After harvesting, every gardener tries to take care of the safety of the grown products. Garlic at home can be stored both in the cellar and in the house or in a city apartment. The main thing is to provide him with suitable storage conditions.
Prepare
After digging up the garlic, it is important to properly prepare it. First of all, you need to understand when is the best time to harvest. Spring garlic is dug at the very beginning of August. Do this after the arrows turn yellow and begin to bend down to the ground. Winter garlic is harvested at the end of July. Cleaning should be done in dry cloudy weather. If possible, it is best to do this in the evening.
Plants must be dug carefully. Young heads are easily damaged. In this form, they are stored not as long as we would like. To prevent this from happening, the soil is first dug up with a pitchfork. Only after that, the culture is carefully pulled out of the ground. Then the garlic is cleaned of dirt and sent to dry. To do this, it is left for 3-4 days in a warm and dry room. If the weather is good, you can dry the garlic outside. In this case, it is laid out under a canopy and stored for 4-5 days.
After drying, the crop is sorted out. All heads with traces of damage or disease are removed. Such garlic is desirable to eat in the near future. The rest of the products can be sent to storage.
To prevent garlic from spoiling longer, its individual varieties must be stored in different containers.
Ways to store whole heads
Whole heads are usually stored in a cellar, basement, pantry or on a glazed balcony. To prevent the garlic from drying out and starting to rot, it is important that the room has the right temperature. They are best stored at 5-7 degrees. It is also important to protect the collected products from direct sunlight.
There are several basic ways to store garlic.
- In the ashes In this form, garlic can be stored for about six months. At the same time, it will not deteriorate and rot. For storage, any box of a suitable size will do. Its bottom must be covered with newspaper sheets. Next, a layer of ash needs to be poured onto the paper. It should not be too thin. In the ashes, the heads are placed with their tails down. Place them next to each other. After that, the garlic is covered with another layer of ash. The box with the harvest is sent to the selected storage.
- In baskets. You can save garlic until winter by placing it in small wicker baskets or plywood boxes. The selected container is filled to the very top. Garlic baskets should be stored away from other vegetables. It is impossible for it to lie next to beets, cabbage or potatoes. In addition, garlic stored in baskets should be sorted out from time to time.
- In the ground. If there are no other options, the harvested crop can be put in a hole dug right in the garden. In this form, it can be stored until the first frost. Fresh garlic should be put in a plastic bag and wrapped with paper. After that, it is placed in the hole. Garlic is sprinkled on top with a layer of soil and dry foliage. The place where the crop is buried should be marked. In this case, there will be no problems with finding it.
- In braids. This is one of the oldest ways to store garlic. To make it easy to weave braids, you do not need to cut the tops from the garlic heads. The harvested crop must be sent to dry. After a few days, you can start braiding. To make them more dense, metal rods or wire are used as a frame. The upper part of the braid is carefully folded over. For the resulting hook, it will be easy to hang them anywhere. To prevent the braid from falling apart at the most inopportune moment, its edge must be carefully tied with twine. Unnecessary leaves should be removed. You can store such garlic braids on the veranda, in the cellar or on the balcony.
- In a bond. This method is similar to the previous one. But individual stems do not need to be intertwined. It is enough to tie them with twine. Next, the resulting bundle must be hung in the attic, in the barn or in the pantry.
- In dry hay. You can save garlic until the time of harvesting a new crop by placing it in a box of hay. The container should also be prepared in advance by covering it with newspapers. Then the dried grass should be laid on the bottom. You can put dry garlic heads in it. It is very important that they do not touch each other. Having finished with this process, the box should be covered with newspapers and sent to the basement. Under such conditions, the garlic does not rot and does not dry for a long time.
- In sawdust. This material, like hay, helps to keep the crop until spring. The storage method is the same. The box is filled with dry sawdust. After that, garlic heads are placed in the container. They are located at a short distance from each other. After that, the box with garlic is put away for storage in any cool place. Instead of sawdust, you can use dry onion peel. It also perfectly protects the garlic from excessive moisture.
- In the banks. A small amount of garlic can also be stored in jars. To begin with, the jars need to be washed with soda, garlic – cut and sorted by size. Then it is placed in prepared jars. They must be completely filled with garlic. The neck is tied with gauze or a piece of cloth. After that, the jar is moved to a dark cabinet or pantry. Close containers with tight lids is not worth it. This will lead to the fact that the crop will quickly deteriorate.
- In fabric bags. This method is suitable for storing garlic in an apartment. You need to put the crop in bags made of natural fabric. To extend the shelf life, they are pre-soaked in a saline solution, and then dried well. This helps prevent the risk of mold or disease. You can store garlic in such bags both on the balcony and in ordinary kitchen drawers.
