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what is going on everyone welcome to
another very exciting episode right here
on the mi Gardner channel I am so
excited about today's episode because
it's an absolutely beautiful day out
today I got my garden helper today
high-five
awesome and we're gonna be processing
our garlic that we harvested so we got a
ton of questions at this time of year
about what happens when I harvest my
garlic what do I do next how do I get to
last a long time how do I properly cure
it and so that's what we're gonna be
talking about today we're gonna talk
about how to properly cure your garlic
the steps to do that and then also we're
going to talk about how to properly
process your garlic to make it last the
longest
because if done correctly garlic will
last depending on the type you grow soft
necks will last about six months and
hard necks will last about nine months
if cured properly that's a long time
it's actually one of the longest shelf
life of any crop coming out of the
garden so potatoes will usually last
about three to five months but garlic
can last six to nine it's absolutely
incredible and so one thing that we're
going to do first is we're going to talk
about how to properly cure it cuz that's
the first step after you pull it out of
the ground the the curing process begins
almost immediately so what do we do to
properly cure it well it's actually
really simple we have to pull it out of
the ground we have to brush off any
really large clods of dirt that's the
first part when I just brush it off we
talked about that in the harvesting
video you don't want to wash it with any
water you want to keep it free of
moisture free of moisture is really
important because moisture will actually
cause rot and in dampness within the
skin of the garlic and it actually can
cause rot and and mold so no water is
necessary to do this you just want to
take a light bristle brush of your hand
just brush off the really big clods and
leave it nice and dirty there's nothing
wrong with dirt you can see lots of dirt
all over the cloves there and so that's
on the outer skin it's not going to
affect the garlic whatsoever
yes there's bacteria in that dirt and
yes that there's also mold spores in
that dirt but as long as it is kept dry
those mold and bacteria don't have
anything to grow and thrive on and the
garlic itself is actually relatively
sterile because of the fact that the the
sulfur content is what allows it to last
so long that's what gives
like and onions such a long shelf life
is just the sulfur content that's what
makes them really hot or the sulfur
compounds that when you cut them you
tear up or you eat them and they taste
really spicy that's what gives them
those characteristics is the sulfur
compounds and those are antibacterial
and antifungal but the skin itself is
has no has none of those solve for
compounds so it can cause a lot of rot
and mold if you get them wet so just
keep them you know keep them free of any
moisture and then you're also going to
see we left the roots intact we do that
for two weeks we let the garlic just sit
out after we brush them out after you
brush them off we set them in a single
layer and we just set them out out of
the Sun we actually cover them with a
tarp during the heat of the day but
right now they're in a shadow because
it's it's the morning and then when the
evening comes we didn't cover them again
so they're really only covered under our
tarp for a few you know maybe two or
three hours a day and we just do that
just because we really don't have a
really well shaded place that has good
airflow that's the thing you need cuz
you need them to dry out you need the
papers to be really nice and bone-dry
you need the roots to be nice and
bone-dry and the tops also need to be
nice and bone-dry so now we're ready to
start processing the garlic this is the
best part and the first step to properly
processing your garlic is to trim the
roots now at this time the roots are
nice and dry and brittle
however at around five or six months the
roots will actually start rehydrating
because garlic is a biennial and it
forces itself to grow regardless if it's
in soil or not and that's why if you if
you've ever seen garlic kind of starts
sprouting on your countertop and forming
those little green sprouts that's
because the garlic pretty much says hey
I don't care where I'm at I'm gonna
start growing and if the conditions
aren't favorable well oh well at least I
tried and so trimming off the roots is
going to prolong that because there's
moisture in the air you know even the
inside temperature or the inside
humidity during winter is around thirty
percent humidity those roots actually
will absorb some of that humidity and
will start to grow and sprout with that
so what we want to do is just trim that
off because it will take the shelf life
from around six months down to around
five months we're gonna trim off the
roots I'm going to trim them off as
close as we can
to the base of the garlic so it's just
gonna look like a little bit of stubble
you're never gonna get them all but you
reduce the amount of roots that there
are that are there just got a little bit
of stubble okay I'm gonna show you okay
Geneva and then we're gonna do it then
you're gonna do it okay and then the
next thing we want to do is we want to
trim the neck however there's a huge
mistake that a lot of people make and
that's that they trim the neck so short
that it's almost right on top of the
