Transcription
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Hello. How are you? Today I'm going to teach you how to make at home one of the most powerful probiotics that exist and is 100% natural, fermented garlic. We already know that garlic is amazing and brings many benefits. Fermented garlic is like taking it to another level. It's even better for the gut, excellent for immunity, powerful anti-inflammatory, great for heart and artery health, and even helps control blood sugar.
I'm going to teach you how to prepare it properly at home safely, give you all the insider tips, explain how to consume it. You'll love it. Stay until the end, you won't want to miss this. A lot of people get worried when we talk about fermented garlic thinking, "Oh my god, that garlic breath, that strong smell." Don't worry. When you ferment garlic, the flavor changes completely. It becomes slightly sweet, almost like a slow-roasted garlic. So, the taste turns out really good, even making for an interesting culinary alternative for your daily routine. And my fermented garlic won't be spicy. And of course, there's no sugar or anything like that. You're going to love it for sure.
If you like probiotics, tell me if you have the habit of consuming them, if you make any at home, or if you buy them. I love reading these comments. And actually, you don't necessarily have to buy them. I have an entire playlist teaching how to make fermented oats, homemade yogurt, kefir, fermented cabbage, pickles, apples, a bunch of things. Garlic is going to be added to this playlist here because a lot of people ask me for it. So, take a look at it as well if you can, and I'm already asking you to like the video. Your like is really important to me. It helps this video reach more people, and it's good for you, too, because YouTube will keep showing you more content just like this that you enjoy.
Now, as I mentioned before, if you know someone who needs to boost their immunity, improve their gut health, or just get healthier, share this recipe. Let's grow this chain of kindness together.
One important thing before we actually start preparing our fermented garlic is to talk about hygiene, right? When we're going to make a fermented food, we need to wash our glass jar thoroughly with water and soap under running water and then give it a bath in boiling water using a pot you have at home. Do this with the jar. Do this with the lid. Do this with anything else you're going to use at home. Remember, don't dry it afterwards with a dish towel because the dish towel might be contaminated, right? With residue from other dishes or other things. So, the ideal is for you to turn it upside down on a paper towel and let it dry like that. Just like this one here.
I'm going to make a small amount, but obviously if you want to make a larger quantity or if you want to double the recipe, you can do that as you wish. I have quite a bit of garlic here and I just peeled it. Some people peel and slice it, but I'm going to use the whole garlic cloves. Look.
Remember that when we ferment garlic, we are able to turn some unstable compounds into stable ones. Previously, allicin, which is unstable, is transformed into S-allylcysteine, which is more stable, more absorbable, and has a more consistent effect on our body. Also, when we ferment, as I mentioned, we reduce the harshness while maintaining the biological effect. Before, raw garlic like this could irritate the stomach and intestines, but afterwards it becomes much more tolerable. You'll see when you try it that you can use it every day without any gastric discomfort. This matter of fermenting garlic also improves its bioavailability because fermentation kind of pre-digests the food, you know? So, the body absorbs the active compounds better. And besides that, there's also the fact that it adds new compounds, right? An interesting detail is that when we ferment garlic, it actually forms lactic acid, which is amazing. It is a metabolite produced during the fermentation of the garlic. So, this adds an intestinal effect, an additional benefit for the gut and for our own microbiota.
When we ferment garlic, we get some very interesting benefits in terms of its antimicrobial properties. It also helps with various other health benefits such as cardiovascular health, reducing inflammation, supporting immunity, increasing its antioxidant stability, and it has a very interesting cumulative effect because often people use raw garlic only occasionally. And with fermented garlic, as I mentioned, you can use it more regularly in your daily routine.
So, let's make our brine because the garlic will need this brine to ensure that only the good bacteria and good yeast grow here and not, well, pathogenic microorganisms. So, there's an exact ratio of water to salt and I'll leave it for you down below in the description.
So, going back to the benefits, this fermented garlic can help improve cardiovascular health, aid in vasodilation, support endothelial function, and may help reduce blood pressure and plaque buildup. It can also help with an anti-inflammatory effect, reducing inflammatory cytokines, which is beneficial for metabolic diseases and aging. It has a high antioxidant power, helps neutralize free radicals, can support cholesterol control, may reduce LDL oxidation, the bad cholesterol, improves immunity, modulates the immune system, balances the gut microbiota, and can even improve insulin sensitivity. So, it's very interesting and very beneficial.
