is this stuff safe?

[pizzafoundry]

I just ran across a jar of garlic cloves that I put up in 2% back in 2018. The water is kind of a murky light brown color now. I haven't opened it to smell and I'm kind of scared to eat any of it for fear of dying early.

Any chance this stuff is still safe to use?

[pizzafoundry]

Correction - turns out this was put up June of 2022 and it was 3.5%.

[Christopher Weeks]

No one can tell you it is or isn't safe with this amount of information. If it was mine, I'd feel pretty good about it by default, but not love the brown color. I'd open it and give it a sniff. If it doesn't obviously stink, I'd stick my nose down into the jar and give it a really good sniff. If it smells like acid and garlic, and not putrid, then I'd eat a quarter of a clove and see what happens over the next 48 hours. If there's no illness and it tastes good, I'd eat a whole clove and see what happens. If there's no illness after 72 hours, then it's fine.