Dehydrating garlic for minced and powder

I grow a lot of garlic and usually have a good surplus. Sometimes, however, there’s so much I can’t use it all before the bulbs begin to dry and shrink. This year, I peeled all my garlic and sliced each clove in half in prep to dehydrate it. Slicing in half allows it to dry pretty quickly. I went two days on low-medium heat.

Once it was dry (and very hard), it was ready to grind. I pulsed it in my Krupps spice grinder to keep the larger pieces for more of a minced texture. I ran that through a sieve to get the powder. The flavors were concentrated and powerful. A little goes a long way. I’ve been sprinkling it on rice lately. I had some leftover rice and it seemed like a nice bland medium to try it out on. It’s delicious and carries the rich garlic flavor right through. The dried mince can be rehydrated in a skillet with a little oil. When I make Indian curries, I hydrate it while I’m blooming the other spices.

This is the first time I dried garlic, and I’m sure it won’t be the last! Easy to do, and the final products keep a very long time.