The first thing I did was peel the papery film off the garlic and separate the cloves. Because this was last years harvest, some of the cloves were too dry and crumbly to work with, so I composted those. Some were a little dry, but still flexible (like a raisin) and good-smelling, so I saved those. The rest seemed fresh, considering their age, and I used those as well.
I peeled the skins off each clove and, except for the very smallest of cloves, I sliced them about 1/16 inch thick. I spread them out on the "fruit leather" tray of our dehydrator and set it on the high setting. Oddly enough, it was the pieces that were already leathery that took the longest to dry; the fresher pieces dried right away. I suspect it had something to do with a change in the sugar content, but I'm not sure. It took 2-1/2 days for all of it to dry to a brittle stage.
I didn't bother to measure or weigh anything before I started, but I didn't think to measure the dehydrated pieces. A tray of garlic measured to just under a cup of dehydrated bits.
I put all of the pieces in our blender and blended them on high for about three minutes or until they were thoroughly pulverized. The resulting powder measured right at 1/2 cup.
I stored the powder in an airtight container in my spice cabinet, and will use it just like I would any store-bought garlic powder.
