Detailed Explanation of Garlic Processing Technology, Methods and Steps Easy to Understand

Garlic is also known as suan, husuan, and in ancient times was called hu. It is a cultivated species in the genus Allium of the Liliaceae family, in which bulbils form the bulb. Garlic has high nutritional value. Its flavor is unique, with color, aroma, taste, and texture all present, and it can satisfy people's dietary desires on multiple levels. The garlic bulb is white and pungent, with a sticky, spicy, and rich aroma, shaped like pearl white jade, with a strong lingering effect. Garlic scapes are tender and mildly sweet, with green and white alternating, crisp and tasty. Garlic sprouts are green and delicious, with a pungent and spicy flavor and an overwhelming garlic aroma, refreshing and appetizing. There are many ways to eat garlic: it can be eaten raw, mixed in salads, stir-fried, and can also be used as a seasoning. It can also be processed into many kinds of food. Generally, it is processed into garlic powder, garlic slices, garlic oil, and garlic paste, and can also be processed into sweet garlic, vinegar garlic, salted garlic, and so on.

1. Garlic powder

Raw material selection: Select fresh, mature garlic, and remove garlic bulbs with insect spots, disease, or sprouting.

Peeling: Separate the garlic into cloves, soak in cold water for 1 hour, and rub off the skin.

Rinsing: Rinse the peeled garlic cloves clean with clear water and drain.

Pulping: Put the garlic cloves into a pulping machine to make a pulp.

Filtering: When pulping, add clean water equal to 1/3 of the garlic weight, then filter the garlic pulp with coarse gauze and collect the garlic residue.

Slurry dewatering: A centrifuge can be used for dewatering, or pressing can be used to remove water. The water must be removed quickly to prevent the garlic paste from changing flavor and affecting quality.

Drying: Immediately spread the dewatered garlic powder evenly on drying trays and send it into the drying room. Keep the drying room temperature at 50-60°C, and dry for 5 hours. During drying, discharge moisture in time to speed up drying.

Crushing: While the dried garlic powder is still hot, crush it with a crusher and sift it so that it becomes a uniform flour-like powder.

2. Dehydrated garlic slices

Raw material selection: Select fresh garlic of suitable maturity, with intact cloves, free of pests and diseases, and free of deterioration, with a diameter of 4-5 cm or more. Remove single-clove garlic and small garlic.

Handling: Remove the skin and base from the garlic bulbs, separate the cloves by hand, and then peel again.

Rinsing: Rinse with clear water to remove the transparent thin membrane on the garlic flesh until the water is clear and transparent.

Slicing: Put the wet garlic cloves into a slicing machine to slice. The blades must be sharp, and the cut garlic slices should be uniform in thickness.

Rinsing: Put the sliced garlic into a water tank and rinse 3-4 times to wash off the mucus and sugars on the surface of the garlic slices.

Spin-drying: Spin the garlic slices dry with a centrifuge. A spin-drying time of about 2 minutes is suitable; if too long, the garlic slices tend to become spongy.

Drying: Send the spin-dried garlic slices to the drying room for drying at a temperature of 55-65°C for 6-7 hours. Pay attention to ventilation during drying. When the moisture content of the garlic slices is about 5%, they can be taken out of the room.

Trimming: Remove yellow, burnt, too thick, and too thin garlic slices, remove impurities, and grade.

Packaging: Package, store in warehouse, and store under dry conditions.

3. Pickled garlic

Raw material selection: 25 kg of fresh garlic that is intact, free of disease and insect spots, and free of deterioration, 5 kg of table salt, 6 kg of water, and 0.125 kg of orange peel.

Handling: Remove the roots of the garlic bulbs and peel by hand.

Soaking and rinsing: Fully rinse the peeled garlic with clear water, then soak in clear water for 24 hours, take out, and drain.

Putting into the jar: Put the garlic into the jar, placing a layer of salt and a layer of garlic, and pour in cooled boiled water. Add a small amount of orange peel. The water should submerge the garlic. In the first week, stir once a day. After the salt has completely dissolved, seal the jar and let it stand. It will be ready in one month.

4. Garlic kernels

Raw material selection: Select fresh garlic of suitable maturity, intact, free of pests and diseases, and free of deterioration. Remove single-clove and small garlic.

Handling: Remove the base, peel, and separate the garlic bulbs into cloves, then peel again.

Rinsing: Wash the garlic cloves with clear water to remove the transparent membrane.

Grading: Grade according to the size of the garlic kernels. Grade 1: about 230-300 kernels per kg; Grade 2: 300-450 kernels per kg; Grade 3: 450-600 kernels per kg.

Blanching and cooling: Use 100 kg of clear water, 0.05 kg of citric acid, and 0.015-0.1 kg of alum to prepare a blanching liquid, and bring to a boil. Pour the garlic into the boiling blanching liquid. Strictly control the blanching time, until small bubbles stop emerging from the garlic base. Do not let the surface of the garlic flesh become "mealy." Keep the blanching temperature at about 95°C. After blanching, immediately remove from the pot and pour into clear water to cool, and it must be cooled thoroughly.

Salting: Spin the rinsed garlic kernels dry. Soak in brine of 7 degrees Baume for 24 hours. Then add salt until the concentration reaches 11 degrees Baume, and soak for 24 hours. Then add salt until the concentration reaches 15 degrees Baume, and soak for 48 hours. Finally, adjust the brine concentration to 22 degrees Baume and soak for 15-25 days.

Trimming: After the garlic material is taken out of the jar, once again remove discolored, damaged, and insect-damaged garlic.

Preparing the liquid: In boiled and filtered brine of 23 degrees Baume, add 0.35% citric acid, 0.05% sodium hexametaphosphate, and 0.03% alum, so that the pH value of the liquid is 2.5-3.0. After cooling, put the garlic into the barrel and pour in the liquid.