Hi,
This week I wanted to explore cured garlic and my version of a much loved ferment that is a lot safer (and tastier) than most people make it, honey fermented garlic. Which is my favourite way to preserve and elevate garlic for the hungry gap. Along with a little update from the farm this week, and our official first frost date for this year.
Update From The Farm
This week we’ve been keeping on top of the harvests of what has been a challenging year to grow food. A second flush of late peas I planted out has started producing pods, Huw’s various tomato experiments are proving fruitful, and I’ve been harvesting rose hips from two of the rosa rugosa, a northeast Asian variety that looks similar to dog rose when flowering, but produces hips that are 2-3 times the size. And of course, the rowan trees are heavy with berries. We’ve also seen the onset of mildew and blight in the garden, which are a constant battle, but so far neither seem to be winning. Slowly but surely, the squash are swelling.
We saw our first frost of the year on September 12th. Truth be told it wasn’t our garden, but Huw’s parents' small holding, which is further inland, without the shelter of the sea to keep them warm. But with the official start of autumn still 10 days away, it serves as a chilly reminder of how short our growing season can be here in Wales. It’s said that when the Mountain Ash (Rowan) have a good year, it’s going to be a harsh winter. And judging how prolific they seem to be this year, I’m inclined to believe it.
Honey Fermented Garlic
Over the year, garlic takes many forms. Green garlic, which can be eaten like a sweet, small leek, is a delicacy in April and May, shortly followed by wet garlic, freshly harvested and fully bulbed, with a juicy, potent kick. Chefs go mad for the wet garlic season, which tends to last until the end of July, claiming it to be when garlic is at its best. Then garlic is cured, hung to dry for future cooking until the following April, when green garlic appears again. When I return to Shropshire to visit my mum, I can measure the length of the homegrown garlic plait hanging in her kitchen, and with no further clues, make an educated guess how far through the season we are.
But there is another method for garlic, one that works very well with both wet and cured garlic, and references a similar technique for some of the most luxurious mead from mediaeval Britain, honey fermented garlic.
This golden elixir is a holy grail in the world of fermentation, with many claiming all sorts of health benefits, and an incredible fragrance and flavour. Both the honey and garlic become individual products, exchanging characteristics with one another in a beautiful infusion. The garlic sweetens and mellows, becoming semi transparent like a crystalised gem. The honey becomes runnier, having extracted juices from the garlic, and sours with the activity of bacteria, balancing its natural sweetness in a light and refreshing way, like adding lemon juice or white wine to a sauce. This can be used as a glaze for vegetables, mushrooms, meat, or seafood, in salad dressings, stir fries, sauces, and all sorts. Or eaten raw, directly from the jar, as a chef I know often does, claiming they’re his ‘garlic toffee treat’.
The problem with honey fermented garlic is the risk of botulism, which can be present in both ingredients. If we made honey fermented garlic the way I’ve seen most people do it, there is a slim but real chance that the ferment could harbour one of the most potent toxins known to man.
However, Clostridium botulinum (the bacteria responsible for producing botulism) cannot grow in an acidic environment (with a pH of 4.6 or lower). This is what makes lacto fermentation safe, as a combination of salt and the natural souring of lactic acid fermentation combined make an inhospitable environment for botulinum. However, this ferment doesn’t use salt nor does it naturally sour very quickly. Because of this, I opt to include just enough apple cider vinegar to manually raise the acidity prior to fermentation. In addition to this, by using a raw vinegar, I also inoculate the ferment with acetic acid bacteria along with the lactic acid bacteria that came along on the garlic (and my hands), giving the ferment more complexity in the final product. Plus apples, the flavour of which has gone through two types of fermentation already, having first been turned into cider (hard cider for my US readers), then vinegar. By the time the small amount we’ve added to the honey garlic is done with its third round of fermentation, the mellow but distinct fruitiness compliments the honey and garlic wonderfully.
For the following recipe I tested a few different honeys and apple cider vinegars in varying amounts and found a good ratio that should work for all cases. I aimed for a pH of 3.9, giving us ample room for when the juice of the garlic releases, diluting the acidity later on, prior to fermentation lowering it again. A quick Google search will tell you that honey is between 3.2 - 4.5 pH but I’ve tested some that are above 5. It all depends on the honey you use. If you have the means to test it yourself, be my guest, but if not, stick to my recipe and you should be comfortably within the safe zone.
