Garlic storage

[shokkyy]

I was really, really annoyed to have to throw away my remaining garlic crop last week. They'd all started sprouting and gone soft. Last year I managed to keep them fine indoors until the new crop came in, so I'm not sure what I did differently. Yes, I do have some dried and chopped up, but I also like to have some whole cloves so I want to have a string of them hanging up as well. This year I grew an assortment of Iberian Wight and Marco, and most or all of the garlic I had to chuck I believe was Marco.

Would they be better off if I hung them in the garage or shed rather than keeping them indoors? I certainly wouldn't say my garage or shed was frost free, but I doubt if any of them are. But I suspect garlic might be better at handling cold than it is warm. Where does everyone else store theirs?

[DD.]

Mine are sitting in the unheated greenhouse.

[Kleftiwallah]

When storing onions and garlic, the thing to watch out for is dampness.   Certain death for them.     Cheers,     Tony.

[shokkyy]

When storing onions and garlic, the thing to watch out for is dampness.   Certain death for them.     Cheers,     Tony.

No, definitely wasn't any dampness. I think it can only be because it was too warm for them. I guess this year has been much milder than last year and that must be what did it, unless it was the variety. The year before I grew Solent Wight, and those kept fine in the same place.

DD - if they're ok in your unheated greenhouse then they should be fine hanging up in my shed. Do they care if it's light or dark?

[DD.]

Not as far as I know - but I'm not an expert!

[grinling]

Onions are stored better in the light, my garlic has been with the onions.

[DD.]

Sorry, disagree.

Light makes no difference to storage. Heat & humidity do.

[Trillium]

Normally I keep my garlic in my basement storage cellar for veg but found they didn't last too long. This year, due to an injury, I forgot to put my garlic in storage and they were left in our extremely cold garage.

So far, they're doing just fine, no sign of growth or damage. This is where I'll keep them from now on. It figures that I worried about storage and did puree lots of garlic with butter and froze it all 

And yes, garlic is super hardy - it originates from Siberia.

[Janeymiddlewife]

Mine are strung up, hanging from a ladder in the garage, we get mice so wouldn't put them near the floor, but assume mice aren't fond of garlic  The only one that has gone off was one in the kitchen that fell behind the bread bin - took me ages to work out where the "smell" was coming from!

[cheshirecheese]

Is it possible to preserve garlic that's in danger of sprouting in some form for cooking?  I was given a net of commercially grown garlic, so no idea of its history or keeping qualities.  I've kept it in the dark coolth of our garage so far, but with this warm weather I'm sure it will start to sprout soon.  Is it best minced and stored in oil, or frozen, or what?  Thanks!

[arugula]

I always store it in an airy and as cool as possible situation. I've never grown enough for it to have lasted this long....

[Trillium]

Some folk prefer to mince it and store it in oil, but that is a possible sticky problem if you keep your oil at room temperature.

I don't believe you can freeze garlic without some sort of medium like butter, which is what I did. I wrapped 'bars' of butter pureed with garlic in poly film, then put the bars in a tightly sealed container in the freezer. Can't tell there's garlic in the freezer.

[viettaclark]

Mine are plaited and hung from butchers' hooks from the high shelf in the kitchen. You'd think it would be a bit too moist and warm but only a few individual cloves have gone hard and brown. No mould.
I've still got a few left and then can start on the green garlic.
I'm pretty sure it's the type of garlic. Last year I grew Solent White and a Spanish one bought in the greengrocer.

[galen]

A bit late on this one but my garlic (Solent White) and shallots (Golden Gourmet) are still fine. Made sure they dried out before storage in seed trays and have been kept in spare bedroom / kitchen since. Temp wise doesn't get below 16c. Starting to finally run out though...