We recently discovered that some of our garlic was starting to sprout, so we decided to try our hand at making our very own Garlic Powder. We pulled three heads of garlic, broke up their cloves and took their skins off. Then we sliced them up and put them in our dehydrator.
Since we started this process at night, we left them in the dehydrator overnight, but it probably didn’t require that long. When dehydrating your garlic, it should take anywhere from an hour to a few hours, depending on how thin you’ve cut your garlic. You want your dried garlic to crumble when you press it between your fingers.
Next, I used my mortar and pestle and lots of elbow grease to grind it all up into actual garlic powder. Because of the jumpiness of the garlic pieces, I did this in small batches. Let me tell you…this is exhausting! As I was grinding, I found myself reflecting on the blessings of electricity and choice. I was choosing to make garlic powder in a way that, for thousands of years, was the only choice. Anyhow, deep thoughts aside, you can also use a blender, coffee grinder, spice grinder or a food processor to do the same job a thousand times faster.
As I finished each batch of garlic powder, I used a strainer over a bowl to separate the powder from the small chunks. Then, I simply threw those chunks in with my next batch of garlic to be ground up. In the end, it became pretty impossible to grind the last few tiny chunks, so I simply added them to my final product.
In the end, 3 heads of garlic gave us 10 teaspoons of garlic powder. Now, it just needs to be stored in an airtight container. It can store in a cool, dry place (or in the freezer) for up to a year but because we use garlic powder in pretty much everything savory we eat, I don’t think it will last nearly that long!
Happy grinding!
xoxo,
M
Linking up to Homestead Barn Hop #44, Tuesdays Table
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I’d use a mortar and pestle too. I don’t have a dehydrator, but I guess you can do the same thing in an oven on low heat and with the door slightly open, then leave it overnight.
Exactly! Best, freshest Garlic Powder one can get 🙂
This is super! I’m off to find a dehydrator… 🙂
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Great! Why have I never thought of this before??!? Same could be done with onion, too! Kudos!!!
That is the coolest! We always have lots of garlic around, and it is so nice to have another way to use my dehydrator! Thank you!
I didn’t even think about making dried garlic from our garlic cloves. I wonder if I could dry in the oven since I don’t have a dehydrator. I might have to put this on my list this year with my garlic that I am growing.
Neat. At what point should I add the silicon dioxide to the powder? 🙂
Lol…the beauty of DIYing is that you can choose when and how to add whatever (or NOT) 😉
I found this and seeing your a professional at Garlic, is this close to the different measurements of Garlic?? Thanks much..
A head or bulb of garlic usually contains about 10 cloves. 1 clove = 1 teaspoon chopped garlic = 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic = 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder = 1/2 teaspoon garlic flakes = 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic = 1/2 teaspoon garlic juice
Hello Porky! Thanks for visiting! If we’re talking about an average sized clove of garlic, your measurements look about right, though I have never made garlic juice.
I know this is an old post but since I as just using garlic powder this morning I thought I’d post this link: http://latinfood.about.com/od/seasoningmarinade/r/adobodry.htm
It’s a recipe for a great seasoning powder and I thought maybe you could make some with your garlic powder! It’s one of the things that we’ve made as a Christmas gift. My wife is an amaing cook and from the Caribbean, so we always gift my family with food she cooks at home. Although this is originally Spanish, it’s used a lot in the Caribbean. It’s delicious as a rub on fish or meat, in sauces, on mashed potato, added to mayo, on scrambled eggs etc.
We cut the garlic powder to 4 Tbsp as it was so fine and the recipe calls for granulated garlic. We also added 1 tsp of hot cayenne pepper 🙂
Ooohhh…this sounds amazing! Thank you for sharing not only the link, but your tweaks as well! I can’t wait to throw some of this together and try it out!!!
I’m so glad you dropped by and I really welcomed this contribution last week to the Seasonal Celebration Linky- a great collection of seasonal recipes, homemaking, crafts, homeschooling and motherhood thank you so much!
