This is one of the easiest pickles to make ... But
The "BUT" is that you have to wait a minimum of 3 years. 5 years is optimum. All you need a glass jar, Garlics and vinegar ... an min. 3 yrs patient. After 2 years is edible but not recommended. Because just not aged enough.

DIRECTIONS:

-- pack the jar with garlic(Cleaned of outer wraps but cloves in tact ) To fill the gaps between the whole bulbs, put cloves, to maximize space usage.

-- bring vinegar to boil, pour over the garlics in the jar. Keep some reserve,

-- Cover with clean towel, plastic wrap with holes...
-- keep monitoring. Add vinegar as the level goes down.
-- Once stablized, screw the lid on loosely ...

-- keep it in a shack, storage room. It will smell garlicy.
After some time you can tighten the cap.

As the pickles age, the color will get light brown, darker brown, coffee brown ..and even darker... black

As the pickles age, they will start getting softer, softer, soft, .
As the pickles age the taste will get less vinegar, bit sweet, more sweet, ... very sweet
After 3 or 4 year they will be, brown, soft, and sweet. Hardly sour.

This is an Old Persian delicacy, served with meals on special occasion. Families make one jar every year and mark it. In a way it is similar to Italian Balsamic vinegar. Some peple have 10 years old garlic pickle.. wow!

NOTE: metal leads will corrode in no time unless they have a plastic/nonmetal liner. Nonmetal caps are preferred as vinegar vapor will not affect them.

What's it called within that culture, I'd like to research it.

The front jar and sample in the small bowl, is about 3 years old.

At first I thought this was akin to Asian black garlic but then I realized that's actually slow-caramelized, which is an entirely different process.

Carol

@ carol .... exactly, this is slow caramelized. The ingredients start with just garlic and vinegar, nothing else. It is amazing how sour vinegar and hot garlic convert to a sweet stuff, naturally. But it takes YEARS.

Carol

Carol