Garlic in large quantities. Getting rid of pesky skins and keeping in apple cidre vinegar.

By trying and failing, searching and failing again, i found this méthod that some of you allready might know, but anyway, it's saved me time and effort.
I've got these smallish garlics all over the garden. For some reason i can't recall, i've planted them everywhere.
But,n ow i discovered they're great as winterchives in salads and fries, hope they don't mind that too much, it's my first year doing that...
So i discovered how to peel them so much easier.


Use the togetherness of the bulb.

-chop off their ''toes'' first, it's the end not connected to the root.
-cut them loose from the bulb at the roots end.Now they should all be loose.
-soak em in hot water in a bowl. They'll soak up much more water cause they're open at two ends. Wait couple hours.
-get rid of the excess water and put them in a bowl in the freezer
- after a night or whatever you can take them out again and soak them once more.
- rince the freezing cold water when they break off from the frozen lump easily and just squeeze the skins off.. Easy peasy...if you've got fifty or more you can take a handful and rub them off.

Put them in apple cider vinegar!! Enjoy.

I preserve my garlic a few other ways. When I use my own apple vinegar, I sometimes add whole pepper corns, bay leaf, cloves etc even a drizzle of honey.

I also like to lacto ferment whole cloves without peeling, just wash well. The cloves stay crunchy and the acidity is well balanced.

Slow cooked bulbs in a rice cooker for black garlic, I don't own the purpose produced unit.

Halved vertically and dehydrated, the skins drop off.

Some get chopped and dehydrated as granules that can go into a grinder.



(Edited to correct typos)

I've got a bag of tiny bulbs of garlic that are impossible to peel, and I'm already trying two methods but will try your suggestions above too.

1) I cut the roots off, then cut the whole bulbs in half and am dehydrating them. As they get to have half-dry I rub them between my hands and most of the skins fall off. Then I'm winnowing them when there's a light breeze. The problem is some of the garlic bits are very tiny and light and can blow away with the skins, so it's good to do this when they still have some moisture and weight in them.

2) At this moment I'm trying a new idea I concocted, and will come back and edit if it works. In the past I have made garlic confit by peeling them and then barely simmering in olive oil for at least an hour. Very delicious mild savory stuff, stores in the fridge for months, especially if you make sure all garlic is always under the surface of the oil. But I am not going to be peeling these. So, just as for drying, I cut off the roots and sliced the bulbs in half along the equator, put in a pot and barely covered with olive oil, and am simmering for an hour. After they get soft and then cool a little, I'm going to try running them through the food mill to puree the pulp and leave the skins behind. I hope it works! I'll freeze the resulting pulpy oil in small containers or ice cube trays. -- (Will I regret this next time I use the food mill for fruit?)