresh the water through the defrosting process. If you are not in a rush, transfer the pack of frozen garlic and place it in the refrigerator. Leave the frozen garlic to thaw for 24-36 hours, and it will defrost naturally because it is no longer in a freezing environment.
Does Freezing Garlic Ruin It?
Due to ice crystallization and the subsequent thawing when you are about to consume it, frozen garlic may not be the same as fresh garlic. However, when you buy garlic at a sale, and there is too much of it, it’s not practical to plan to cook them all at once. Apart from storing them in the basement (which might work), you have the option of freezing them.
