The ease of growing garlic usually results in bountiful harvests of this herbaceous perennial vegetable and the solution to the annual problem of how to preserve garlic until the next harvest. There are many ways to store the crop, however, not all of them are able to ensure good shelf life of the spicy and aromatic vegetable. Is it possible to freeze garlic, and which Alliaceae variety can survive the winter better?
Conditions for proper harvesting of garlic
Any garlic that is promptly removed from the garden and properly prepared can be stored, including long-term storage, right up to a new harvest. It is believed that spring varieties of garlic, harvested in the last month of summer, are much hardier than their winter counterpart, but a large number of reviews from experienced agronomists have made adjustments to this information about storing the product. It turns out that in most cases of growing winter crops, many gardeners for some reason omit the need for a number of actions to disinfect the seed material, and when faced with vegetable diseases or the fact of rotting of the head in the ground, they do not always bother to find out the cause and allow the diseases to cover large areas of the crop.
Correct determination of the timing of harvesting vegetables plays an important role for proper storage:
- spring garlic, removed from the garden after August 20;
- The winter vegetable is kept in the garden until mid-July.
You can determine the readiness of a crop for digging by focusing on the condition of the green part of the plant stem. Closer to the due date, the tops of the vegetable begin to turn yellow, dry out from the outer leaves and lower the stems to the ground - “spreads”. It is impossible to keep planting material in the soil, just as it is impossible to carry out watering garlic in the last 10–12 days before harvesting the crop - all this contributes to the release of young shoots by the bulbs and the disintegration of the garlic head into individual cloves. In this state, the dug up bulbs are only useful for storage in processed form.
Immediately after the entire crop has been dug up, it is sorted out, throwing aside all the bulbs that are spoiled or not tight enough to the touch. Right there, in the garden, on wooden or metal boards, the first drying of garlic after harvesting is carried out.The vegetable dries in the shade, always along with the tops and the entire green part of the plant. At night the bulbs are put indoors, and at daytime they are put out again - and so on for at least 4 days.
How should you store garlic after digging it up so as not to worry about having the vegetable on the table until the next harvest?
Where to store garlic?
Storing garlic in a cellar or pantry must be carried out under temperature conditions that do not allow the thermometer to deviate from the optimal +3...+6 degrees. It is not recommended to use metal garage boxes or damp basements to store this vegetable - the humidity level in them can reach 80-100%, and at such values, the garlic will either dry out or begin to soften and rot.
It is best to hang garlic from the ceiling after harvesting. There are many ways to do this well - from braiding dried garlic stalks into braids, forming a kind of “vine”, to using small baskets or mesh “string bags” in which the garlic will be well ventilated in winter. If it is not possible to provide the vegetable with “air space,” intact heads are laid out in one row in flat boxes with perforations in the side walls and placed on racks.
To prevent the stored vegetable from becoming damp, you should not place a layer of garlic near boxes with carrots, turnips, beets, radishes, and cabbage. The only worthy neighbor of the crop during storage will be well-dried onions.
There is another option to extend the shelf life of unprocessed vegetable heads - store them in the refrigerator. Whole heads of vegetables are placed 3-5 pieces in small bags made of craft paper and occupy a separate vegetable container in the lower section of the refrigerator.Garlic is not stored in this form for long - up to three weeks, so most housewives choose a more troublesome but reliable storage method - freezing the onions in the freezer. This storage method is also good because it is also suitable for the so-called “illiquid” - spoiled vegetables, from which you need to cut off the damaged areas, and then chop the cloves with a knife or in a meat grinder.
The resulting pulp, or, if desired, whole peeled cloves, is tightly placed in special tight bags for low temperatures and these briquettes are stored in the freezer for as long as needed. At what temperature is it best to store garlic? It is preferable to store frozen briquettes with vegetables at -4...-7 degrees and never defrost them entirely if there is no need to use the entire mass.
How to store garlic at home?
Processed garlic, when stored, must have a protective or nutritious environment in which its beneficial qualities would not be subject to changes, and the life of the vegetable would be extended for a long period.
