Organic Garlic Powder

Another great post by our member Jennifer V.!!

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How to make your own garlic powder

My husband bought me a dehydrator for my birthday (back in Oct) and it is exactly what I wanted! Some girls want diamonds, some want pearls, some want coach purses…but not this gal! I really, REALLY wanted a dehydrator!
As I opened up to box my mind started racing, what on earth would be my first project? I wanted to use my new toy right away! Cue the light bulb above my head…I could dehydrate garlic! Why garlic? Well it was a combination of things really, first of all I was upset with McCormick for having funded the fight against California’s Prop 37, I was also looking for more zing in my spice flavors and well, I had also been on a huge DIY binge (actually I still am). Why NOT make my own garlic powder? (It also helped that I just happened to have some garlic on hand…hehe)



First I peeled my garlic! Then I cut them REALLY thin, this part was a pain! I am by no means a professional chef, let’s just say my knife skills are still lacking…wish I had thought to use a peeler to help me with this process, I am told it makes this part a breeze!

I then laid out my garlic and turned on my machine. I set my dehydrator at 105°F/41°C and let it run overnight

The next morning I checked on them and was happy to see that they were quite brittle, they had dehydrated properly! My next step was to make sure it would turn into powder I could use in my cooking! I took a handful (ok, more like half of a handful) and put it in my mortar.

Okay, this part took a little longer than I thought it would. I am trying to learn patience, all my life I have been more of an “instant gratification” type person and well, it WOULD have gone faster if I had a coffee grinder or a grain mill or a really great processor/blender…alas, those are still on my wish lists! I took about a minute to grind it all properly. (I know a minute doesn’t sound like a lot but it is an eternity to someone who does not have but is trying to learn patience!)

I was pretty happy with how it turned out…had a great powdery consistency and it smelled amazing! The true test, however, would come once we cooked with it. We immediately put this one to use in the next meal we prepared and sure enough we could taste the difference. The store bought stuff seems stale and weak in comparison…we were hooked! Goodbye McCormick! It has now been 3 months since I received my dehydrator, three months since we bought garlic powder…and I don’t see us ever going back to store bought powder ever again! I am on the quest to find a green (solar powered) dehydrator but this is one of those items on my “honey do list”…but if the honey doesn’t hop to it soon I might just try my hand at making it myself (hey I said I was WORKING on my patience, I am not quite there yet, lol)…besides, honey is a very busy Marine…I try not to add too much on his already full plate. I think I can do this…actually you know what? I KNOW I can do this! Very next project: make myself a solar dehydrator! Keep a look out for that adventure! Will keep you all posted!

BTW as for the storage, we store the dehydrated as it came out of the machine, we grind it down on an as needed basis. Trust me, you’ll want to try this…especially if you have a love of garlic that matches mine!
If anyone tries this out, let me know your results!
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