Have you ever had a ton of garlic left over at the end of the season – or just wanted some really great garlic powder that you can’t find at the store? If so, homemade garlic powder will make you happy! I will admit, it is a little time consuming, but fairly simple.

Every fall I plant garlic, a lot of garlic. At the moment I have 6 lovely bulbs just waiting to be planted. And if space permits, I may snag another bulb or two out of our pantry to use.

I have been planting garlic for seven years, or was it eight…maybe nine… I can’t remember, but its been a while. I actually started when I was in buying building materials at our local hardware store and came across a package of 2 hardneck garlic bulbs from Botanical Interests. At that time I had used their seeds for a few years and loved them so I figured I would give garlic a try. Many years and many, many, many bulbs later I must say that was one of the best gardening decisions I have ever made.

How to…

My garlic drying time starts when I am ready to start using the new garlic that came out of our current garden. In our area of Montana that’s usually early August. I check the pantry for what was left from last year, we can have anywhere from 10-20 bulbs left over, and the process begins.

Drying and making garlic powder is a fairly easy process. It is a bit time consuming. And your hands will be a bit sticky from the garlic juice, just make sure not to touch your eyes. First you need to peel all the garlic, not smash, not cut, just peel. It takes a while. I have a garlic peeler, which essentially is just a piece of silicone made into a tube. you put the garlic clove in and roll it around. Some times it works great, sometimes not.

Once they are all peeled, if they are fat/thick cloves they need to be cut down, usually in half. maybe thirds. The goal is to get them all the same thickness, or at least very close. And place them on drying racks. I use a dehydrator and it can take anywhere from 8-12 hours.

Once they look done, I check for moisture. If you get the clove and press it should be hard like a rock. If it is spongy it will need to be dried a little longer. If they are all good, and completely cooled, I put them in a container until I am ready to make them into powder. Since they are dry they are “preserved” And unless moisture gets to them they can stay in this state for quite a while.

But garlic powder is so worth the extra effort!

Really all that left is to get a food processor and grind those babies. Make sure your hands and equipment are thoroughly dry. And this part can get a little smelly and you will have fine garlic powder wafting through the air if you don’t take a little bit of time.

I usually get everything out before hand. Food processor, large bowl, fine mesh strainer to put over the large bowl,

I start with with about 1-1/2 cups of dry garlic. It depends upon the size of your processor. You can always add more as you go. Once it is ground, turn off the processor and let it sit for 15 seconds, maybe a little longer. So that the fine powder will settle. then slowly pour it into the strainer. Work it through the strainer. You will have larger pieces to reprocess.

Once you are all done, you can put your wonderful powder into a jar, I also keep the larger pieces separate to throw into soups…yum….

Hope you enjoy and have a good day!