Garlic harvest and replanting

In the fall I planted some garlic. This summer it grew. I think it will be ready to harvest soon as the leaves are beginning to yellow. I would like to save some to plant again this fall. I have heard it needs to be “cured” first by hanging in a dark, warm, airy environment. It is rather humid in my climate, and I am concerned it would rot or sprout rather than cure. I wondered if I could put it in the dehydrator. Is a dehydrator too aggressive for curing, or would this work? Alternatively I could spread it in our garage (generally dark and warm) and put a fan on it. But I would have to buy a fan, and don’t really want to have to store a fan. So I’d prefer the dehydrator. If anyone knows If that would work, or has other possible solutions, I’m all ears!

Thanks in advance!

Any garlic that you want to replant must not be dehydrated.

A fan would be preferable in assisting to cure your garlic, if the bulbs remain too damp, there is a risk of mould developing which will render your garlic unsuitable for replanting.

We have hung our garlic in an open-sided shed for about 6 weeks to cure. It's pretty dark in there but it gets the wind.

A faster way to cure it would be to use a fan, as Megan says. I saw a video showing a pretty neat set up the other day, which I've linked below:

Thank you, Luke and Megan. These were both helpful and clarifying!

If the curing temp or dehydrator temp is over 90 deg.F it’s too warm, according to this source:
https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/fact-sheets/garlic-harvest-curing-storage

It looks like your profile says you’re in Alaska. Looks like the humidity there is about 80%.  At 80%, mold can (easily) grow inside of the ~2 week curing time. For every 2 percentage-points of decreased humidity this would allow an additional 1 week of mold-free drying time. Source: https://energyhandyman.com/knowledge-library/mold-chart-for-temperature-and-humidity-monitors/

One idea is to use the dehydrator to dry a “desiccant” material, and then put the dried desiccant near the garlic (or in front of the airflow) in order to reduce the humidity.

Do you have any desiccant materials that could be used to absorb humidity?  Common ones include:

Silica gel

Clay (most any kind but especially bentonite (sold as cheap clay cat litter))

calcium chloride (ice melt)

Cellulose (paper)

gypsum drywall wallboard (Calcium sulfate) , dehydration at (212-400 °F) 100–200 °C

Note these have to be dry/well-dried to work right.

I have dried silica gel packets in an electric food dehydrator and it works quite well.

Thanks Mike!
That is all really helpful info. The humidity is what I’m most concerned about. I had not thought of using a thoroughly dried material to pull moisture from the garlic. What a great idea! I have a little bit of bentonite on hand but not enough. You said it’s in cat litter? I don’t have cats so I’m not familiar with many cat litters. Will it say in the bag if it has bentonite in it? Does it have other things I may not want touching my garlic such as chemicals?

I suppose maybe the idea is that it wouldn’t touch the garlic, but would be used to dry out the air immediately surrounding the garlic? I’m trying to think through how that would look… let me know if you have something in mind.

Yes, not touching the garlic, just used to dry out the air immediately surrounding the garlic.

A closed container would make most efficient use of the desiccant. An open container would provide more fresh air flow, but I guess it’s not necessarily needed when using the desiccant.  

One setup might use a small DC fan (often 5 volt or 12 volt) to circulate air inside a closed box. I’ll try to think more about what a good configuration might look like and get back to you soon.

Yeah on second thought maybe the cat litter is ill advised because it’s not exactly obvious what you’re buying and it might not be good to have near food.

Silica gel seems okay to use (commonly with the pieces in a separate porous-bag/container marked “do not eat”). Silica gel is fairly widely sold (Walmart, Amazon, etc). It’s probably less dusty and neater than clay.  

Interesting design challenge!  Important topic and useful for food preservation.

Thanks for that input, Mike. I’ll be thinking of a solution as well… I think my husband has or had some silica beads(?) around for drying out gunpowder for reloading… I’ll see if he still has them. An appropriate sized box and fan seems easy enough to come up with and arrange.