I stopped recording to mix the salt water well because the noise from the plastic was bothering me. So, the salt really needs to be well dissolved here, right? In this brine, so that everything works properly. Then, we cover it. You have to cover all the garlic with the liquid mixture. Look, here it didn't cover well, so we add some more. And to make sure they stay submerged, I'm going to put a container on top here to ensure that all of them remain under the liquid. There's no problem. And what I'm going to do now, actually, is put it on a plate because this is going to ferment, right? This happens with fermented foods and, well, this liquid might overflow. So, yes, put it on a plate because you'll need to leave this in a dark place. I'll explain that better to you. While it ferments for at least 7 days, so you don't make a mess in your cupboard. Remember that since garlic is naturally prebiotic and we're going to turn it into a probiotic, it already has this interesting role, so it might take longer for this fermentation to happen. It's not like yogurt, for example, which sometimes ferments in 12 or 24 hours, at least 7 days just to get things started. There are people who ferment it for 14 or 21 days, depending even on the flavor you want, and so on.
So, here's what I'll do. In at least 7 days, or 14, or 21, I'll let you know later, I'll come back to show you how our garlic is turning out, its appearance, flavor, how to use it, how much to use, and I'll give you all the tips about how this process went, okay? So, hang on because I'll be right back.
14 days have passed. I waited a bit longer for this fermentation, so the garlic would be more pleasant. I'm going to open this up together with you. Look how wonderful, lots of little bubbles here, and that shows that fermentation really happened and that the garlic was submerged. The garlic is, in fact, green. So, if your fermented garlic turns green, or even a bit bluish, don't worry, that's not mold. This happens due to a natural reaction in the garlic itself. It contains sulfur compounds that, when in contact with salt and the more acidic environment of fermentation, can actually change the color of the garlic. It's the same kind of reaction that happens when garlic comes into contact with lemon or vinegar, for example. So, this color here doesn't mean it has gone bad, okay?
Now, what's most important, and I already noticed this when I took off the lid, is the smell. If the smell is acidic, like a pickle, if it has that characteristic fermented scent, that's fine. Now, if it smells moldy or strange, it's not ready to eat. It also wouldn't be ready to eat if it were black, very brown, or had some fuzz on it. That could really be some kind of mold growth, right? That's not ideal.
I'm going to grab a fork now to show you that, as I stir from the bottom, more bubbles will rise. You'll see in a moment. Look, I'm going to stir down here so you can see how the bubbles rise. Look. See how the little bubbles down here start to come up? It almost looks like garlic soda. It's really amazing. There are a lot of bubbles down here that rise up. Look. See? As I stir, they keep coming up. And it's really funny because it smells almost like bread yeast mixed with garlic. This must be delicious.
I'm going to grab one here so we can see what the texture is like together. I'm going to put it here on my plate. Look, I got the knife so we can cut it and see what it's like inside. Look how amazing. It's funny, even the color changes. See? It even looks like it's slightly cooked. It doesn't look like it was roasted. It looks like it I can't really tell. It actually looks like pickled garlic. See? This in a salad must be delicious, right? With yogurt, with lemon. Look, this works really well. By the way, speaking of yogurt, I have other videos here about fermented foods and I'll leave them down below in the description for you.
Then I started thinking here, how can we eat it, right? Any way you like, of course, but remember the probiotics. When we want the probiotic effect, we can't heat it up. So, I'm going to make a little spread here. This is my yogurt that I told you about. I'll add a little bit of chives, which I love, a pinch of salt to lightly season it, and I'll add some of our chopped garlic here. Look. I'm going to mash it. It's easier that way. And it's much softer than regular garlic. I'll even add the other one here. Look, see how it gets softer? And now I'm going to mix it here so we can make a little spread. I'm just going to eat it with some toast, but that's up to you. However you want to eat it, but look what a nice idea. Try it, you'll love it. I grab my toast and now I'm finally going to try it. Tell me. How would you eat your fermented garlic? Make it yourself and then let me know.
Before tasting it, I just wanted to remind you that now we store it in the fridge. It's already fermented, so close the lid, put it in the fridge, and then you can use it as you like. Remember to leave a like on the video. It took more than 2 weeks to get this video ready, and that's your way of giving back to me. Share it with anyone you think will benefit. Let's work together to spread this chain of kindness. That's what I want here on the channel.
Now, let's taste it. How delicious. It's a very different flavor because it's not that sharp pungent garlic. It still tastes like garlic, but it's a good kind of garlic, you know? I wouldn't say it tastes cooked, but it doesn't taste raw either. I can't really explain it. It's a garlic flavor, but it's different. Very pleasant. If you like garlic, you're going to love this taste. I'm thinking now about how I could add this to more recipes because I really think it turned out great. Try it yourself. You're going to love the flavor and all the benefits. See you next time. Bye.