What are the processing methods for salted garlic cloves

Processing garlic into salted garlic cloves requires simple equipment and offers significant economic benefits, and the product sells well on the international market.

1. Process flow

Material selection → clove separation → soaking → peeling → rinsing → grading → blanching → cooling → rinsing → pickling → sorting → brine preparation → barreling → finished product.

2. Operating methods

1. Seed selection. The garlic must be mature, dry, clean, with intact outer skin, free from insect damage and mold, and small heads and single-clove garlic should be removed.

2. Clove separation and soaking. Separate the cloves by hand, remove the garlic stalk and outer skin, keep the inner skin, and soak in clean water for 12 hours, changing the water at appropriate times.

3. Peeling. Remove the garlic base, inner skin, and the transparent garlic membrane attached to the garlic head, without damaging the garlic flesh. Then rinse clean.

4. Grading. According to clove size, grade 1 is 230-300 cloves per kg, grade 2 is 300-450 cloves per kg, and grade 3 is 450-600 cloves per kg.

5. Blanching and cooling. The blanching solution formula is: clean water 100 kg, citric acid 50 g, alum 15-100 g. The liquid temperature is 95°C. If the blanching time is too long or too short, it will affect the product's green color, luster, and crispness, so it should be judged as ready when small bubbles stop coming from the garlic base. Once the garlic cloves are blanched, immediately remove them from the pot and pour them into clean water to cool and rinse (they must be cooled thoroughly).

6. Pickling. Scoop out the rinsed garlic cloves and drain them, first pickle them in 7 Baume brine for 24 hours, then add brine to adjust the concentration to 11 Baume and pickle for 24 hours. Add salt again, adjust the brine concentration to 15 Baume, and pickle for 48 hours. Finally add salt to adjust the concentration to 22 Baume and pickle for no less than 15 days. During this period, when the brine concentration decreases, salt should be added promptly to maintain a stable concentration.

7. Sorting. After the garlic cloves are taken out of the vat, remove discolored cloves and those with insect spots or scars, and thoroughly remove any remaining garlic base, inner skin, and garlic membrane.

8. Brine preparation and barreling (bagging). First prepare brine with a concentration of 28 Baume, boil it, then filter and cool it, and add 0.35% citric acid, 0.05% sodium hexametaphosphate, and 0.03% alum, so that the brine pH is 2.5-3. When barreling (bagging), first pack the garlic cloves into barrels (bags) by grade and fixed quantity, then pour in the brine and seal, and it is then the finished garlic clove product.

9. Finished product standards. White or milky white, with a glossy appearance, transparent brine, and a small amount of garlic flesh fragments that do not cause cloudiness are allowed; the garlic cloves are crisp and tender, with a "chewy bite"; no off odor; and the granules are intact.