Hi Lynn, 

Thanks for your question. The recipes we recommend, such as those in PNW 355 Pickling Vegetables, derive from the USDA and the National Center from Home Food Preservation. These sources have not changed their recommendations regarding garlic in pickle recipes. Some recipes call for whole cloves of garlic, and others call for halved cloves. Please follow the recipes contained in these publications as written and tested. 

Other sources, such as Ball, have changed some of their recipes to call for minced garlic rather than whole cloves. If using a Ball recipe, it is again recommended that you follow those instructions, including preparing the ingredients in the manner that Ball tested them.

We are indeed re-testing the pickled garlic recipe, and we will post to our website when we have those results.

Best, 

Jared

thanks