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Preserving garlic for the winter is not an easy task, but it is quite doable if you follow some rules. This product is one of the most valuable on our table. Garlic is used V as a tasty seasoning for dishes and as an antiviral agent. It has a beneficial effect on the circulatory system, and only the laziest did not talk about its taste. Let's talk about how to store winter garlic. This is a whole science!
Types of garlic
In summer there is a lot of garlic on the shelves of markets and shops. It's fresh and juicy. But finding it in winter is difficult. As a rule, its quality also suffers. It comes across dry, hard and not so juicy. The first secret lies in which garlic to choose for storing for the winter. So, all garlic can be divided into two types:
- spring;
- winter.
Spring crops are harvested in summer or early autumn. He doesn't shoot. As soon as the foliage withers, you can begin harvesting. There will not be as much of it as when harvesting winter garlic. It will be difficult for an inexperienced gardener to determine whether garlic is winter or spring, since the former may or may not shoot out an arrow. One way or another, in order to preserve garlic until spring, you need to choose the right variety.
The following winter varieties store well:
- Sochinsky 56;
- Elenovsky;
- Sofievsky;
- Gulliver.
If these varieties are not on sale, you can pay attention to others. The information on the label is always indicated. Spring garlic is much smaller than winter garlic, but the latter has a false stem in the middle, by which it can be easily identified.
Harvesting
The second rule when storing this product for the winter is proper cleaning. Do not keep the heads in the ground. The ideal time to harvest crops planted in winter is July. Spring harvest is carried out in August. If the garlic removed from the ground is already easily divided into cloves, it can be considered overripe. It is not subject to long-term storage.
The day before harvesting, you should not water the soil; it is best to carry out the work in completely dry weather. If it hasn't rained for a long time, that's very good.
To work you will need:
- gloves;
- pitchfork.
To understand how to properly remove a spicy vegetable, you just need to use our tips. First you need dig up 1-2 heads and inspect them. The husk should be soft, not dry, and easy to separate. If this is the case, then harvesting winter vegetables can begin. They dig it out not with a shovel, but with a pitchfork, which will keep the heads intact. As they are harvested, they are shaken off from excess soil and put away to dry.
Garlic takes approximately 5 days to dry. If the weather is clear, you can leave it right in the garden bed. If it is going to rain, it is stored in a dry room. There is no need to remove foliage.
5 days after drying, the harvested garlic can be used again. The next stage is pruning. To do this you will need a sharp short knife. The stems of the heads are cut off (about 10 centimeters in length can be left, depending on the chosen storage method) and roots, leaving no more than 3 millimeters.Now you can sort it before putting it away for storage. Small heads are sent to small ones, and large ones to large ones.
Now we know how to clean and prepare vegetables for storage.
Ways to Preserve Garlic
Harvesting and storing garlic takes time, but how nice it will be to use your own juicy garlic in winter! How to keep it fresh, because we all know that this vegetable quickly dries out and becomes unusable?
You can use any of the methods suggested in our article. Remember that a damaged bulb will deteriorate during storage and damage neighboring ones, so save only high-quality specimens.
Method No. 1 In the cellar
For the lucky owners of spacious pantries, cellars and basements, all storage methods come down to the simplest: leave the bulbs for storage in a cool room. Previously, they can be woven into a braid of stems, collected in bundles, or packaged in special baskets, nets or boxes. Garlic is often stored suspended in clusters from the ceiling. Everyone chooses for themselves what is convenient for them. The main thing here is to create certain conditions.
- Storage temperature - 2-4 degrees;
- Mandatory conditions are to occasionally ventilate the room.
These storage conditions are only suitable for winter garlic and are not suitable for spring garlic. For those who do not have a cellar, you can use other methods storage.
Method No. 2 In banks
Residents of apartments have to store vegetables warmly, because in winter the temperature in garages may not be suitable for storage. Let's talk about how to properly store bulbs in ordinary apartments. It is very important here to take up minimal space and do everything to ensure that the garlic remains as juicy and spicy as in summer.
For proper storage, only small jars are required. They are pre-sterilized. The dried heads are placed in clean, sterilized jars and sprinkled with coarse salt. The top layer of salt up to the lid should be the densest. Salt acts as a preservative and even in spring this garlic will be juicy. If during storage the salty layer becomes moist, you will need to do the whole process again.
Method No. 3 In linen bags
When the humidity in the apartment is low, bulbs can be stored in linen bags. Onion peels are first placed in them or proceed as follows:
- Prepare a steep saline solution.
- The heads are placed in it, and then set out to dry.
- Once the bulbs are completely dry, you can place them in a bag.
Method No. 4 In oil
The heads are separated into cloves and placed in clean jars. After this, fill them with any vegetable oil. This method works well for storing small batches of garlic. Oil acts as a barrier from external destructive factors.
The shelf life of winter garlic in any of the selected months is about 5 months. That's pretty good.
Storing garlic. Video
We present to our readers a short but detailed video on how to store garlic in the winter and how to properly harvest it.
Possible storage problems
Taking out garlic one winter day, you may find it spoiled. Not everyone knows why this happens. There are quite a few reasons. Let's look at just a few of them.
- The crop was infected during cultivation. For example, infection with a nematode can destroy the entire crop. Before storing the bulbs, you need to carefully sort them out.
- The bulbs were frozen.In this case, mold will form on them during storage, which will inevitably lead to contamination of the entire batch.
- High humidity. This reason is the most common. That is why winter garlic in the refrigerator Doesn't last long.
- Proximity to heat sources. Heating dries out the air in winter. In such conditions, garlic cloves quickly lose moisture, dry out and lose their nutritional qualities. This product can be ground in a coffee grinder to a powdery state and added to a dish as a flavoring. Unfortunately, you can’t return the beneficial properties to it.
In addition, during storage you can often notice that the roots have begun to grow back. This cannot be allowed. Before placing the bulbs in a designated place, you need to scorch the roots. This is what many gardeners do. This is especially true for residents of the south, where the air temperature even in winter can be above zero.
If the roots have already sprouted, you can place the peeled cloves in oil and preserve them this way.
If spring garlic is stored well, then storing winter garlic is not so easy. It's large and has a strong flavor, but you'll need to be smart to keep it that way in the winter. Store the bulbs using any of the methods suggested today. They will be juicy, and their bright taste and beneficial qualities will be preserved!