cloves that allows moisture in the neck
the neck is actually a safe place to to
be because it actually is a way to keep
moisture out of the head of garlic so we
trim ours a nice two and a half three
inches above the head of garlic there's
no shame in that whatsoever but a lot of
people and I'll I'll use this one for
cooking a lot of people will trim it
just like this and the issue is that
moisture can get right in there and
actually start accessing the cloves and
that causes Center rot so you don't want
to do this this is a huge mistake it
conserves space yes but it actually ends
up shortening the shelf life from around
six months down to around two months so
you're gonna have way way way way less
time three times less the shelf life by
clipping your next two short all right
the very final thing we have to do
before we start having fun here and and
processing all our garlic is talk about
storage so the final component is
storage and that's probably the most
important part once you've cured them
properly and you've processed them
properly
you got to store them properly otherwise
none of the other parts even matter
we keep them in a really well ventilated
wicker basket these are awesome these
are really great to store your garlic
because they allow airflow all around
the heads of garlic you can also braid
them like I said and hang them it's
awesome
you can hang them from your rafters
individually or your floor joists and
and that works fine too just make sure
you have really good airflow but the
other thing that works out really well
is a paper bag you know the put the
paper shopping bags work out awesome the
only downside is that if your garlic
heads do have some residual moisture
there's a leak that's the least
forgiving of them all their airflow does
still flow through and the paper does
still all of them to dry
a little bit but it's just the least
amount of forgiveness of all the other
methods so I like I just really love
these plus it looks cool as well and
they can conveniently sit on our shelves
in our pantry so awesome way to store
your garlic the worst way and the most
common mistake I see when storing your
garlic is to store them in a plastic
shopping bag if you want about one month
of shelf life that's a great method for
you and by that I mean don't do that
method it is the worst method of them
all what are you doing now what we're
doing so it is just the worst method of
them all because that moisture from the
garlic heads has nowhere to go it stays
right in the bag and you're guaranteed
to get rot mold and mildew so do not put
them in a plastic shopping bag so yeah
just a wicker basket like that and
you're good make sure you keep about an
inch or two on the neck trim off the
trim off the the roots on the bottom
brush off any like big chunks of paper
and dirt and stuff like that that still
might be on there and after letting them
sit outside and cure for two weeks out
in the nice dry air they should be ready
to go alright
now let's have some fun JB you want to
learn something cool you want to learn
something cool okay here one second so
at the bottom of every garlic head this
is a head this is a garlic head is like
your head this is the garlic head and
they have the set of roots you know the
roots that we're trimming off well those
roots attached to a little a little
basically a little platform that all of
these cloves sit on this right here is
called the basal plate can you say basal
plate a little basal plate it's called
basal plate because it is actually the
the thing that attaches all of these
that that is a big basal plate it's
bigger than this one you're so smart
high five
so there you guys go there is a properly
cure process and store your garlic I
hope you guys in
joy to help you learn something new and
I really hope that you give garlic a try
I know it's something that seems really
daunting but it is actually one of the
easiest crops to grow and it makes such
a difference in your cooking when it's
fresh it just tastes so much better and
actually it lasts so much longer than
the stuff in the store because the stuff
in the store like we've said it's
already been sitting for three or four
months prior to you picking it up so the
shelf life is already ticking as soon as
they harvest it meaning if you harvest
it fresh from your garden it's gonna
last three four five months longer than
the stuff in the store so it's a
worthwhile investment I really hope you
guys try it remember I do want you guys
remember if you are trying garlic for
the first time make sure to check out my
gardener comm and join the wait list on
garlic heads they're going to be
available mid-august we've got garlic
coming from all of our local growers
that grow our garlic for us for the
store it's gonna be here in mid to late
August at the very latest and so you can
join a waitlist and you can get some get
some garlic for your garden so I hope
you guys enjoyed I hope you learned
something new and Jennie but you tell
them tell them remember to subscribe
tell them to subscribe
tell them subscribe like and comment and
we'll see you later
say grow big say grow big grow big or go
home
good job alright alright you heard her
girl big or go home I'll catch you guys
later bye alright we got a lot more to
do your job is not over yet we barely
touched the stuff alright let's go kiddo
mommy's yeah mommy's getting here she's
doing errands when she comes back well
show her all the garlic we got to finish
it all first
