How to store garlic for months

Learn three ways of how to store garlic for months, depending on how much time you have and how long you want to store it. Useful in so many dishes, it’s definitely worth having a regular supply of healthy garlic.

Hanging garlic

Pros – If you hang up freshly-grown garlic, it will keep well for a few months and is a quick method.

Cons – We found that indoors the garlic becomes too warm and so starts to grow. In the garage or shed, it becomes too cold and so starts to rot.

Conclusion – Hanging garlic is good if you don’t have many garlic bulbs to store, or you have somewhere to hang them that remains at a more constant, mid-range temperature.

How to hang garlic

Simply pull off any loose leaves and skin.
Shorten the roots with scissors.
Hang from string in bunches. You can plait the stems if you wish, which looks more attractive.

***Hanging garlic. The garlic bulbs on the right have been cleaned up as above. They are now ready to use. They could be plaited which looks prettier.***

Freezing garlic

Pros – Frozen garlic cloves will store for months and is a quick method.

Cons – Allicin, the compound that gives garlic its health benefits, is destroyed by the freezing temperature, unless you are able to freeze dry them rapidly. Some people think that over time frozen garlic can also develop a bitter taste.

Conclusion – Freezing garlic is good if you want the taste rather than the health benefits, or you want a quick method of storing it. Freeze-drying garlic retains the allicin.

How to freeze garlic

Simply separate the cloves, leave on the papery skin.
Place in a freezer bag in the freezer.
You can remove the cloves as needed. They will start to thaw very quickly, allowing you to chop/crush them.

***Garlic cloves frozen with their skins still intact.***

Drying garlic

Pros – Allows for long-term storage of many garlic cloves. Unlike freezing, the allicin can remain intact and the taste actually intensifies after drying. Alternatively, you can add dried garlic directly to dishes – only use it crushed in hot, liquid dishes so that the garlic pieces will soften, otherwise use it ground.

Cons – the process of drying the garlic takes longer.

Conclusion – Drying garlic allows you to store more garlic for a much longer period, whilst retaining the health benefits. That said, it does take longer to go through the process of drying the garlic.

How to dry garlic:

Cut off the stems and separate the cloves.
Remove the papery skin from each clove.
Dehydrate the garlic cloves either whole or thinly sliced. If you have a dehydrator, lay them out on the trays. Turn them every so often. It will take a couple of days to dry them. They are ready when you can snap a slice in two with your hands. Don’t dehydrate them too long so that they turn dark brown. Alternatively, you can lay them on a lined baking sheet and dehydrate in an oven preheated to 200°F / 90°C for 1-2 hours until a slice snaps easily.
Leave them to cool. Then store the cloves whole or sliced in a glass jar in a cupboard out of direct sunlight.

Garlic peeler — ***It’s much easier to roll the cloves inside a garlic peeler in order to remove or loosen the skin.***

Sliced garlic in dehydrator — ***Peeled garlic cloves, thinly sliced and laid out on a dehydrator tray.***

Sliced and dried garlic — ***Dried, thinly sliced garlic inside a glass jar.*** ***Store in a cupboard and it will last for about a year.***

Optional:

You can chop the dried garlic in a chopper, or grind the dried garlic to create a powder using a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. Again, store them in a glass jar out of sunlight. The taste is stronger so typically 1/8 tsp ground garlic is the equivalent to one garlic clove.
If the garlic keeps clumping together, include a silicon sachet inside the jar.