Seasonal Celebration is live once more, so feel free to pop over and join this wonderful celebration of creative talent! http://naturalmothersnetwork.com Rebecca x
Thanks for this really interesting post. I have some garlic that would be perfect for this, so am going to get on with making some! . I’m hosting a linky and would love it if you popped over and linked this post! Seasonal Celebration Linky http://naturalmothersnetwork.com/seasonal-celebration-sunday/seasonal-celebration/ Thank you 🙂
Thanks for invite, Rebecca! I didn’t make it to the first one, but I’ve just posted to #2! Thanks for introducing me to great community! I look forward to checking it all out!
I made this years ago and I used my hand style coffe grinder to powder it. It was easyand delicious. Now you have me wanting to do it again : -)
Thanks for sharing – I just planted a lot of garlic that had sprouted in the fridge. Maybe I’ll powder some when I harvest (hopefully I’ll end up with more than I started : )) Well done for inspiring us all.
Thanks for visiting my space! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that your garlic grows beautifully in the ground!
Don’t stop with making just garlic powder. I also make my own onion powder, pepper powders, chili powder, tomato powder, and even fruit powders. Mostly from what I grow in my garden. I even powdered some zucchini to add to my breads. If you can dry it, you can probably powder it and it takes up a lot less space in the pantry.
Rosemeri – Oh how wonderful! I have no intentions of stopping! And with all your inspiration, it looks like I have tons to learn and to look forward to 🙂 Thanks for popping over!
Thank you for linking up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways! I am totally sharing this post on my fb page and pinning for future reference!
Andrea, Thank you so much for linking this post up! I appreciate it a lot! And, thanks for introducing me to pinterest! I am now officially hooked! Hope you’re having a happy day!
Very cool! I would like to try it myself, but we don’t have a dehydrator and because of our 100 item journey I don’t think we will be getting one. But what a really neat idea! Maybe I can use a friend’s just to dehydrate the garlic.
Thanks for sharing!
Kelly
http://mysimplewalk.com
Kelly – Thanks for popping by! You can also dry them on a cookie sheet in a really low oven…like 150 degrees…just keep an eye on them since I’m not sure about the length of time they’ll need…maybe an hour or two???
Thanks Bee Girl I don’t have a dehydrator so wondering about oven or even microwave directions!
Hi Marie! I’m planning another post to talk about other options for dehydrating and grinding our own garlic powder! Stay tuned!
I slice my garlic thin and air dry it. Works great!
Liz – Ha! Thanks 🙂 We use garlic powder for everything…all our New Mexican dishes require it (beans & chile are so much better with garlic on them), a little on some stir fried veggies, in soups, on fried or twice baked potatoes…In our house, garlic makes everything better!
Michele – There are no dumb questions! We didn’t cut the sprouted part off because the sprouts weren’t huge, just peeking 🙂
foodgardenkitchen – You’re not crazy! I’m not ready yet either, we just didn’t have another option. It was a fun experience, but I am super grateful it was done by choice and not by necessity!
1st Man – Right?! It was great fun! I hope you do try it 🙂
How cool! This might be a dumb question but did you cut the sprouted part off, or did you just leave it on the garlic when you dehydrated it?
Pure awesomeness in a jar! I’m SO doing this! And I love that you didn’t use electricity. I can imagine there was some sort of connection to the past…too cool!
The resulting garlic powder looks good. Call me lazy, but I’m just not quite ready to eschew electricity 🙂
How cool!
That’s great and particularly impressive knowing you did it by hand. What do you use garlic powder for?
I use it all the time in place of regular garlic – add it to potatoes before mashing and sprinkle on chicken before baking. My favorite use is in dry rubs for flank steak. My recipe is a mixture of brown sugar, sea salt, black pepper, onion powder, chili powder, and garlic powder.
Julie, thanks for stopping by! Your mix for flank steak sounds absolutely wonderful! Would you mind sharing your ratios?
Kelli – It is! I don’t think we’ll ever go back to store bought after this!
Jaime – Thanks! Wow, that story about your mom is awesome! Isn’t just amazing how removed we’ve become form our food sources in such a short period of time?! It really is quite shocking!
Allison – Thank you 🙂
Well done! Your mortar and pestle is beautiful, and I can see how it would inspire many deep thoughts 😉 My mom, who’s never been “into” cooking, used to think garlic could only be used in powdered form until she saw me cooking with the cloves. Isn’t that funny!? (and a little scary….)
-Jaime
awesome! i bet that’s the tastiest garlic powder.