Just Bento

(EDIT TO ADD: WHOOPSIE! Sorry! I didn't realise I was in the forum directed just at Maki. Apologies! Hope you don't mind the intrusion, I just got excited about shoyu marinaded garlic.)

Unfortunately, from what I understand, it takes at least one month (some recipes say two months) before the garlic is ready. Some recipes say just to blanche the garlic cloves in boiling water for a short time before adding to soy sauce or tamari in sterile jars. Other recipes involve vinegar - such as pickling the cloves in vinegar for a couple of weeks before discarding most of the vinegar and then adding soy sauce with some sugar dissolved into it, then waiting for a couple of months.

I'm way too impatient for that kind of thing, so I just pick up bags of ready made shoyu 'pickled' garlic from any of the Japanese stores in London.

These are dearly loved by my Japanese husband and he eats them regularly. There are other garlic variations available such as garlic 'pickled' in miso which is also quite common or pickled garlic flavoured with shiso/beafsteak plant/perilla leaves.

I have a book with a recipe for garlic pickled in honey but neither myself or my partner have come across this particular variation in Japan, so I suspect this is less common, at least in Tokyo.

Here's a recipe including hints for how to peel a massive amount of garlic :)

For what it's worth, these last a long time in the refrigerator, AND the soy sauce the garlic is in is really nice to flavor stir fries and whatnot.

Loretta, if the garlic is blanched first to soften them I find they are fine in a couple of weeks. Sometimes I add a bit of sugar in the soy sauce, or mirin. Bonus: they are so much cheaper than the store bought kind!

Maki and Loretta,
Thank you both for the prompt responses! I'll be making
these this afternoon after I test out a Yakibuta ramen recipe!

Thanks Maki,
For some reason I'd missed your own recipe for shoyu garlic and it's the easiest (and quickest) recipe I've seen so far.
As soon as I have a jar large enough to use (should be a couple of days, my parents just brought me some Vlasic pickles from Canada) I'll give it a shot. Whether my husband will wait for two weeks is another matter...

And thanks also to you, Ddrizzt, for posting the question and giving me the inspiration.

Ooh! I just started two types of garlic pickles after receiving Ikuko Hisamatsu's Quick & Easy Tsukemono: Japanese Pickling recipes. I've started one batch of ninniku shoyu-zuke (garlic pickled in soy) and one batch of ninniku miso-zuke (miso-pickled garlic). The soy pickles will be ready in 2 months, but the miso pickles will be ready in less than a week now :-)

I really like this little book of pickle recipes. I'd love to hear how the faster recipes work out!

this sound very delicious and I think I would like to try it! do you know if it can work with frozen garlic! at my house we have a lot of frozen garlic that is already peeled...

I just made some...with kikoman, aloha shoyu, extra virgin olive oil, and sesame oil. I also thinly sliced some garlic drizzled the marinade over it...and added tangerine slices to balance the heat and texture...to snack on now...cause I'm impatient ;)