How to Dehydrate Garlic Cloves

December 04, 2018 The Provident Princess 0 Comments

So I am one of those people who buys garlic in bulk. Tell me I'm not the only one who gets annoyed with how much a single head of garlic costs? You can get like 4 x's that much for the same price if you buy it in bags; which I normally do to feel like I am saving money.

Well actually, I do save money. But then I am left with the problem of having a bunch of garlic that starts to send out shoots before I can get through them all. There are a couple things you can do with your extra garlic cloves that need to start being used up. You can freeze it raw for later use and pull out a few at a time as you need them; but I rarely have the freezer space (yes, even for something as small as a bag of garlic. Talk to my husband, it is his longest running complaint how full our freezer always is.) You could roast it whole in the oven and have on hand to throw into pasta dishes, sauteed veggies or any other recipe. You could also plant it, or you can dehydrate it. 


Dehydrating veggies is one of the easiest means of food preservation and pretty cheap too. I got a dehydrator years ago off a classifieds website for $15 that has served me well. You actually don't even need a dehydrator. You could use an oven on the lowest temperature or even just with the light on or if it is during the summer and you don't live in a humid area, you can dehydrate your food outside. I mean that's how food was dried for centuries and it works just as well today. Honestly, it's so dry where I live that my cloves will dry up right in the whole head if I just left them out. Especially during the winter when my house is really warm and dry.

I usually like to slice my garlic into about 4-5 slices. I feel like that is a more manageable size to use in cooking. It also makes them more even and allows for more surface face to dehydrate faster. Just make sure that if your dehydrator tray has slats like mine, that you don't cut them so small they will fall through once they are dried.

Lay them out evenly and not overlapping but they can be close since they will shrink as they dry. I like to put mine in around the afternoon and let it dry all through the night. When you check in the morning you need to make sure they are crispy and break when you bend them. There can't be any pliability. That means that they aren't all the way dry and they will mold in their container. If they are bendy and don't break, leave them on for a few more hours til they snap like a twig.

Once they are all the way dry, place the garlic slices in an airtight (preferably glass) airtight container and store in a cool. dark place. I don't grind my garlic into powder right now but you could. It is best to break, slice or grind right before using because it helps retain all its flavor and potency.

When I am ready to grind my grinder, I use a spice/coffee grinder because it breaks it down to a soft powder.

Let me know in the comments if you give this a try or if you have done it before. And check back for my posts about making homemade garlic powder and garlic salt.