Growing Garlic Organically

With Dr. Richard Chura

Curing or Preserving Garlic

Curing garlic is essential for STORAGE only. You can eat the plant at any stage, and many
use young green garlic like green onions in the spring. Curing garlic allows the bulb to dry
somewhat, and provides a longer shelf life. This process takes from 2-4 weeks and
ultimately depends on air circulation and humidity.

Never try to speed the process of preserving garlic with the sun; direct sunlight will destroy your garlic crop. Whether you hang the garlic plants or dry cut garlic bulbs in a tray, give them room. If you're raising a few dozen garlic plants do what's easiest, experiment.

The goal is to have dry outer garlic bulb wrappers as well as dry individual garlic clove skins. If the central garlic bulb stem is still moist, the bulbs are not ready yet. We hang as is described earlier, but several garlic plant drier box designs are floating around the net or can be found at Mother Earth Magazine.

If you don't have a good local spot (barn) for drying, keep the garlic you are preserving out of the sun and rain and in a breezy area. Otherwise, fans or blowers are a necessity. The drying method you use depends on the amount you grow. Curing garlic is easy but necessary if you want to store your garlic bulbs for an extended length of time. If you have a small garlic farm (patch) you will end up preserving garlic to keep longer say...till Christmas. Fresh hardneck garlic bulbs do make excellent gifts!

As your farm gets larger you will be preserving garlic to sell over the course of a few months or longer depending of your sales efforts and market readiness. Properly preserving garlic is essential to be sure your entire garlic harvest will hit the kitchens in excellent condition and ensure you have return customers seeking your properly preserved garlic.

~~ Dr. Richard Chura~~