Make Your Own Garlic Powder
Years ago we were gifted several heads of delicious garlic by our dear friend. She was even kind enough to give us lots of tips on growing it.
Those few heads have now become over 100 heads per year. Besides selling garlic we were looking for a use for all of our extra heads. 
We hate to waste anything, so we researched a bit and came up with the simplest method we could to make garlic powder. Like most things we do here, making garlic powder is a simple, yet time consuming task. I would dare say that our ancestors would definitely not have time for twitter, instagram, or candy crush. Their lives were filled with shelling, drying, smoking, and a litany of other tasks. Life was simply about living, not watching other people live, we have quickly discovered.
We started out making our garlic powder by taking cloves and slicing them into 1/8″ slices. This is the time consuming part, like many other tasks it is much more pleasant with a glass of wine. We sat sipping, slicing, and chatting and before you knew it, we were done. We laid the slices out on a dehydrator rack, but you could also dry them on a screen in the sun. 
Next we placed the racks of garlic into the dehydrator at 135 degrees. We let them dehydrate overnight and the next morning we had nice dry garlic nuggets. And trust us, we kept all of the vampires away that night!
The next step was almost as easy. We took our dehydrated garlic and placed it into a spice grinder. 
After several bursts in the grinder we knew we were on the right track. We had made rough garlic powder.
We then sifted it through a fine mesh strainer. We would return the pieces that were too large to the grinder.
What we were left with was beautiful delicious homemade garlic powder. It was probably the first garlic powder we ever tasted that didn’t have any pesticides or herbicides in it. And just like anything else we make from our own hands, it just tastes better.
Of course it went directly into a Ball Jar for safe keeping.
We are always happy to have home grown ingredients to cook with, and garlic is in so many of our meals. We learned a few things while making garlic powder. For example, it takes a lot of garlic to make just a small amount of garlic powder. It took ten heads to make what you see in this pint jar, so we will never look at those big jars in the store the same. We also learned that a good slicing buddy and a good bottle of wine make the task seem a lot less like work, and while you are slicing garlic you can’t check your FB status or respond to emails. The only thing you can do is talk , and that is probably even more valuable than the garlic in the jar.
two branches homestead 
So cool! I just dehydrated some onions. I left them the size they were when I put them in the dehydrator though. But I might just turn them into powder too. Hmm maybe I’ll do them both ways. 😀
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Wow onions that may be our next adventure thanks for the idea we have lots
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Yep onions. They smell strong for about the first few hours in the dehydrator, but it goes away after a while.
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I will definitely try it !!!
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Haha! Your comments about the smell. Reminded me of when my Italian inlaws would make bagna cauda, which is slow cooked garlic and anchovies.
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Oh my gosh that must have been over powering hahaha
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Totally, for days…but it’s a fond memory. Thanks. I really liked your post.
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Thanks for reading nice talking to you
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Pingback: Make Your Own Garlic Powder — farmstand culture
Very exciting! We LOVE garlic powder.
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It’s so rewarding to have your own too thanks so much !!!
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Looks awesome! Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks so much Jen I love it!!!!
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I can’t even imagine the smell!! Must have been heavenly. That looks so cool, and delicious!
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Thanks Lou it was intense at first but then divine
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Reblogged this on two branches homestead and commented:
a great way to make the most of your small cloves
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