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Transcript: If you’re anything like me, you love garlic. And if you’re anything like me, you want garlic to store. And that’s because you want to eat it not just in the fall, not just in the winter, but all throughout the year. And so I’m excited to share with you some tips how you can start to store garlic well all throughout the season.
So here’s the thing, garlic storage is this complex equation. And there’s three main variables. There’s the cultivar at play, there’s the growing conditions at play, and then the storage conditions. And the combination of all those things make up mean whether your garlic is going to store till January or till next July. So here’s the thing in cultivars, there are lots of different varieties, and some of them will last only three to four months, some will last 12 plus months. And you’ll have to take a look at specific varieties. Certainly all of our info online has exactly how long you can anticipate them storing. This is one of my favorites and one of our longest storing, it’s called Regatusso, and it’s a softneck, which classically has very long storage life, but it also will have a great storage the season because of the growing conditions.
Here’s a few of the growing condition variables that contribute to long storage life. If it was healthy garlic, plenty of water, but not too much, not too little and plenty of fertility, but not too much nitrogen rich fertility, your garlic will store longer. Also, if it has if it’s above well above 85 degrees consistently for the month prior to harvest, the garlic, your garlic like won’t have the time to really go dormant in the field. And if you your garlic isn’t going into dormancy before you harvest it and then you cure it, it’s not going to store as long as it would as if the temperatures were less than 80, 85 degrees for that month leading up to harvest. So they’re certainly variables in your control and out of your control.
Harvesting your garlic on time is really critical for good storage too. You can see this Regatusso was harvested at the perfect time all those bulb wrappers are nice and tight. There’s lots of them. Take a look at this one. It started to break apart. We didn’t harvest this quite in the nick of time, this garlic will store beautifully. For the fall we’ll be planting it between Halloween and Thanksgiving here at our farm at Fruition. But we wouldn’t expect this to last all season long all winter long.
And also how well you clean it makes a big difference as well. In that curing after you’ve cured your garlic well and fast, you want to clean them beautifully. If you’re planting them for that seed in the fall again, it doesn’t so much matter. But if you’re actually expecting to eat it in March, April, May, you want to be taking all of those out our wrappers with any of the dirt take off the roots to we leave about sometimes no but usually we’ll leave a quarter inch of roots to take off all of those outer wrappers, any of those bits of soil as well. But it’s a delicate balance. You don’t want to take off too many of your wrappers because having lots of those wrappers nice and dense on your bulb is so much of what makes it life’s little storage encapsulating itself storing itself for the winter. If you take off too many of those, then it won’t have the good storage capacity. So once you take off all the loose wrappers, I sometimes will just use a toothbrush to gently whisk away some of that excess soil that’s still on it.
And then last, let’s talk storage conditions. Anything less than 50 degrees, your garlic will likely sprout anything over 68 degrees, your garlic is going to likely shrivel up really quickly. So 56-58 degrees is the perfect temperature for storing your garlic 40 to 50% relative humidity is the perfect humidity for storing garlic. And basically if you have a good wine cellar, you have a great garlic cellar as well. But most people don’t have a great wine cellar. In fact, we at our house don’t have a great place are out any outdoor garage here in the northeast is likely going to freeze and be too cold over the winter. And if you put it in your fridge, it’s just going to sprout it’s a little too cold. But even out on your kitchen counter is likely the best in your in your house.
You want to make sure that it’s not enclosed. If you’re just storing it for a few months, a brown paper bag or in a drawer is fine. But otherwise, check out these mesh bags, these plastic netted bags. That’s really ideal because there’s great airflow and so it will reduce the risk of molds and dust and other things that will reduce the shelf storage life of your garlic.
And oh my gosh, what else should I tell you? There’s so much to share. But those are some key things to keep in mind and above all, be vigilant, your garlic as it starts to go downhill will start to go kind of at once, but there will be a few canaries in the proverbial coal mine. So just keep an eye on your garlic and be constantly looking for the ones that are a little bit smaller a little bit becoming perhaps shriveled a little bit sprouting and eat those first.
One more fun fact I just remembered. Smaller and medium sized bulbs will generally store longer than huge bulbs. So yes, you want to be saving your biggest most beautiful bulbs for seed stock for planting. But your next biggest bulbs that you’re not planting for seed stock, be sure to eat those first. Your smaller ones we’ll be harvesting we’ll be storing later and later into the season. There you have it friends. Best of luck and keep in touch and enjoy your garlic throughout the seasons.
