# What to do with a giant pile of garlic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700 "2020-04-28T00:26:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/1 "2020-04-28T00:26:11Z")
The perils of socially distant online grocery orders: sometimes it’s not totally clear what the units of your selections are. Garlic was $0.01 each, so I figured hey, we go through a lot of garlic, and the homegrown stuff won’t be ready to harvest until July, so I ordered 8. I thought I would end up with 8 heads for $0.08, a real bargain, and it would last a few weeks. I ended up with eight 16-oz. boxes of garlic. Now I like garlic just as much as the next girl, probably more, but that’s a LOT of garlic. It seems to be nearing the end of its useful life, too. I just made a batch of [slow-roasted mojo de ajo,](https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/slow-roasted-garlic-mojo/?fbclid=IwAR0ktu1-K2Kp6niot_hxKJ3_0U5M8VqSr9LoqX74yGeWldQsdPxhvlVFsO0) and a batch of [garlic confit](https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/garlic-confit?fbclid=IwAR1iaCyu44plcDUeaqcU9IyxkEIEVQO_p9hbytpc7Jsb1R9QcCBqWcJ-d30) is cooling on the stove right now, but what else can I do with it? If nothing else, I am limited at the moment by my olive oil supply. I can freeze whole cloves and minced garlic, but what else is out there? I still have 7 lbs. left! ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/2 "2020-04-28T00:31:54Z")
Hire yourself out as a vampire exterminator? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/3 "2020-04-28T00:48:18Z")
[Dehydrate the garlic](https://growagoodlife.com/homemade-garlic-powder/) (this can also be done in an oven) and grind it into powder for long-term storage. Is it too late to order a pound of garlic from this place for a penny? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/4 "2020-04-28T00:49:41Z")
[https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-with-forty-cloves-of-garlic-recipe-1944216](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-with-forty-cloves-of-garlic-recipe-1944216) > [@](#): > > Directions > > ``` > Separate the cloves of garlic and drop them into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Drain the garlic and peel. Set aside. > > Dry the chicken with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the butter and oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. In batches, saute the chicken in the fat, skin side down first, until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn with tongs or a spatula; you don't want to pierce the skin with a fork. If the fat is burning, turn the heat down to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to saute all the chicken in batches. Remove the last chicken to the plate and add all of the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of the Cognac and the wine, return to a boil, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for about 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done. > > Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and the flour and then whisk it back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of Cognac and the cream, and boil for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste; it should be very flavorful because chicken tends to be bland. Pour the sauce and the garlic over the chicken and serve hot. > > ``` Ingredients 3 whole heads garlic, about 40 cloves 2 (3 1/2-pound) chickens, cut into eighths Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 2 tablespoons good olive oil 3 tablespoons Cognac, divided 1 1/2 cups dry white wine 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons heavy cream ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/5 "2020-04-28T01:09:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > [Dehydrate the garlic](https://growagoodlife.com/homemade-garlic-powder/) (this can also be done in an oven) and grind it into powder for long-term storage. Thanks for that idea - we even have a dehydrator! (A friend had a spare and gave it to me. He’s kind of a pack rat.) > [@](#): > > Is it too late to order a pound of garlic from this place for a penny? 😃 Presumably not - I ordered this morning and had everything in hand within a couple of hours! It’s organic, too. I can’t figure out why it’s so cheap - it must be nearing the end of its shelf life. That’s OK, we’ll figure something out. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/6 "2020-04-28T01:42:54Z")
Pickle some. Fermented garlic is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/7 "2020-04-28T01:45:17Z")
You could plow it under in the garden. That’s what some farmers are doing with excess crops. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/8 "2020-04-28T02:31:16Z")
Please, _PLEASE_, if you choose to dehydrate the garlic, set up the dehydrator in the garage, leaving as many doors open as possible! Years and years (and YEARS) ago, my mother-in-law came across a bounty of onions and asked to use my dehydrator. I said, sure. She used my Oster Kitchen Center to slice through the many pounds, and set up the dehydrator in a back room off the kitchen. My husband and I both woke up with hellacious migraines the next morning! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/9 "2020-04-28T02:43:14Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Please, _PLEASE_, if you choose to dehydrate the garlic, set up the dehydrator in the garage, leaving as many doors open as possible! > > Years and years (and YEARS) ago, my mother-in-law came across a bounty of onions and asked to use my dehydrator. I said, sure. She used my Oster Kitchen Center to slice through the many pounds, and set up the dehydrator in a back room off the kitchen. When I dehydrated some excess hot chiles a year or so ago, I set up the dehydrator on the enclosed back porch with all the windows open. If it ever stops raining, weather permitting, maybe I’ll do it back there again. (I have all my tomato and pepper and eggplant seedlings back there, so if it’s too cold I can’t do it there.) Otherwise, maybe on the enclosed back stairwell behind the basement? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/10 "2020-04-28T02:57:44Z")
