Lacto-Fermented Garlic: Benefits and How to Make

Garlic is already a powerhouse in the kitchen and for your health. Fermenting garlic adds a host of other powerful health benefits to an already superb vegetable. Whether you are making lacto-fermented garlic for meals or flu season, this recipe will be a great addition to your kitchen!

PIN IT

The information provided on the site is intended for educational and informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as medical or professional advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you’re seeking medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

What is Fermentation

Lacto-fermentation is the process of submerging produce in a salt water brine to allow the lactobacillus bacteria present on the vegetables to feed on the produce, grow, and reproduce. Lactobacillus bacteria thrive in salt water, while harmful bacteria is either killed or slowed down and outnumbered by the beneficial bacteria. This process makes food easier to digest and more bioavailable for our bodies to absorb the nutrients. When you combine the benefits of fermentation with the power of garlic, you are left with a powerful culinary and medicinal herb. 

Benefits of Garlic

Garlic is loved by many. Dare I say most. Beyond its delicious flavor, it is packed with numerous vitamins and minerals. It is rich in phosphorus, zinc, potassium, and magnesium. It contains vitamins C, A, E, folate, niacin, and thiamine. 

Garlic has antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. These properties make garlic good for both the brain and the gut. Free radicals cause oxidative damage to our cells. Antioxidants roam the body and prevent or reduce the amount of free radical damage to our cells. Garlic improves cardiovascular health and reduces heart disease by lowering blood pressure and blood sugar levels, reducing cholesterol, and helping to prevent the hardening of arteries¹. 

Garlic has a number of health benefits. It has antifungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic, and antiviral properties. Garlic stimulates the production of white blood cells and boosts the body’s immune function. It can fight many infections that cause colds, cough, flu, and sore throats (Gladstar 71).

Garlic contains large amounts of indigestible carbohydrates called oligosaccharides. Our bodies cannot digest them so we won’t get any energy from it, but the good bacteria in our gut can use it. Having a large population of microbes in our gut is linked to a reduction in bowel cancer, improved immune function, and even potentially a reduction in feelings of depression and anxiety (Wong 58).

Garlic is prebiotic, which means that it is the food that the microbes in your gut like to eat². Ingesting garlic allows your friendly gut bacteria to thrive while keeping bad bacteria in check.

PIN IT

Benefits of Fermented Garlic

Now comes the best part. Fermented garlic contains all of the properties of raw garlic and then some. The fermentation process allows lactobacillus bacteria to feed off of the garlic, which makes it easier for our bodies to digest. It’s basically like getting your food prechewed for you. Since the garlic is now easier for our bodies to digest, it makes the vitamins and nutrients in the garlic more bioavailable to us. So if you eat a clove of raw garlic and a clove of fermented garlic, your body is able to extract more of the goodness from the fermented rather than the raw.

Raw garlic has an amazing, pungent flavor, but sometimes it can be overpowering and sharp. Fermented garlic is a more mellow, mild flavor. It has a more deep garlic flavor without the bite.

Your gut loves the microbes present on the fermented garlic. Those microbes live in our gut where they aid in digestion and our immune health. By adding more fermented food to your diet, you’re adding more good bacteria to your system. The more good bacteria you have, the more balanced your system will be. The good bacteria can outnumber and keep the bad bacteria in check, strengthening your immune system and ability to digest your food more easily. 

Another important benefit of fermenting garlic is the time it saves you. I love garlic deeply, but before I fermented it, I would sometimes forgo it in a recipe and use granulated garlic instead because I didn’t feel like peeling and chopping it up. Call me lazy, but sometimes you don’t want to mess around taking those papery skins off and just go for what’s easy. Having a jar of already peeled garlic in the refrigerator makes it so easy to just fish a few cloves out and go. 

If you are in the market for an amazing way to chop garlic, I highly suggest getting a mini food processor. I use mine everyday. I can just toss it in the bowl, hold a button for 10 seconds and have as much garlic as I want.

How Garlic Works

Garlic contains alliinase and alliin. When it is chopped, crushed, or chewed, the alliinase and alliin combine to produce allicin. The production of allicin is a defense mechanism for the garlic. If a bulb or clove is damaged in nature, it produces allicin to protect itself. Allicin is toxic to garlic itself so instead of producing allicin throughout the whole bulb, it only happens at the site of the damage (Wong 58). 

This is beneficial for us because I personally like to cut off the root end of my garlic before I ferment it. You don’t have to do this, but I like doing it on the front end so that when I want to use my garlic, I can go straight from the jar to my mini food processor without having to use a cutting board. 

When you cook with garlic, it is best to cut it and then allow it to sit for 10 minutes at minimum and up to 20 minutes so that the allicin will be at its highest potency. If you are using garlic in a recipe, cut it up first and allow it to sit while you prepare the rest of the meal. By the time you’ve prepped the other components, the garlic will be at its peak and ready to use. 

