Every summer, after the garlic comes out of the garden, I sit down and process the whole harvest — about 15 pounds — in one big session. It sounds like a lot — and honestly, it is — but it means I have perfectly portioned garlic ready to go all year long. No more buying those little jars from the store, no more mincing by hand on a busy weeknight. Just grab a cube from the freezer and you're done.

Here's exactly how I do it.

Storing whole garlic bulbs works great if you have a cool, dark, well-ventilated space — but even then, it only lasts so long before it starts to sprout or dry out. Freezing minced garlic in pre-measured portions means I always have the right amount on hand, it thaws in seconds, and I can even drop a frozen cube straight into a hot pan without waiting. It's become one of my favourite homestead shortcuts.

• 15 lbs of garlic (or however much you have)
• A large bowl
• Boiling water
• A food processor
• Olive oil (roughly ⅓ cup per 2 cups of garlic cloves)
• A 1 Tbsp cookie scoop
• A baking sheet lined with parchment paper
• Zip-lock freezer bags

Start by breaking all your garlic bulbs apart into individual cloves. Don't worry about peeling yet — just get them all separated and into a large bowl.

With 15 lbs, this takes a little while — but it's oddly satisfying once you get into a rhythm.

Once all your cloves are in the bowl, pour boiling water right over top of them. This is the trick that makes the whole process so much faster — the heat loosens the skins and makes peeling so much easier than doing it dry.

Let the cloves sit in the hot water for15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, drain the water and start peeling. The skins should slip off with very little effort. Work in batches and keep going until every clove is peeled.

Yes, this is the most time-consuming part. But compared to peeling cold, dry garlic? It's a completely different experience. Put on a show, a podcast, or your favourite book — grab a stool and settle in.

Working in batches of about2 cups of peeled clovesat a time, add the garlic to your food processor. As it's blending, slowly drizzle in⅓ cup of olive oilthrough the top feeder.

The olive oil does two things: it helps the garlic blend down into a fine, almost minced texture, and it keeps the mixture smooth and easy to scoop. The finished garlic looks just like the minced garlic you'd buy in a jar — but so much better.

Blend each batch until it's finely minced, then transfer it to a large clean bowl. Repeat until all the garlic is processed.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a1 Tbsp cookie scoop, portion the garlic mixture out into individual mounds on the sheet.

Each scoop is one tablespoon — which is roughly equivalent to 3 cloves of garlic in most recipes. I find this portion size works perfectly for everyday cooking.

Pop the baking sheet into the freezer and leave it until the garlic mounds are completely frozen solid. This usually takes a few hours or overnight.

Freezing them individually on the sheet first is the key step — it keeps them from all clumping together into one big frozen mass in the bag.

Once frozen solid, transfer all the garlic cubes into zip-lock freezer bags. Label with the date and store in the freezer.

That's it. Done for the year.

This is the best part. When you need garlic for a recipe, you have two options:

Thaw first:Pull out however many cubes you need and set them on the counter. They thaw in just a few minutes.

Cook from frozen:Drop the frozen cube straight into your hot pan or pot. It melts almost immediately in the heat and cooks just like fresh. I do this all the time when I'm in a hurry.

One cube = 1 tablespoon = about 3 cloves. Easy to scale up or down depending on what you're making.

Stored in a good freezer bag with the air pressed out, frozen garlic keeps well forup to a year— which is exactly the point. Process once in the summer, cook with it all year long.

If you try this method, I'd love to hear how it goes. Once you've done it this way, it's hard to go back to anything else.