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How to preserve garlic?

 
Steward of piddlers
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Good Evening Permies!

My question of the day has come to the subject of garlic, or how to preserve it.

Softneck garlic is common in the grocery store, especially due to its longevity of storage just in its natural state. I however live in a cooler environment so my options are all hardneck varieties. I have discovered that garlic is discouraged from being canned from what sources I can find. I have followed some instructions that is essentially exposed cloves packed in canning jars and pouring vinegar over them to store them under refrigeration. So far so good!

How do you store your garlic harvests?
 
Rusticator
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I slice & dehydrate. This year, I've been thinking about roasting, smashing, then dehydrating, for an even more complex flavor.
 
steward & bricolagier
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I'm a big fan of spiced pickled garlic, and black garlic, that I talk about in this thread, which also has more ideas for you in it: Edible garlic recipe
:D
 
gardener
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i grow only hardneck varieties and they last over a year if treated right. i just roasted off a pile of 2022 garlic because i didn’t want to feel guilty for eating the new crop.

so to answer, i store it in a box.
 
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I seem to be more sensitive these days to raw garlic in anything, so at some point when I've got the oven on anyway, I put a casserole dish of whole garlic bulbs and roast them. Then I peel and freeze them in a bag. I can grab as many cloves as I want from the bag and it's super convenient.

However, if we get a break in our wet weather/high humidity at a time I'm not super busy, I also slice and fill my food dryer.

I also store many of them just in a cool closet. Some may go off or sprout, but so long as I've got enough, I just consider that a gift to the compost gods.

I was thinking of pickling some this year just as an experiment, but I also read that they are dangerous canned, so I'll go read Pearl Sutton's thread and think on it some more...

So now for my question: all those nice dry leaves and stalks. Can I call that "garlic straw" and use it to mulch my renovated strawberry bed? I sure hope so, as that's what I've done!
 
greg mosser
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Jay Angler wrote:So now for my question: all those nice dry leaves and stalks. Can I call that "garlic straw" and use it to mulch my renovated strawberry bed? I sure hope so, as that's what I've done!



i love ‘garlic straw’ and i hope so too! i haven’t seen any negatives where i’ve used it as mulch for the last 4 or 5 years.
 
Timothy Norton
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Thank you all for the suggestions and threads! I knew there had to be information out there, I just missed it!

I ordered seed garlic for the first time this year, and after I had over sixty planted for two people I realized I may of made of a mistake on the amount of garlic I needed!

I'm intrigued by the idea of fermented garlic honey, especially with a variety that has more of a 'bite' to it. I have a lot of puttering to do!
 
gardener
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Hi Timothy,
Can I also throw out Garlic powder as an option? I usually do that with my leftover. Peel it, chop into small pieces, dehydrate till crispy and grind into a course powder. The finer you grind the powder, the faster it loses flavor, so I start with course ground, and then grind it finer right when I need it.

The powder will probably last even longer, but the flavor is not as good after a year. Still better than store bought garlic powder with all kinds of fillers though.

***Warning - because this recipe does not have fillers, you will probably need to use only 1/3 of what recipes call for, or you will have VERY garlic food :)***
 
Timothy Norton
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An update for you all.

Storing peeled cloves in vinegar has been wonderful. While this technique requires refrigeration, I have found the cloves to be as good as fresh. The key is to make sure that the cloves you use for this process are intact and not damaged.

I keep a small variation of different garlic at a time. Some recipes get an extra flair from a spicier variety so having cloves available is wonderful.
 
master gardener
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I try to figure out how much I need for the year and cure that hanging under the eaves of the house for a few weeks after harvest and then hang it in the cellar in mesh bags.

When I pickle cukes, I use a lot of dill and garlic and those garlic cloves ferment much, much more slowly than the cukes, and are often still firm and tasty in the refrigerated brine three years after harvest. I have also prepared confit of garlic cloves that lasted for years with no spoilage in the fridge. You're supposed to be able to keep it at cellar temps, but I haven't done so. My favorite preservation method is as misozuke. If you layer a bed of miso, then a layer of garlic, then a layer of miso, then a layer of garlic, etc -- but ending with miso, it improves for at least 15 years. I'm not sure you'd call it "preserved" garlic after about five years because the margin between the miso and the garlic becomes increasingly indistinct, but it's just amazingly tasty. I keep my misozuke at room temp.
 
pollinator
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Matt McSpadden wrote:,,,,,,,,,,,Peel it, chop into small pieces, dehydrate till crispy and grind into a course powder. The finer you grind the powder, the faster it loses flavor, so I start with course ground, and then grind it finer right when I need it.  



This,.....wife made a large mason jar full of dried garlic slivers several years ago.  A quick pulverizing of a small amount of the dried slivers in a coffee grinder yields great instant garlic powder.
 
pollinator
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I lacto-ferment it. My house is pretty chilly in the winter and not dry enough. So I dry onions in the sauna and store them dried. Garlic gets fermented and stays tasty.
 
gardener
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I don’t cure my garlic because of the temperatures and humidity we get here. If cured, they dry out or go bad within 3 months. Instead we process them right after harvesting.
Garlic scapes are canned like we would green beans. We love them as a side with butter and almonds.
The top of the garlic, are cut, freeze dried and made into garlic powder. As for the cloves, we do several things:
I love  fermenting them, with either salt or honey. I also add them to other fermented vegetables. Red cabbage, fermented with garlic taste amazing, and I always add it, when I ferment mixed vegetables. It fits that my cold season crops and garlic are ready for harvest at the same time as my onions and garlic.
Garlic confit are also amazing, though some says it’s only safe if it’s frozen. I especially love making pesto with it.
We also freeze some cloves whole, and the rest minced, the portioned up into tea spoon or table spoon size and also frozen.
IMG_2813.jpeg
Harvest
Harvest
IMG_2772.jpeg
Minced garlic tops ready for freeze drying
Minced garlic tops ready for freeze drying
IMG_2775.jpeg
Garlic powder
Garlic powder
IMG_2769.jpeg
Chopping and mincing for freeze drying
Chopping and mincing for freeze drying
IMG_2768.jpeg
Fresh garlic with top
Fresh garlic with top
IMG_2717.jpeg
Garlic scapes
Garlic scapes
 
steward
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Timothy Norton wrote:Storing peeled cloves in vinegar has been wonderful. While this technique requires refrigeration,  



When my garlic is needing help this is what I do. I keep a jar in the fridge year round.
 
pollinator
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Timothy Norton wrote:Good Evening Permies!
My question of the day has come to the subject of garlic, or how to preserve it.
Softneck garlic is common in the grocery store, especially due to its longevity of storage just in its natural state. I however live in a cooler environment so my options are all hardneck varieties. I have discovered that garlic is discouraged from being canned from what sources I can find. I have followed some instructions that is essentially exposed cloves packed in canning jars and pouring vinegar over them to store them under refrigeration. So far so good!
How do you store your garlic harvests?




It seems that the reason for not canning it is that garlic is a low acidity food. If you can't eat it fast enough, it needs to be cured first. Then you can freeze it. Chop or mince and pack it in freezer safe containers.
You can also chop and dehydrate it, then grind/ pulverize it for long term.
It can also be stored in a mixture of vinegar and oil for a few weeks in the fridge.
I love a whole garlic head microwaved for 1 minute in a small ramekin: cut the top to expose the flesh, pick the flesh left in the tops and put in the ramekins. Add olive oil, nuke and enjoy. (I use a baby spoon to pull the cloves out of their husk. Yummy!)
 
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