preserving garlic

[Thox Spuddy]

"bounce"http://www.idrink.com/v.html?id=50596 is fruit preserved in either vodka or everclear, and we have read that ginger stores the best in vodkahttp://www.ehow.com/how_5676227_preserve-fresh-ginger-vodka.html. We do that. What about garlic? We know that the garlic crop has gone south and so we want to store and grow as much as we can, just don't know the best way to keep it. http://www.thriftyfun.com/Preserving-Garlic.html

[fratermus]

Here is what appears to be the official answer.

[Morning Sunshine]

I roast my garlic (not all of it, mind you) as per the directions here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/02/the_meal_of_love_part_one/

then I flash freeze it and then transfer to a freezer container and use it as needed.  most cooked dishes with garlic tell you to caramelize in oil, and this is just a step up from that.
I do keep some fresh but not a lot.

[flippydidit]

We're spoiled in Florida.  We can grow fresh garlic year round.

[Oil Lady]

We know that the garlic crop has gone south ....

It did?? 





*googles*

Okay, I guess you're right. :eek: !! 


http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0813043821394.html?51

Minnesota Garlic Crop Wiped Out

Posted by soilent_green -- Tue, Aug 14, 2012

...

... The Minnesota boutique garlic industry was devastated this year by a disease that has been identified as "Aster yellows". It is a phytoplasma that is carried by leafhoppers, and is introduced into a plant when the leafhopper feeds. Garlic plants are normally not affected because the leafhoppers generally prefer other types of plants. Because of the mild winter the garlic sprouted earlier than usual, and the leafhoppers migrated earlier than usual. There was little else to feed on at the time of their arrival so the leafhoppers fed on the garlic and infected it with the Aster yellows disease....

...

http://www.theproducenews.com/index.php/markets-and-trends/8465-lighter-chinese-crop-may-lead-to-higher-prices-for-california-garlic

Lighter Chinese crop may lead to higher prices for California garlic

by Rand Green | August 03, 2012

A lighter-than-normal garlic crop in China, said to be due to small sizes, is expected to result in a 30 percent reduction in Chinese garlic exports to the United States this year, and that should bode well for California producers, giving them the opportunity for better returns on this year's crops.
 
"The word is that China is short," said Paul Auerbach, president of Maurice A. Auerbach Inc., in Secaucus, NJ. "Being that it is a world market these days, and being that this market her has developed into a very heavily Chinese marketplace ... that is a very important factor."

...

[flippydidit]

Silly monocropping.....

[flyfisher66048]

I dehydrate most of mine then run it through the mill.  I don't know if it is better than store bought garlic powder, but I do know what is in it - Garlic and only garlic

[Thox Spuddy]

Here is what appears to be the official answer.

For anyone not following that link above, you can't preserve garlic in oil.

What I would like to find is a way to store it fresh. Perhaps a humidity/temp thing

[Oil Lady]

For anyone not following that link above, you can't preserve garlic in oil.

What I would like to find is a way to store it fresh. Perhaps a humidity/temp thing

For how long were you  hoping to store it?? When you keep it fresh it eventually sprouts. (I am just not sure how long before the sprouting begins.) Chefs insist that as soon as that little green shoot starts to germinate inside the garlic clove, that's when the flavor starts to turn on you and the garlic goes down in quality. And when the green shoots start to poke their way out into the light, no chef would touch it. You can still cook with it, but they say the flavor is ruined at that point.

[Thox Spuddy]

I'd like to keep it throughout the winter. Our basement stays about 68d which I think is too warm. The garlic in the store is there year-round, has that been stored or is it grown and shipped? I'm okay with relying on that as a source as we always have, but it might not be there, or at least reasonable in price, for awhile. I gotta have my garlic.

[Thox Spuddy]

I've found two promising methods, one is from a recent Mother Earth News article on how to store 20 various crops. The other is from a book on fermentation in which they ferment garlic. I'm heading back to the store and loading up putting my faith behind fermenting as that is what I have had the best success with.

[Adam B.]

OH YEAH IT DID...

I had to pick up a few bulbs the other day and I am glad I use a grocery app on my phone that more or less tells me the trend in prices I pay so I don't really ever thing about it.

