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Every time I have garlic powder around, it always ends up forming into a hard sticky lump. Is there any way to reconstitute this into a usable form? Placing it in warm water seems to take forever and it never really dissolves.

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    It wouldn't dissolve, because it's ground up plant fiber with a little aromatic oil in it -- you'd end up with a paste at best, but most likely a watery, garlicky concoction you could totally cook with. To store, protect from humidity in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer.
    – goblinbox
    Aug 28, 2015 at 2:39
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    @goblinbox : fridge or freezer might make things worse unless it was devoid of air -- any air in the container would have moisture that would condense when it was chilled, adding moisture to the spices each time you used it.
    – Joe
    Aug 28, 2015 at 13:18
  • Especially true in humid places like the Midwest. On the other hand, I live in Minnesota and my garlic powder, stored open and on the shelf, isn't clumped. Spice behavior mystery!
    – goblinbox
    Aug 28, 2015 at 18:54
  • Reworded the title, "reconstitute" sounds as if you are trying to create a garlic puree out of the powder.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Jan 25 at 9:13

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I've had this happen with other types of spices as well. I put it in the blender or coffee grinder to loosen it up again. Works well for me.

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    If it's really sticky try putting it in a dehydrator first.
    – NKY Homesteading
    Aug 28, 2015 at 13:05
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You should make a beurre monte.

You need 4 tablespoons of water, and 1/2 cup of cubed butter (about 1 tablespoon per cube).

Bring the water to a boil and just as it does reduce the heat to a low-medium temperature, and start whisking in the butter cubes, whisk constantly and add the cubes one at a time.

Once you see the butter start to emulsify add in 4 tablespoons of the garlic powder, and continue adding butter until the entire 1/2 cup of cubed butter is used)

Strain the mixture through wet cheesecloth into a bowl. Now you have garlic infused beurre monte.

Use it how need after that - it will be very strongly flavoured, use it sparingly. You can refrigerate it if you like, if it looses the emulsification just soak up the water with some paper towels.

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    Also since its been passed through cheese cloth all the grainy garlic bits are removed as well. Of course I'd suggest just buying some pureed garlic in a jar and keeping that in your fridge as an ultimate fix to the dry garlic issue
    – user40298
    Oct 26, 2015 at 12:24
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I have tried pouring oil in the garlic powder bottle/jar. And you have instant garlic oil for your noodles, roasts etc. Goes long way as oil acts like a preservative. How is that?

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    Oil doesn't act as a preservative, it only saves you from aerobic bacteria. Your chance of botulism is probably lower than with fresh garlic, but the combination still sounds dangerous.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Sep 3, 2015 at 10:47
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Take the cap off the bottle of garlic powder. Put it in the microwave next to a cup of water. Run the microwave on defrost or thaw. Check the garlic powder after about 40 seconds. The garlic powder will loosen. Run microwave a little longer if needed.

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    I would say this is exacerbating the issue by adding more moisture to the powder. It is a short term solution but will have a negative impact in the long term. The powder is likely to mould if then kept any longer
    – canardgras
    Jun 28, 2019 at 15:24

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