Pickled Garlic Seed Goodness

One of the Country children - TNNK - had her tonsils removed yesterday, so CG1 has her hands full. However, because she looooves her peeps, she left this post with me to be used in her absence.

Okay, I did it. Re the garlic seed post(s) from the last week or so? I did it. And while I would LOVE to say I did it out of righteousness or superiority or...some such nonsense, the truth is that I did it because I found this jar.

Y'ALL! Oh, Y'ALL!!!! I was actually in WalMart minding my own business and avoiding wacko fat people speeding around on scooters hunting for unnatural food when...LOOK AT THAT JAR! Is that not the coolest jar you have ever seen in your life? Ever? (An aside here...if you've known about this jar for a while and you didn't tell me? I hope you get beriberi.) So I bought two sets of them...eight jars...and came home and got all justified.

The problem with getting justified around The Institution is that...things don't go according to plan. The recipe calls for one cup garlic seeds. I eyeballed my pile...OH, WAIT. Garlic seeds are in a cluster on what I guess is a garlic flower and...in my experience...they don't come off. So I got the kitchen scissors and CUT them off without realizing until it was too late? Garlic works on your eyes and nose just like onion. I was SQUALLING and then The Not Nice Kid came in with red eyes and tears running down her cheeks asking WTF? Sorry, honey. Mama was giving Martha a run for her money.

Anyway. I eyeballed my pile of seeds and assumed (get that? assumed?) it was close to four cups. I was wrong. However, I mixed up four cups worth of stuff and followed procedure and then it said...let sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Cool.

Only we got up yesterday, the day that would have been 24 hours, and turns out the basketball Parent Sheet that says..."Sheffield Playdate 9 a.m." didn't explain that...11, 2 and 4. O'clock. Games. So I got up and left, fully expecting to be home by noon so that I could do the picklin' only...I left at 8:30 and walked in here at 5:30, after having spent a major portion of my day in a hot gym. (The part I DIDN'T spend in the gym involved margaritas and THAT DIDN'T HELP.)

So there sat the seeds.

This morning the guilt got to me so...I delved in. Only because I had misjudged the volume of seeds, I needed more liquid. White wine and white wine vinegar only I was out of white wine vinegar so I used triple13...like fertilizer. White wine, white vinegar and water. And THEN, because I had diluted the mix, I put a sprig of rosemary, one of thyme, a red pepper and a bay leaf in the bottom of each jar.

When I first boiled the seeds they were bitter. When I tasted them today...they weren't. These have the potential to be LOVELY only...WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO WITH PICKLED GARLIC SEED? First thoughts involve a heavy potato salad. Deviled eggs. Probably a lot of things into which you'd put capers. Pasta salad.

They have to sit for a week. Then we'll see.