Black Garlic - YUM!

I remember the first time I heard of "black garlic". I thought, "What the heck is that?!" Then I saw a picture and thought, "Ewww!" (For those who don't know what black garlic is, here's the Wikipedia article describing it.)

But foodie people were raving about it! The price, however, was outside my budget, especially for something that I wasn't quite so sure of. So, I did a little research to see if it was possible to make it at home cheaply and easily. I found this article about how to make it in a crockpot, and it sounded easy peasy!

I bought a pack of 4 garlic bulbs at the 99¢ Store, followed the directions at that link, and put the garlic into the crockpot and let it cook for 30 days.

After the 30 days, I opened the jars (and had to throw the rings into the scrap metal recycling bin because they were all rusty and yucky -- I of course usually recycle the actual lids, but I usually get to re-use the rings. Not this time!), removed the wet paper towels, transferred the now-blackened bulbs to clean jars with clean lids, and put them into the fridge... where they sat for a few months.

Now that I had this stuff, what was I gonna do with it??

Fast forward to a few days ago, I found a recipe for Garlic Jelly in my Ball Blue Book. I decided to try it with my black garlic rather than the plain old roasted garlic called for in the recipe. I also decided to substitute apple cider vinegar for the generic "vinegar" called for in the recipe. (The recipe specified that the vinegar had to be 5% acidity, which the label of the cider vinegar confirmed it was.)

When I opened the jars of refrigerated black garlic, the smell was heavenly, and when I tore apart the bulbs, it looked gorgeous!

I carefully peeled all the garlic, which was messy (note to self: next time I make black garlic, peel the cloves beforehand!), and put the cloves into the blender cup with 1/2 cup of the vinegar. After blending it all up, the purée was super thick and unpourable, so I put another 1/2 cup of vinegar into the blender to liquify it enough to get it out of the blender cup! I used the remaining 1 cup of vinegar called for in the recipe to "clean" the blender cup.

I followed the rest of the recipe and finally poured it into the canning jars, then processed them. I had a bit left over that didn't wouldn't fill a jar full, so I put it into a non-canning jar & stuck it in the fridge without processing.

While the jars were processing, I used a piece of bread to sop up the jelly from the pan and ...

O.
M.
G.

!!!!!!!!

This is BLACK GOLD! So so good. Brianne gave it a high compliment: "This tastes like something one would get at a very expensive restaurant."

I plan to use this wherever I would normally use balsamic vinegar -- salad dressings, glaze for roast meats, on burgers, with fancy cheeses. IT IS SO GOOD!

I whole-heartedly recommend making black garlic, then turning it into jelly. You will not be disappointed! I can't wait to use this stuff!

ADDENDUM 5/22/19: It's really more of a thick sauce than a jelly, which is fine. Better, actually, because it's pourable (though really thick).