There's a brand of feta cheese salad cheese, (only feta cheese made in Greece can be called that these days) that does these little tubs that have cheese cubes, garlic cloves and olives in oil sold at a ludicrous markup. The thing is that the garlic cloves in those tubs are :chefs-kiss:. They're slightly softer than actual raw garlic but still crunchy and have an amazing mellow garlic taste to them.
You can find jars of pickled garlic in supermarkets but those are made with a vinegary brine that makes the cloves soft and mushy and gives them a tangy pungent flavour.
I tried peeling a bunch of garlic cloves and putting them in a jar with herbs and spices and filled it with rapeseed oil, but even after marinating in the fridge for a week they still just taste and feel like raw garlic. Got any tips?
I've consumed a significant amount of these garlic treats over the years, and though I don't know how to make an I have a thought on ur process. The oil they come in (either green herbs or chili/paprica) are there to give a little flavour as a sort of dressing. The taste and texture of the garlic themselves I suspect is from some pickling process. They have a subtle tangy vinegary taste, so I think they are pickled in vinegar/sugar/water mix or just vinegar/water, no idea if hot or cold. Then the oil is just for consuming em dirrectly.
The pickled garlic you can get on its own is way mushier and tangier though :thinking-about-it:
Can't talk on the taste being off except for the tangyness.. the chew on it is what I've experienced with em.. while you get the odd straight up mashable soft disappointment, they usually have a nice crunchy bite.. but if there's no tangyness at all then it's probably another product :)