How to keep spring and winter garlic at home in an apartment until spring

Knowing how to store garlic at home, you can create a stock of this useful vegetable, take care of the preservation of the crop from your personal plot. Despite the fact that you can always buy fresh and pickled garlic in the vegetable department of the store, it is convenient to have some stock in order to cook various dishes and pickles.

The owners of their own home do not have such a problem as the storage of garlic, they can use the cellar or basement. It is there that it is easy to create the necessary temperature and humidity. But in a city apartment it’s not easy to choose a reliable way to save this vegetable for as long as possible. Nevertheless, there are many ways to successfully store garlic in the winter in these conditions.

Which garlic should be stored?

If this vegetable is grown on your own personal plot, you need to sort it out first, and first separate the seed material for planting. The remaining heads are sorted into those that will be used immediately, and those that remain for long-term storage.

Not suitable for storage:

• overripe heads scattering into separate teeth;
• heads with injured teeth;
• garlic heads with signs of rot, moldy.

Tip

Such garlic can be used after autumn pickles to be used for autumn pickles and pickles. You can store garlic for some time in the winter in the refrigerator, in a hermetically sealed container to avoid the appearance of a characteristic smell.

The remaining selected material must be dried, trimmed with secateurs or clippers roots and arrow at a distance of 2-4 cm from the shoulders. If the harvesting was carried out in wet weather, then after drying it is necessary to carefully remove the earth from the heads together with the upper covering flakes. If you plan to store garlic tied in a braid in winter, then leave the arrow at least 25-30 cm long. When buying this vegetable in a store or on the market, you need to select healthy and whole heads with no signs of disease.

When should garlic be taken for storage?

To determine the timing, you need to know that there are two varieties of this vegetable: spring garlic and winter. Spring crops are planted in climatic conditions of the middle zone in April, and winter crops - in accordance with the name - are planted in winter, in September-October.

Duration of cleaning for bookmark storage:

• spring - the end of August - the beginning of September;
• winter - the end of July - the beginning of August.

Spring garlic has white bulbs with a silky surface. They are smaller in size than in winter, but they lie almost unchanged until the very summer. Winter garlic is larger; it can be either white or purple. However, when a new vegetative period begins in early spring, the cloves of winter garlic often germinate and lose value for use.

Methods for storing garlic in an apartment

In order to properly store garlic, you can use cold and warm methods. In the first case, he needs to create a temperature of 1-3 ⁰С, and in the second case, the temperature can be about 18-20 ⁰С. The conditions for storing garlic in the apartment in a cold way can only be created in the refrigerator, but a decent crop will simply not fit there. In the presence of a warmed loggia, it can be placed there for a short time, but in the winter months you will have to use other tricks.

• Storage in glass jars. Well-dried and clean three-liter jars are filled with garlic heads to the top and closed with plastic lids. You can store them in a cupboard in the kitchen or in the hallway, preferably in a dark place.

Tip

Cans can be sterilized by heating them in a hot oven over a steam kettle or pot with boiling water.

• Storing garlic in flour. Dried vegetables are placed in cans prepared in a similar way, each layer is sprinkled with flour. The top layer of flour should not be less than 2-3 cm. You can sprinkle garlic with sawdust or onion husks.
• Salt storage. Pots for such storage can be pots, and cardboard boxes, and wooden boxes. The essence of this method is that garlic heads are not sprinkled with flour, but with salt until the box is filled to the top. For this method, it is better to use coarse rock salt.



• Garlic stalks with uncut stems. By analogy with onion braids, the same can be woven from garlic. Its stems are weaved together with twine, a thin rope. This is best done until the stems are overdried and still plastic enough.

Tip

Such a braid can serve as a decoration for the kitchen, it is best to weave it from spring garlic.

• Paraffin storage. The heads are coated with wax or paraffin, dipping the bulbs in wax melted in a steam bath or covering the heads with a brush. For 100 pieces, you need about 300 g of paraffin or wax. Do not dip the heads in a hot solution - the main thing is that it is liquid. After this, the heads are dried until the coating solidifies and put into boxes or boxes.
• Storage after oil and iodine treatment. By creating a barrier between the vegetable and the air, you don’t have to worry about how to keep garlic until spring. Each head is wiped with a mixture of boiled vegetable oil and iodine (20 drops per liter) and laid out to dry in the sun until completely saturated.

Tip

Each head can be wrapped in cling film and stored in a refrigerator; there will be no smell there.

• Oil storage. You can store peeled garlic in glass jars in an oil fill. Pre-refined vegetable oil needs to be boiled, cooled and pour peeled cloves. During such storage, the oil acquires a garlic odor and is perfect for dressing salads.

Tip

To prevent oil from getting rancid, it is better to store such cans in the refrigerator.

Using these methods, you must regularly monitor the safety of the vegetable, sort out and remove the spoiled copies. Using various methods, you can successfully store both winter and spring garlic at room temperature.