How to Make Lacto-Fermented Garlic

So now that we know why we should ferment our garlic. Let’s look at how we do it. It’s a very simple recipe, which will be easy to incorporate into your routine. Here is what you will need: 

PIN IT

Equipment:

• Half gallon mason jar
• Fermenting weight
• Fermenting lid or plastic lid 

Ingredients:

• 10-15 garlic bulbs, peeled and root end removed
• 2 tablespoons grey, pink Himalayan, or sea salt 
• 4 cups filtered water to dissolve salt with more to cover cloves 

1. First, you need to collect your garlic. I like to do a half gallon jar at a time because I use a lot of garlic. I can spend an afternoon peeling it and have it on hand until I need to make more. I do about 10-15 bulbs of garlic depending on the size.

2. Peel your garlic. (This is a bit of a process. I’ve tried putting my cloves in a bowl with another bowl on top and shaking like hell, but all I managed to do was end up with garlic skin all over my kitchen and a bowl full of unpeeled garlic. I just put on a TV show I’ve been meaning to watch, bite the bullet, and peel the suckers.)

3. Place the peeled garlic cloves on a cutting board and remove the root end and any blemishes. 

4. Put them in your clean wide mouth mason jar and put a fermenting weight on top of the cloves so they stay submerged under the brine. I own a Nourishing Essentials fermenting kit that comes with the lids and weights. If you don’t have a fermenting lid or weights, there are other options. For a weight, you could put a small dish, clean rock, or a small plastic bag filled with water. As long as the cloves are submerged, you’re in business. 

5. Make the brine with 2 tablespoons of sea salt and four cups of filtered water. Do not use iodized salt to ferment as it inhibits fermentation. Grey salt, pink salt, or Redmond Real Salt are best. Stir until the salt has dissolved.  It is vital to use filtered water because tap water has chemicals in it to inhibit the growth of bacteria. We want the bacteria in our garlic cloves to flourish. 

6. Slowly pour the brine over the garlic cloves so that they don’t try to escape from under the weight. At this point the cloves won’t be covered with water. Measure out more water and pour it over the cloves until they are all submerged. 

7. Put the jar in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight for as least 3 weeks and up to 6 weeks. If you are using a fermenting lid, mark the date three weeks from the day you made the fermented garlic and check back whenever you want. Look for air bubbles as that is a sign that the bacteria are eating and producing gas. The period of time to let it ferment is up to you. The longer it ferments, the more beneficial bacteria will be present in the raw cloves and brine.

8. If you are not using a fermenting lid, you can use either the metal lid that comes with your mason jar or a plastic one found in stores to close your jar as well. You will need to “burp” your jar everyday. Carbon dioxide is the byproduct of the bacteria eating the sugars in your garlic. If the jar isn’t opened to let the air escape, you could have a garlic bomb on your hands. When you unscrew the lid, you might hear a slight hiss of the air escaping, which is what you want. 

Note:

• The garlic may experience a color change while fermenting. They may turn green or blue over time in the brine. This is because the sulfur compounds in the garlic are reacting with the acidity produced in the salt water brine. This is normal and no cause for concern. 
• Fermenting garlic is completely safe, but if you are concerned, you can use a pH test strip on the brine after it has fermented. The pH strip should be below 4.5.
• To ferment, garlic is kept at room temperature. Depending on the season, fermenting can happen faster or slower. In the winter, it will take longer to ferment. In the summer, it may not take as long depending on the temperature of your home. Keep an eye on it to be sure you’ve fermented to your liking. 

And that’s it! With a little peeling and time, you will have endless amounts of garlic at your disposal.

PIN IT

Using Fermented Garlic

Now that you have your lacto-fermented garlic cloves, you can use them in place of raw garlic like you would normally. Allicin is heat sensitive (in both raw and fermented) and will be inactivated if cooked so it’s best, if you’re looking for the medicinal benefits, to use your fermented garlic raw. 

James Wong, author of How to Eat Better: Simple Science to Supercharge Your Nutrition, says that if you cook with raw garlic, the allicin is still in the garlic; it’s just been inactivated. At the end of cooking, add 10% of the amount of garlic you cooked with into the dish and the enzymes will mix together and bring the allicin levels back up to 100% (Wong 60). So if you cook with your fermented garlic, add 10% raw back to the final dish and you’ll have upped your level of allicin. 

I like to use my fermented garlic in marinades, salad dressings, and dips. I also use it as an immune booster. 

Each day, I chop up 1-2 cloves of garlic, let it sit for ten minutes, and then eat it with a glass of water to chase it down. It’s best to do it on an empty stomach to allow your body to focus on digesting the raw cloves instead of food. 

When using the garlic, chop it up and allow it to sit for 10 minutes to allow the allicin to come to the highest potency before consuming. 

By using this simple recipe, you will have one of the easiest ferments for gut healthy, delicious garlic in all of your cooking.

Side Effects

Garlic acts as a natural blood thinner so be sure to speak to your doctor if you are currently on blood thinners before using anymore than you typically use to cook with or as an immune boost. 

Garlic can upset your digestive system so start slowly when you incorporate more garlic into your diet. 

Garlic has a pungent smell. You could end up with severe garlic breath. Chew on a piece of parsley or brush your teeth directly after a meal with raw garlic or if taking to boost your immune system.