Garlic in the heads is stored for a long time. Therefore, gardeners do not have to worry about the harvest.
How to save individual cloves?
You can also store peeled garlic at home. But for this it is important to take care of the correct processing of the teeth.
Vacuum-packed
If the house has a simple vacuum sealer, you can store fragrant cloves in a vacuum. Under such conditions, the product will not deteriorate for 10-14 months. Put peeled garlic cloves in vacuum bags. They must be dry. Vacuum-packed garlic is usually stored in the refrigerator.
Instead of vacuum packaging, cloves can be wrapped in cling film. But in this form, the product will not be stored for so long. Before wrapping the garlic with cling film, it must be dried very well. Otherwise, it will quickly deteriorate. You need to wrap the cloves with several layers of film. In this case, the smell will not spread through the refrigerator.
in salt
Individual cloves can also be stored in jars of table salt. The containers are filled with garlic and sprinkled with a little salt. The container must be filled to the brim. Next, the jar must be closed with a lid. After that, the workpiece can be removed in the pantry or refrigerator. Since salt perfectly absorbs moisture and foreign odors, garlic can be stored in this form for a very long time without losing its taste.
Instead of salt, rice or flour can also be poured into the jar. But this way of storing the crop is not so profitable.
Dried
So that garlic does not take up much space, it can be used for seasoning. In this form, the spice will be stored for a very long time. Preparing garlic seasoning is quite simple. The slices are peeled and crushed with a blender. Next, the resulting mass is sent to dry. The layer must be very thin. In this case, the garlic will dry quickly. Fragrant seasoning will be ready in a couple of days. It remains only to pour it into a small container or paper bag. Store dried garlic in a warm and dry place.
In a refrigerator
A small amount of garlic can be stored simply on the shelves of the refrigerator. There it does not disappear and does not lose its taste appeal. To keep the garlic better, dry it well beforehand, and then put it in a clean container. There it will be stored from several weeks to several months.
Some gardeners after harvesting prefer to process garlic with paraffin. In this case, it does not rot, does not turn yellow and does not grow moldy. Processing garlic with paraffin is very simple. First of all, you need to clean your teeth and dry them well. After that, the paraffin should be cut into small pieces and dip each individual slice into it. This can be done using simple tweezers.
The product prepared in this way must be laid out on a newspaper sheet. When the paraffin dries, put the cloves in a jar or container and place this container in the refrigerator.
In the freezer
You can increase the shelf life of garlic by storing it in the freezer. Freezing does not affect the taste of the product. Plus, it doesn’t get any less useful. You can freeze both whole garlic and diced. It is usually placed in small plastic containers or sachets.
Some housewives grind the product with a meat grinder or blender, and then put it in ice molds. It is very convenient to use garlic frozen in this way. You can add such products to food without defrosting it first.
In blanks
Garlic is perfectly stored in a container with vegetable oil. The cloves do not deteriorate over time, and the oil is saturated with a pleasant aroma. Therefore, it can later be used for cooking various dishes or dressing salads.
Harvesting garlic in this way is very simple. To begin with, the heads need to be disassembled into individual cloves. After they need to be cleaned from the skin. Glass containers must be washed, dried and sterilized. Next, place the garlic cloves in the jars. They must be filled with any vegetable oil. It should completely cover the teeth. Next, the jar must be closed with a lid. Some people add a small amount of black pepper and aromatic herbs to each container. This only improves the taste and smell of harvested products.
Store such blanks in the basement or in the pantry. After opening the jars, garlic should be consumed within the next few weeks.
Common mistakes
Sending products for storage, some gardeners may face various problems.
- Drying. If the heads or teeth dry too quickly, the air in the room is very dry. This situation can be corrected by regularly airing the room. If this is not possible, the garlic must be peeled and frozen or canned.
- Product decay. Traces of mold or rot on the harvested crop appear if the room has too high humidity or air temperature. Noticing that the garlic begins to deteriorate, the cloves with traces of damage must be removed from storage and recycled. The rest of the garlic should be moved to a dry place with lower humidity or frozen.
- Germination. This usually happens 4-5 months after harvesting the garlic. To prevent this from happening, the temperature in the room should not be too high. Sprouted garlic must also be sent for processing. If it is not possible to use it in cooking, the cloves can be dried or frozen.
- The appearance of yellow spots. If the cloves begin to turn yellow, it’s time to sort out the stocks. Infected products must be separated from healthy. Harvest residues should be checked regularly.
In general, garlic is one of those foods that have a very long shelf life. Therefore, gardeners can use the harvested crop for many months in a row.