Storage in oil
This method of storing garlic is loved by those who prefer to add the aromatic vegetable to soups and salad dressings. In vegetable oil, garlic partially loses its pungency, but in return, it becomes very fragrant, saturating even the filling liquid with a thick aroma. The recipe for preparing vegetables in oil is simple:
- garlic cloves are peeled and chopped with a knife;
- the spicy mass is transferred to a small jar, filling it 2/3;
- in a thin stream and with constant stirring of the liquefied slurry, vegetable oil is poured into the jar, filling the container up to the “hangers”;
- The garlic in the jar is closed with a plastic lid and put into the refrigerator for storage.
The sunflower oil remaining after using the vegetable can be used to prepare first courses and even be used for medicinal purposes. The shelf life of the product is up to 3 months.
Alcohol tincture of garlic
Medicinal garlic tincture is often mentioned in medical reference books, so in a house where there are patients with cardiovascular pathologies, such a winter preparation will come in handy. To obtain an elixir from a vegetable, you will need a minimum of action and a little waiting:
- two glasses of peeled garlic cloves, minced in a meat grinder, infused in a closed jar for about one and a half hours;
- after infusion, remove with a spoon the entire top layer of the mass - approximately a third of the total amount, and transfer the remaining pulp into a sterilized 0.5-liter dark glass bottle and fill it with a glass of high-quality alcohol;
- The closed bottle is stored in a secluded place for a week and a half, after which the tincture can be consumed.
“Picked” garlic does not need to be thrown away - the best way to store it is in a jar of oil, according to the previous method, or, as an option, in the freezer.
How to properly store unpeeled garlic?
Storing garlic at home can be done without additional processing of the vegetable. Thus, you can store garlic in your apartment for up to six months, and it retains its original taste and aroma longer.
Use of bulk materials
Storing garlic in flour, coarse table salt or wood ash is based on the moisture-absorbing properties of these sorbents. The use of any of the substances allows you to store the prepared vegetable directly in the kitchen, without allocating a separate room, such as a basement or pantry:
- Flour.The bottom of a flat plastic container is covered with a layer of flour and garlic heads of the same size are placed evenly on it. Using a sieve, generously flour a dense row of onions and tightly close the container for further storage.
- Salt. For containers, take small boxes with perforations or corrugated cardboard boxes with holes in the lid. It is allowed to place up to three layers of garlic heads in one container, so as not to crush the lowest row with the weight of the onions and salt. Using 1-2 liter glass jars instead of a box extends the shelf life of the vegetable by another month or two, the main thing is not to forget to generously sprinkle the topmost layer of the stacked heads with salt.
- Ash. The method of laying vegetables exactly repeats the previous one. It is better to store the box with ash contents near heating radiators.
If garlic is stored in a city apartment in the pantry or kitchen, you need to ensure that there are no potato, cabbage, or beetroot in the vicinity of the capricious vegetable, which spread dampness and can cause the crop to rot.
"Paraffin Shirt"
To coat with wax, select vegetable heads of the same, medium size, with tightly fused cloves and intact husks. The lower part of each head, where the roots begin to grow, is cauterized. In a heat-resistant container, over low heat or in a water bath, melt broken wax candles or lump paraffin until liquid.
Each garlic head is taken separately by the dry stem and immersed in liquid, holding the vegetable in paraffin for exactly 3 seconds. Then the vegetable heads are planted in one row in a flat box and stored in a cool place, away from sunlight.In a paraffin coating, garlic of winter varieties is stored until January-February, spring varieties - until approximately June.
Whatever option for storing the spicy vegetable is chosen by the housewife (with the exception of freezing), it should be remembered that there is no universal way to protect the vegetable from spoilage, which means that due to one damaged clove of garlic, there is a risk of rotting of the entire arrangement. At least once a month or a month and a half, you need to sort through the supplies, feeling the garlic heads and assessing the smell emanating from the box (jar) with the vegetable.