Garlic was $.99 a lb and now almost $3/lb the other day!!!

Granted, buying 2 bulbs cost me less than a buck, but STILL.

I just am flabbergasted at the price of fruit and vegetables anymore — and I am also noticing the whole marketing gimick of giving you smaller sizes for the same price, but trying to disguise the packaging so you don't notice. Haloween candy "fun size" bars have gotten EVEN MORE FUN this year! They have made the Snickers bars so small I am surprised they can fit a peanut in them.

Fruit drives me insane though, especially for making smoothies. I think it is actually CHEAPER to get a smoothie at "Orange Julius" than it is to make my own at home anymore. I think I made a $20 smoothie a few weeks ago!!!

[The Professor]

I can get 3 lbs of minced garlic at Sam's for less than $5.  I don't know  how much it cost last month, though.

The Professor

[Marshman]

FWIW...I grow several varieties each of softneck and hardneck and can generally have decent garlic til spring from the hardneck varieties. Over the years I've learned to use the softnecks by early February and the last of the hardnecks by April. This is just using root cellar type storage, generally low 60's for warmest temps. Hardnecks in the refrigerator will last til early May before they start to get "dry". Am waiting to see if this years mild winter and early spring actually decrease the keeping quality because I had to harvest almost a month earlier than usual for central Wisconsin.  My favorite varieties have been Music, Polish, Inchelium Red, Chet's Italian Red, Spanish Roja and Broad Leaved Czech. These seem to really like my conditions though I do grow several other varieties along with them. Just my .02 cents worth...garlic is actually very easy to grow!

[Thox Spuddy]

Marshman: we need to talk. I'm also in Wisconsin. Your knowledge of garlic would really be helpful to me/us. Expound freely.

[atherts]

From what I've seen a bit warmer is better. If the garlic gets to cold, it wants to sprout. The basement (ours anyway) is better than the back porch. If you can keep it at about 50 degrees it is better than going lower.
If it sprouts, I just break it up into cloves and shove it in the ground and it seem to do OK and eventually gives me a return of a full head for a single clove, so it is all good.

[Marshman]

Thox Spuddy...thanks for the oil info! I was contemplating doing that, real nice to know that's not a good idea.    I'm really interested in your mention of fermenting, hopefully you'll post on how that goes?
Depending on your growing site the bulbs may not be as large as store bought but the flavor is far superior. As Atherts says, too cool may induce sprouting but I've also noticed that exposure to light also seems to kick it in towards spring.  YMMV but for me that issue doesn't kick in until about early to mid-March.
Any questions on growing just fire away...hopefully we aren't drifting this thread to far astray!

[Thox Spuddy]

Marshman: I was interested in the varieties of garlic you mentioned as pertaining to the original article on the garlic devastation that I read at seedsavers.org, but cannot find it. I cannot recall if it was widespread or secluded to one or several varieties. I haven't yet dipped the garlic into the ferment, another method that is highly successful with ginger is preserving it in vodka. As far as growing garlic straying from the topic, if it is a way of preserving sprouting garlic, I think it is in. That is a very good idea in fact, one that I hadn't thought of. I will keep a soil-filled container to do that with and set it outside if I use it. I think the reason our garlic crop failed last year was because we mulched it to death.

[Marshman]

I've had my best luck with raised beds using a black loamy sand, as far as mulch goes I usually put about one to two inches on. I use wheat straw and am always fighting with wheat sprouts (far more tendacious than quackgrass!!)  I think that last winter was probably a good time to have a heavier mulch on to help mitigate some of the swings we had in temperatures. The varieties I mentioned were obtained from mostly Seed Savers several years ago and some from local farm markets where I could trust the cultivar identification. I've trialed about 25 so far and have constant success with 10.
I've also noticed that keeping qualities are somehow tied to the vigor of the plants in season because the ones I've had trouble keeping are also ones that have had low growth vigor the next year, perhaps due to disease or growing factors, just an observation with no hard data to support it. (Remember that next years crop is planted in the fall from this seasons bulbs and the rest are this winters eaters.)
Thox Spuddy: shoot me a pm when ya get a chance.