Easy Fermented Garlic — 2 Ingredients & No Starter Needed! (2024)

Fermented Garlic is the easiest ferment EVER! With just 2 ingredients and no starter culture required, you can preserve garlic through the magic of fermentation for a health-promoting food that can be added to your favorite dishes, dips, dressings, and used as a natural remedy!

It’s been 3 years since I posted the best and easiest ferment ever: my Fermented Dill Pickles. That lacto-fermented dill pickles recipe is truly a gem; I use it myself every year when I harvest cukes from my garden and pickle them naturally.

But, the Fermented Dill Pickles Recipe is losing its title as the “best and easiest ferment for beginners” because…

I have an even easier fermentation recipe! Fermented Garlic!

I actually had no intentions of ever fermenting garlic. Then, I bought a 5-pound bag of pre-peeled garlic cloves from Costco. (I think I must’ve been feeling really ambitious that day. Who the heck uses 5 pounds of pre-peeled garlic cloves unless they’re running a restaurant?!)

Obviously, I’m not running a restaurant. And, I use a lot of garlic in my cooking, but I would never have used all 5 pounds before it started to spoil.

Which it did.

So, as a trial, I decided to try fermenting pre-peeled garlic before it all went to waste. I fished through the cloves, removing all the ones with soft brown spots or white mold spots.

Next, I filled a quart-size jar with the cloves, added salt, and filled the jar with water. A days later and a few burps of the jar later, I had fermented garlic.

I saved the garlic cloves from spoiling by using the magical preservation powers of fermentation!

Now, I’m going to show you how to ferment garlic!

Why fermented foods?

Yes, yes, lacto-fermented foods — like fermented peppers or pickles — and fermented drinks — like kombucha — are full of gut-friendly probiotics.

In fact, before the modern-day probiotic capsules we find at the health food store, our ancestors intuitively knew that fermented foods were good for their guts. And, they got their probiotics from 2 sources: the dirt and fermented foods and drinks.

However, probiotics aren’t the only advantage of fermented foods. Before refrigeration and canning, our ancestors learned to preserve food through fermentation.

They could make veggies like cabbage and cucumbers last longer without spoiling, without vinegar, and without refrigeration or canning by turning them into sauerkraut and pickles.

To learn more about the magical benefits of fermentation, check out:

• Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morrel
• The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz
• Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz

Ok, let’s get started with fermented garlic!

How to Make Easy Fermented Garlic

Y’all, this is so easy. It almost feels silly to post it on my website. It’s stupid-simple.

Are you ready?

First, add peeled garlic cloves to a jar. I used quart-size jars.

Next, add 1 tablespoon of salt per quart jar. If you use a pint-size jar, cut the salt in half to 1-1/2 teaspoons. If you use a 2-quart jar, double the salt to 2 tablespoons and so on.

Last, fill the jar with water (more on this below). Put the lid on the jar and set it in a room temperature location for 3 to 5 days, burping the jar at least once a day (more on burping below).

See? I told you this was stupid-easy.

Now, let’s discuss some particular details of this recipe…

Should I use pre-peeled garlic?

This is 100% up to you. For me, it’s a no-brainer to use pre-peeled garlic. I can think of 496 things I’d rather do with my time than peel a quart’s worth of garlic cloves.

Pre-peeled garlic is SO inexpensive too. But, if you’ve got the time and really want to peel your own garlic, knock yourself out! Hey, I fully acknowledge that if we’re being traditional here, our ancestors did not have access to pre-peeled garlic in 5-pound bags from Costco.

My fermented garlic has turned blue! Help!

Ok, relax. This happened to me too! And I thought for sure I was going to end up throwing all that garlic out after all.

But, nope. Turns out, there is a chemical explanation for this that isn’t mold and rot.

Garlic is high in anthocyanins and sulfur, which when exposed to the acidic environment of fermentation, turn blue. Or green. Or blue-ish-green.

My first jar of fermented garlic looked completely fine for the first couple of months, and then I noticed some blue spots. Over the course of a week or so, the entire jar of garlic turned blue-green. I continued to use the garlic, and the flavor was not affected at all.

Then, after another few months, the blue-green garlic turned slightly brownish.

Again, the taste was not affected by these color changes AND the garlic remained crisp throughout all these color changes.

True or false… Morton iodized or Kosher salt are the best salts for fermentation.

FALSE.

Your ferments will do the best when you use a mineral-rich salt, such as Himalayan pink salt or Celtic sea salt. (Also, yes, salts have “flavor” and the flavor of mineral-rich salt is so much better than iodized or Kosher salt!)

Water matters too.

Please, please, please do not use chlorinated, fluoridated tap water for your ferments. I mean, please don’t use this type of water at all because it is literally poisonous, but also don’t ferment with it.

You’re trying to grow bacteria here, and NEWSFLASH, chlorine and other chemicals are added to treated tap water to PREVENT bacterial growth.

See where I’m going with this?

For your own health as well as the health of your ferments, the best type of water is:

• well water
• water filtered through a Berkey
• spring water

Although not ideal, reverse osmosis water will work for fermenting, as long as you’re using a mineral-rich salt (see above). Because reverse osmosis systems filter out minerals in addition to toxins, it’s important to add minerals back in via salt.

What is “burping the jar”?

Fermentation 101: as bacteria grow and proliferate, they release carbon dioxide which creates air. Since you’re fermenting in an anaerobic environment (ie. jar with a lid), this air has no way to escape.

So, at least once a day, it’s wise to open the jar, allow the built-up CO2 to escape, and close the jar again. This is known as “burping”.

When you open the jar to release this CO2, it’s likely that you’ll hear a sound similar to opening a can of soda, though not as loud. And, bubbles will quickly rise to the surface of the water, indicating a healthy build-up of CO2.

Just look at all these bubbles!

Can I use an air-lock?

If you use an airlock meant for fermenting, you won’t need to burp your jar. However, in all honesty, I have never found the need to use any sort of fermenting gadget or apparatus. I still get great results with a good old-fashioned Mason jar with a clean lid and intact seal. 🙂

The one exception to this would be if you decide to start a ferment and then leave town for a few days. Then, you’ll definitely want to give that CO2 a way to escape since you won’t be able to burp your jars.

How to use fermented garlic?

Use this easy fermented garlic as you would fresh garlic!

You can…

• roast it
• add it to hummus
• add it to salad dressing
• use it on fish
• make salsa, pesto, or pasta sauce
• add it to soups and stews
• make garlic oil to treat an ear infection
• take it raw as an anti-viral, anti-bacterial, or anti-parasitic

If you have a question about fermented garlic that I haven’t answered here, leave a comment below!

Here’s my easy fermented garlic recipe:

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More Fermented Foods You’ll Love…

• Fermented Cilantro Lime Jalapeños
• Fermented Cilantro Chimichurri
• Spontaneously Fermented Sparkling Apple Cider
• Naturally Fermented Jalapeño Peppers
• Hydrating Pineapple Mango Switchel

So… are you headed to the store to get some pre-peeled garlic so you can make fermented garlic??