I’d be tempted to plant the less than perfect bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/11 "2020-04-28T03:00:38Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I’d be tempted to plant the less than perfect bulbs. We already have an entire 3’ x 6’ bed of garlic planted! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/12 "2020-04-28T03:50:36Z")
Do you have canola oil? [Because Toum is to die for](https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lebanese-garlic-sauce/). It’s a Lebanese sauce/spread that goes well with almost anything you can imagine. Chicken, pizza, toast, beans, a hamburger, steak, pita, chips, etc. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/13 "2020-04-28T04:43:46Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I’d be tempted to plant the less than perfect bulbs. Wrong time of year; at least, if in the northern hemisphere. You’ll get little bulbs if you spring plant them. You could plant them for greens; but on second thought I don’t recommend it, at least not if you might want to plant alliums there again any time in the next few years. There are some fairly nasty garlic diseases around; some can leave bulbs edible by humans even if they screw up the soil for later garlic crops, and garlic sold to be eaten, especially by basically anonymous sources, may be carrying viruses or nematodes. It won’t make you sick if so, but it can ruin all your future allium crops. That price is weird even for garlic that’s starting to sprout. Is it starting to rot? ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/14 "2020-04-28T04:47:03Z")
Roast them in the oven with some olive oil, salt and whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. You can of course eat them as is a snack or accompaniment, but I like to mash them with a little more olive oil and some salt to make a paste. Add it to dressings or butters, or spread on bread or wafers on top of some soft-ripened white mold cheese. Or to whatever dish you want to add some flavor enhancement. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/15 "2020-04-28T05:16:21Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Is it too late to order a pound of garlic from this place for a penny? 😃 MrsRico and I are equally curious. Hmm, I wonder if deer eat garlic? Would it reduce their reproduction rate? I recall an ancient cartoon of two teenage guys in a burger joint, the one at a wall payphone telling the fry cook, _“Hold the onions; we’ve got dates!”_ Can a buck with garlic breath still get lucky? Dried crushed garlic. Marinated garlic. Deep-fried garlic. Chocolate-coated garlic. Cream of garlic soup. Chicken garlic pizza. Garlic perfume for social distancing. So many uses! For more ideas, see the menu at [The Stinking Rose](https://thestinkingrose.com/sf/menu1.html). But don’t go unless you’re rather small - tables are jammed tight. They do provide [some recipes](https://thestinkingrose.com/bh/recipes.html) like The 40-Clove Chicken. Serving that weekly should empty your garlic bin before long. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/16 "2020-04-28T07:45:47Z")
The deer dig mine up all the time. I have Italian deer. 😃 **Eva** , I see why you don’t plant any. You’ve got a lot planted. Maybe gift some to family and friends. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/17 "2020-04-28T11:42:26Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Do you have canola oil? [Because Toum is to die for](https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lebanese-garlic-sauce/). It’s a Lebanese sauce/spread that goes well with almost anything you can imagine. Chicken, pizza, toast, beans, a hamburger, steak, pita, chips, etc. Oh, we know toum - **Tom Scud** lived in Lebanon for a few years. Good idea! But there is only so much toum even we can eat. We are definitely going to need to branch out quite a bit. So far, we have done a batch of garlic confit, a batch of mojo de ajo, and minced 2 lbs. in the food processor, double-bagged them, and stuck them in the deep freeze downstairs. But we still have 5 lbs.! I’ve never been much of a user of garlic powder, but we will probably try some of that, too. Keep the ideas coming, guys! ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/18 "2020-04-28T11:54:04Z")
Giant pile of roasted garlic? ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/19 "2020-04-28T22:43:45Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Do you have canola oil? [Because Toum is to die for](https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lebanese-garlic-sauce/). It’s a Lebanese sauce/spread that goes well with almost anything you can imagine. Chicken, pizza, toast, beans, a hamburger, steak, pita, chips, etc. It’s even faster with an [immersion blender](https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/two-minute-toum-52564261). ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700/20 "2020-04-29T17:37:56Z")
Roast it. Spread it on bread, put on pizza, add to salads, etc. You can eat way more roasted garlic than non-roasted. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-giant-pile-of-garlic/852700.md?page=2)