Pickled garlic cloves

I was introduced to these my 'crunch, and I must say they are quite tasty, to say the least. A small plastic container of them will run about $5 at a local grocery store, with a five ounce jar (roughly 1/2 pint (or a cup, you dumb-ass)) costing a little over $3 (without shipping) online.

BUT you can make your own for a hell of a lot less! Lots and lots of lovely tasty garlic cloves! I haven't gotten around to doing this recipe yet, as I'm still uncertain if I want to take up canning (although I probably should since I plan on growing my own peppers next year). You can easily find many recipes online, but this one seems to be the simplest... go to http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pickled-garlic/ or continue reading for the article itself. Please note that the recipe given makes one pint.



Now, the ones 'crunch and I ate had green olives instead of bell peppers; don't think it would change anything should one swap those ingredients. We've also tried the garlic stuffed olives (cut smaller clove pieces, insert), and jalapeno garlic cloves (the cloves took on the spiciness). Nom nom nom!

First, I have a tidbit of tastiness to add. I while back I had picked up one of the small dishes and mixed roughly 50/50 with the garlic stuffed olives and the red hot pepper garlic cloves. They were getting a bit old so I brought them to work tonight... them being one of each . One olive, one clove. I ate them, and now I want more. Anyway, for my nightly foodstuffs, I brought the fixings for chicken ranch wraps. I whipped up my wraps and was turning away to feast when the dish, with the leftover JUICE caught my eye! Unwrap, drizzle, wrap... YUM!!!

Some things I noticed from this. The olive juice is more of a pickly/vinegar type free flowing liquid, with that salty/sour thing going on. The 'sauce' from the peppered garlic is an oil based semi-viscous liquid. The two will NOT mix. Much like an oil/vinegar salad dressing (which is why I had the idea, as I put lettuce on my wraps). SO, based on the flavors going on, I'm going to say the excess juice from your dishes of olives and garlic would be tasty on pretty much anything... chicken, hamburgers (mix with the meat before cooking?), grilled cheese, SALADS... yep, damn near anything. TRY IT!!!

Second... based on your post with the homemade garlic, I had the crazy thought that it would be cool to buy some mason jars and see if there was a place to buy raw olives. Today I looked it up (have not checked for raw olives in town yet, but I can guess the outcome...). I found many sites (including Amazon!) where one can order raw olives, with the prices I found ranging from $10-$20 per pound (not sure how that compares to store bought).

Here's the kicker, and the reason I don't see my self doing it, and the reason I suddenly feel more okay about paying for olives: BEFORE pickling/brining the damn things for several months, they need to be CURED to remove bitterness and make them softer. The curing processes I'm reading take several weeks to several months, BUT you can shorten in to 3 days if you cure them with LYE... you know, the crap that can give mean ass chemical burns! Granted, yes, just be careful! So lye them and rinse them for three days, then stick in a jar with your brine solution, bay leaves, peppers, what-have-yous, and WAIT. That's why I'm kind of frowning at this being a possible project... I do NOT have that kind of patience for olives!

Again, granted, make batches on a schedule and once the first batch is being eaten another one should be shortly on the way. Only problem there is the picking season. Apparently raw green olives are only picked between September and November, and one blog I was reading said if don't place orders right away you will be waiting until next year.

I'm thinking that we wouldn't really need to purchase fresh olives; what's wrong with the unstuffed olives one can buy at the store? They can't really get any more picklier. And, if anything, the olives are just there to add a touch of flavor (unless you get / make stuffed olives). Using already jarred olives won't ruin anything.

Also, with the recipe I posted, that was just the easiest one I found; certainly the green bell pepper could be switched out with something else... olives from a jar, jalapenos, mushrooms, whatever. Except for meat, don't think pickled meat will taste good.

...

(thinking what pickled meat would taste like, giving the "don't think will taste good" second thoughts)