Now, before anyone who might have made this recipe before jumps to the comments to tell me they’ve made it many times without vinegar and survived, I’m not saying the risk of botulism is high, but even the slightest risk is too much. And there are no odours or visible signs of the toxin, which is more of an issue for improper canning methods, where the bacteria isn’t competing with a thriving community of beneficial microbes. But as the risk is present, I advise you to follow my method for peace of mind and (in my opinion) superior flavour.
If you happen to have made a batch of honey fermented garlic sitting on your shelf looking innocent, but you’re having second thoughts about eating it, fear not. You can cook with it, as heat destroys the toxin, so make sure to keep it above 85°C (185°F) for 5 minutes or longer. However, this won’t destroy the bacterial spore, so don’t feed it to infants below the age of 1 or people with compromised immune systems. Every one else should be fine.
You see why I use vinegar now? It’s much more simple than the uncertainty of all that. Plus you get to eat it pure and raw, with all the delicate aromatics in tact.
Before we jump in, there are a few other points I wanted to cover that might be useful if this is your first time making honey fermented garlic. Firstly, sometimes the garlic can turn a blue/green hue. This is perfectly normal and won’t cause you any harm. More common in cured garlic than fresh, it’s a visual cue of a complex molecular shift taking place within the garlic when exposed to an acidic environment that causes a breakdown in the cells, releasing enzymes, which react with sulphur compounds. The structure of the resulting molecules (pyrroles) is responsible for the colour shift, which is very similar to the structure responsible for the green colour in nearly all plants.
Secondly, the quality of the honey you use makes a big difference to this ferment. Always use raw, as this comes with microbial populations we need to pull this off, but also runny, as set honey can be trickier to submerge the garlic in.
The full recipe:
Ingredients
645g raw honey
45g raw apple cider vinegar
7-8 large garlic bulbs
Equipment
1L glass jar
Peel all the garlic. This is the part that takes time as you won’t want to crush them. Keeping them whole promotes a wonderful texture in the final product, so I take my time, cut the base off, and peel each one. Listen to an audiobook, podcast, or TV show while you do, or simply enjoy the process. It takes me about 30-40 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix the honey and vinegar together. It’s important to use a raw honey as honey comes with a host of microbes that make this ferment possible.
Tip the naked little cloves into a clean glass jar, then pour the honey and vinegar mixture over the top. Make sure there’s a gap between the surface of the honey and the top of the jar of at least 5cm (2inches) as this ferment can get very active and bubble up.
Seal the jar and give it a shake. Place the ferment on a shelf somewhere out of the way, between 18-25°C (64-77°F) for 2 months. You may wish to sit it on a small plate, as sometimes the honey can escape with the pressure and drip down the jar. Open the jar daily for the first 2-3 weeks to release carbon dioxide, and every other day, flip the jar upside down. This will make sure no garlic is left floating above the liquid for long enough time to spoil.
After 2 months you can start eating the garlic and honey, but my recommendation (if you have the self control) is to wait a further 4 months. It can be tough, but this ferment gets better and better with time. The one I’ve shared photos of in this newsletter is 2 years old and the flavour and texture is one of the most intensely addictive things I’ve ever tasted.
This ferment never needs refrigeration, but store it somewhere cool once fermentation calms down (it stops bubbling so much). The garlic will be less buoyant over time too, as the density of the honey drops with the increase in water and less sugar, thanks to microbes converting it to acid. After a month or so, I stop flipping the jar too.
Later this week I’ll share an extra newsletter with some of my favourite recipes that use honey fermented garlic, but I cannot emphasise enough how much of a game changer it is for Christmas dinner. Honey glazed roasted carrots and parsnips are on a whole new level with this ferment, as is whatever you choose to roast as a centrepiece. So make sure to set some off in time for then.
If you’re a free member and you’re stuck for ideas on how to use honey fermented garlic, feel free to ask in the comments below, where other members and myself are all happy to chip in with recommendations.
I hope you’re having a wonderful week, wherever you may be in the world.
Thank you so much for joining me, and have a great day.
Sam
Interesting method Sam. I have made honey fermented garlic for quite a few years (there's a recipe - such as it is a recipe! - in my book Ferment) and I've never had any issues, but I like the sound of the added vinegar anyway, flavour and texture-wise. Thanks again, always fascinating
Have you ever made a hot (spicy) one? Or is that something to add post ferment?