Garlic is full of awesome health benefits including lowering blood pressure and boosting your immune system. Fermented foods are essential for gut health, digestion, and overall well being. And I can’t think of a better marriage than combining garlic and fermentation!
Health Benefits of Garlic
- High in antioxidants
- Boosts Immune System
- Thins blood and prevents blood clots
- Decongestant
- Promotes healthy joints
- Antibacterial and antiviral
- Treats fungal skin infections (like ringworm and athlete’s foot)
- Lowers blood pressure and cholesterol
- Reduces risk of heart attacks
- Anti-inflammatory
- Prevents cancer
- Increases insulin release and regulates blood sugar levels in diabetics
- Relieve toothaches
Health Benefits of Fermented Foods
Fermenting food is one of the first things I recommend to people that are beginning their journey to a healthy lifestyle. Here are the benefits of fermented foods:
- Probiotics are essential for a healthy gut and fermented foods are full of them. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria. It is very important to have more beneficial bacteria in your system than bad bacteria to stay healthy.
- Probiotics improve digestion, enhance your immune system, and lower your cholesterol.
- Fermented foods are very nutrient dense. The fermentation preserves the vitamins & enzymes of the raw foods and new vitamins & enzymes are created during the process.
Find out more about the benefits of fermented food & how to get started here.
How to Ferment Garlic Using Kefir Grains
Kefir grains are a culture of yeast and bacteria used to make kefir (see how easy it is to make kefir here). They are live and look like little cauliflower.
Kefir grains grow and multiply with each batch of kefir. I started with about a tablespoon of grains a couple months ago. I have split & shared my grains twice and I still have close to half a cup of grains. So I decided to start using my grains to ferment vegetables. Many lacto-fermentation recipes use whey (the clear liquid at the top of the container when your kefir separates). You can also use the grains, which is what I do now since I have an abundance of grains. The grains ferment faster than whey, so you will only need to ferment for 2-3 days using grains. Find kefir grains here.
How to Make Probiotic-Rich Fermented Garlic Using Kefir Grains
PrintProbiotic-Rich Fermented Garlic
Ingredients
- 5 Bulbs of Garlic
- 1 Teaspoon Milk Kefir Grains
- 1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
- Filtered Water (Non-chlorinated)
- 1 Pint Size Mason Jar
Instructions
- Peel the garlic, leave the cloves whole.
- Put the kefir grains in the bottom of the jar.
- Add the garlic to the jar.
- Add the salt to the jar.
- Cover with water. Leave 1-2 inches at the top of the jar empty. VERY IMPORTANT.
- Put the lid on the jar. Leave at room temperature for 48-72 hours. Store in the refrigerator and use within 6 months.
Notes
- Use the garlic in cooking just as you would raw garlic.
- This fermentation process using grains will produce a natural carbonation. This is why you need to leave space at the top of the jar. If your ferment gets too bubbly, the jar could explode.
- You can leave your grains in the jar when you store them. When you make kefir, you can reuse your grains. The grains are not reusable after this fermentation process.
Read more about fermented garlic here:
- Fermented Garlic – Oh Lardy
- Fermented Garlic – The Sprouting Seed
- Preserving the Garlic Harvest – Homemade Mommy
- Pickled Garlic – The Coconut Mama
- Fermented Garlic – Yogi Mami
Find out more about the benefits of fermented food & how to get started here.
I take it from the photos you meant 5 heads, or bulbs, of garlic and not just 5 cloves. Thank you for the instructions!
Yes!!! You are right!!! Thank you. Correcting.
<3 my fermented food and I LOOOVE garlic so I will have to try this. My question is cooking will kill the live bacteria though, won't it? I would think it best to use raw.
I am hoping to get an answer here so following!
Yes, it is best to eat it raw so you get all the good bacteria. This is a great way to preserve garlic to last longer. I wait until closer to the end of cooking to add the garlic when I can so it doesn’t heat up as much.
What other foods could I ferment using the kefir grains method?
Do I need to rinse the milk off the grains before adding it to ferment the garlic?
Tia xx
Correct, yes rinse the milk off first.
Could you possibly get a better result with water kefir grains? Particularly if you were to add a little sugar as well which they would convert. That way I imagine the grains would still be reusable and you would not have to waste kefir grains in one ferment.. I might experiment a little 🙂
Can you use water kefir grains?
Looks great! How about using water kefir grains instead? Would that work? However, I don’t think it is necessary to use milk grains. I’d hate to use a milk kefir grain only to have it not be able to be reused for milk.
…Won’t MK grains die without milk? Why not just ferment with a salt brine?