Many gardeners have been looking forward to this for a while. It’s time to harvest the lovely, delicious garlic bulbs we planted last autumn!
Isn’t it easy enough to pull the plant out of the ground and cook it with anything? Hold on a second. Come on, I’ll tell you everything there is to know about curing and storing homegrown garlic. What’s next is as follows:
Curing
Freshly dug bulbs are ready to use immediately, although they will smell and taste very pungent. Curing is the process that takes place immediately following harvesting.
This enhances their taste when eaten fresh or cooked. When cured on a tray or screen, plants focus their energy on the drying bulb and keep their leaves, stalks, and roots intact.
It is necessary to keep the tray in a warm, dry location with adequate ventilation and shade from the sun. Depending on how much moisture is in the plant tissue, turn the bulbs once a day for three to six weeks.
The bulbs are considered cured and ready for storage when they have turned a deep brown and the stems have become stiff. Okay, I’m almost ready. Watch what happens next.
Cleaning and Prepping the Bulbs
When the bulbs have healed, they need to be cleaned and cut before being put away. Remove any hanging tunic material and throw away any light bulbs that are light in colour or broken.
Leaving some of the stems on helps to release any residual moisture and makes bulb splitting simpler. If you decide not to braid or bundle the soft neck stems before hanging them, you can also cut them.
Additionally, if you’re happy with the variety you raised, it’s a good idea to set some aside for planting. Use scissors or garden shears to trim each bulb’s roots close to the end.
Gently remove any leftover soil with a small, soft-bristled brush. To ensure that the next generation of bulbs is bigger and better, select the largest, plumpest, and most attractive bulbs for seed stock. Later in the piece, I’ll go into further detail about this.
Best Conditions for Storage
A place that is between 55 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, dark, dry, and has sufficient air circulation is the best for storage. Refrigerators are not the right place for light bulbs. The mismatch between light and moisture creates an unsuitable environment that might lead to mould growth or sprouting.
One of the following storage options is also an option for preserving cured bulbs: horticultural boxes, egg cartons, netting, open paper bags, or wicker or wire baskets.
Moreover, avoid storing broken bulbs. Use them up first or throw them in the compost pile because they spoil rapidly. Use the good cloves from damaged bulbs for pickling, freezing, or dehydration if you have an excess.
Dehydrated for Salt and Powder
The process of dehydration yields the longest shelf life. Slice the chunks, then either leave them whole or finely crush them, adding salt and garlic powder for seasoning.
This is what you should do:
- After peeling and cutting the cloves in half lengthwise, arrange them cut-side up on drying trays.
- After two hours of drying at 140°F, rotate the pieces and continue drying them at 130°F until they are completely dry. When the halves are dry, the texture will be crisp.
- Before packaging, remove from trays and let cool fully on wire racks.
- Transfer the contents into airtight glass jars and keep them in a cool, dry closet.
Using a mortar and pestle, crush tiny amounts into a powder. A spice mill or tiny coffee grinder can expedite a laborious operation, particularly when handling a large quantity of cloves. This is a handy tool if you want to dry a lot of herbs and alliums.
For a maximum storage life of four years, keep the powder, flavouring salts, and dehydrated pieces packed in a cool, dry cabinet away from light. Click here for additional herb drying advice.
Freezing
Another practical way to store extra cloves is to freeze them. Even though their colour and texture can alter when frozen, they are still a great flavour addition for casseroles, salads, sauces, stews, and soups. Garlic is freezable in three ways:
- Chop and peel the cloves. After adding the minced garlic to the bottom of a freezer bag, close the bag by rolling the garlic tightly into a log. Once frozen, break off, cut, or grate as much as required.
- Make sure the paper tunics remain in place while you carefully pack the frozen whole bulbs into freezer bags or other containers. As needed, remove each clove separately.
- In a food processor, peel and pulse the cloves with a tiny bit of olive oil—roughly one part oil to one part garlic. After freezing in ice cube trays, move the frozen food to airtight freezer bags or storage containers. As needed, take out individual cubes.
In the freezer, your garlic should be kept for up to 12 months.
Making Flavoured Oils
If this is your goal, be very careful when moving forward! For several months, peeling and freezing cloves in oil is a safe option. After four days, whole or sliced cloves stored in oil should be chilled to prevent the development of toxins.
Additionally, oils that are allowed to stand at room temperature for two hours should be discarded. Garlic has a pH between 5.3 and 6.3, making it a low-acid vegetable.
Also, oil offers the ideal environment for Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria that cause botulism, to flourish. Label your oil blends with the date of preparation as well as the date of disposal, just to be safe. Throw it out if you’re unsure!
Braiding, Bundling, and Hanging
Simple and efficient, hanging from rafters or hooks allows the entire bulb to receive optimum air circulation, which keeps it dry and dormant. Soft neck bulbs are typically hung by braiding their tresses, but hard neck bulbs can also be knotted into groups of six or twelve.
- On a sanitized work surface, put three bulbs with their stems down. Use a little piece of yarn to secure the three bulbs together where they meet the stem.
- Three plant stalks will be present: left, center, and right.
- Next, place a fourth bulb in the center, positioning its stem either next to or above the central stem.
- As with a standard braid, cross the rightmost stem over the two center stems. Again, place the stem in the center and add another bulb in the middle.
- Use the left stem to cross over the two center stems.
- Until the crossover is complete, keep adding bulbs to the center and repeat each crossover.
- After you’ve incorporated all the bulbs, braid the leftover stems to the very end.
- Cut off any extra lengths, and then knot them to create a loop for hanging.
You want to hang your braided garlic in a cool, well-ventilated area.
Preserving Food in Wine, Vinegar, or Brine
Another good choice to balance the flavour is pickling. The outcome is a mildly nutty flavour that goes well with salads, antipasto, and charcuterie plates. As previously stated, pickling vinegar with a high acid content is essential to stop bacteria from growing because garlic is a low-acid vegetable.
Dates and jar labels should include the pickling and best-before dates. Alternatively, prepare easy refrigerator pickles with vinegar or wine.
Just put some clean, peeled cloves in a jar and cover them with a dry red or white wine or your favourite vinegar. If you keep refrigerator pickles submerged in liquid, you can store them for up to four months.
Saving for Seed Stock
If you plan to save some bulbs for seed stock, make sure they are robust, plump, and fully grown. Until planting time, store the bulbs in baskets or open paper bags in a cool, dark, well-ventilated area with a reasonable amount of humidity.
FAQ
After harvesting, can you consume garlic right away?
Yes, you can, but it will taste nothing like properly cured garlic. Hard neck types are ready to eat right away and shouldn’t require as much curing.
How long does it take for garlic to cure?
Garlic takes at least two weeks to cure, and it can take up to six weeks for certain soft neck varieties.
What is the duration required for garlic to cure?
It’s not; however, one excellent approach to maintaining the flavour and shelf life of these bulbs is to cure your garlic.