Advice from experienced summer residents on how to store garlic in winter until spring planting

The beneficial properties of garlic are known to everyone. In addition, this spicy plant is very widely used in almost all cuisines of the world.

Growing it on a personal plot is not difficult. But with safety, things are a little more complicated.

We'll tell you in this article how to store garlic before planting in the spring.

Types of vegetable

Garlic happens spring and winter. They differ not only in appearance and structure, but also in storage duration.

Spring

It can be stored without problems until the next harvest. It is planted in the spring. The teeth are small, there can be up to 50 pieces in the head.

Winter

It is with this type of garlic that problems arise during storage. It is planted before winter, just before frost. The teeth are large, up to 8 pieces in the head. It is stored only until autumn, but there are several ways to protect garlic from premature spoilage.

Preparing for storage until spring

The duration of storage largely depends on proper preparation of the heads. garlic It takes place in several stages.

Excavation

You need to dig up garlic that is fully ripe, but not overcooked. The latter begins to crumble already in the ground; the scales covering the cloves soften and begin to rot.

Drying and trimming

So, the garlic has been dug up and now you need to dry it. It is very important at this moment not to make one mistake - Do not trim the tops until they are completely dry.

Nutrients are transferred from the leaves to the bulb during drying.

The dug up garlic is laid out under a canopy or hung by the tops so that direct sunlight does not fall on the plants.

Nutrients are transferred to the head during drying. Drying with tops takes approximately 1-1.5 months, for some varieties up to 2 months.

Completely dried tops are cut off, leaving a stump about 3-4 cm long (or 10-15 cm if stored in braids). The long roots of garlic are also trimmed. The tops are burned. The garlic is left to dry for another week.

To increase the shelf life at this moment, you can burn the bottom where the roots were cut. This is also a good way to disinfect garlic.

How to keep it fresh?

Fresh garlic is the most beneficial. There are several ways to store it for a long time, determined by the ambient temperature.

Fridge

On the shelves of the refrigerator, garlic is stored quite well for a long time. It is placed in a special compartment for vegetables.

There it is kept in a well-tied cotton bag or closed container. This is enough to prevent the specific smell from spreading throughout the entire refrigerator.

Unpeeled garlic produces minimal odor. All its beneficial properties are not lost during such storage. Shelf life 3-4 months. Read more about storing garlic in the refrigerator. Here.

Freezer

Low negative temperatures in this compartment of the refrigerator contribute to a very long storage of garlic. But you must take into account the following points:

1. It is most convenient to store cleaned teeth. The fact is that upon subsequent defrosting, the clove will turn into mush and it will be very inconvenient to free it from the covering scales.
2. Peeled cloves will give off a strong garlic smell. To ensure that it spreads as little as possible to other products in the freezer, the cloves are placed in several bags nested inside each other.

   These bags are then wrapped tightly in foil. The smell is now safely contained.

3. Frozen cloves can only be used in hot dishes, placing them straight from the freezer without defrosting. In salads, vinaigrettes and other similar dishes, thawed teeth turn into an unpleasant-looking mess.

Shelf life – up to 10 months. Read more about freezing garlic Here.

Room conditions

In a warm room, only spring vegetables will be stored well. garlic. You don’t even need to package it, just place it in a mesh box or cardboard box. It will remain in excellent condition until spring.

Winter garlic stores less well. Already by September, the heads are slightly reduced in size, and further storage during the winter will lead to complete drying of the cloves.

You can slightly extend the shelf life of such garlic before planting it in the spring if place it in paper bags or small canvas bags. The garlic should be well dried.

Garlic is stored much worse in plastic bags. A too humid environment is created inside the package, which has a very bad effect on safety.The shelf life of winter garlic in room conditions is up to 3 months at a temperature not exceeding +20°C.

How long?

Some idea of ​​optimal storage conditions can be obtained from the table:

What to do if it sprouts?

If the garlic begins to grow greens, then this process can no longer be stopped; it will germinate even at sub-zero temperatures.

Usage options:

• plant in pots on the windowsill and grow vitamin greens in winter or early spring;
• select sprouted heads and freeze or dry;
• even if the greenery has grown by 5-6 cm, it’s not scary - in the spring you need to plant the whole head in the ground, without taking it apart into cloves; experienced gardeners know that from such heads in the fall one-toothed ones will grow, the same as from bulbs;
• use it first, because germination occurs in different garlic plants at different times.

Recommendations

Some tips for use garlic for big garlic lovers:

1. The norm for garlic consumption for a healthy person is 1-2 cloves per day.
2. If garlic is consumed excessively, it turns from a useful product into a harmful one - the rhythm of the heart is disrupted, the gastrointestinal tract and nervous system can be affected, and sleep is disturbed.
3. Those who want to lose weight are not recommended to use garlic, because... it causes an excessive appetite, especially if eaten in the morning.
4. Garlic imported from other countries, especially from China, is additionally treated with drugs that prevent it from spoiling during long-term transportation and storage. They obviously will not bring any benefit to our health.
5. It is better for nursing mothers not to use this spice at all - the baby may refuse to breastfeed, because... the smell of garlic transfers into the milk.

Conclusion

And in conclusion, I would like to say that there are certain difficulties and features in storing this popular vegetable. But they are not that complicated. Anyone can not only grow these delicious vitamins, but also successfully preserve them for a long time.