Fill up the jar with organic peeled garlic cloves. Add 1 tablespoon of sea salt or celtic salt, 1 tablespoon of pickling spice blend (recipe below), 10-12 bay leaves, ½ cup of brine from a previous batch of fermentation (optional). Take the stack of bay leaves and use them to keep the garlic below the water line. Add a bit of water to cover the bay leaves. Place a cover on top. Best to place a big glass cover that will keep bugs out but not the toxic metal cover that comes with the Ball jar since the liquid will bubble and will come in contact with the inside of the cover and draw toxins into the brine. The jar should stay at room temperature (like on the countertop). You can use the original cover once the ferment is over by first spilling out some of the brine so brine won’t come into contact with the cover.

It takes 14-21 days to ferment garlic at room temperature. In warmer weather, fermentation is faster. The garlic should be crunchy like a pickle and not too pungent like raw garlic. You can ferment it for longer to make it less pungent.

You should check the surface every few days to make sure the garlic is below the waterline. If garlic rise above the waterline, mold can grow. And then the batch is not edible. Most of the time, white yeast will grow if vegetables aren’t fully submerged. They are safe to eat but will make the vegetables taste soft by damaging the consistency. You can save your batch if you catch it fast enough by wiping it off with a towel or scooping it out with a spoon and adding a bit of fresh filtered water to make sure the vegetables are still fully submerged.

Once the fermentation is finished (the vegetables taste sour enough for you), place them in the fridge and they will last a few months. If you want to make changes to the saltiness or spices, wait until the brine settles in the fridge for 24h and retaste the vegetables before adding it to the brine.

Benefits of fermented vegetables and why it should be eaten daily. Fermenting pickling spices and jars.