Last week I pulled my last two bags of 2018 garlic out of storage. Each year when the garlic is harvested and cured, I buy enough to last the entire year, since I don’t want to have to buy the icky, bleached stuff from China that they sell in grocery stores. So in this article, I’m describing my 2018 garlic, the garlic we harvested a year ago!
The Montana Giant bulbs and cloves both looked good. I cut into a clove and saw that the germ (stem inside the clove) was a little yellowish green. A green color indicates that the clove has aged and would be ready to sprout, but these cloves were not to that point yet, even after a year of storage. The cloves were juicy and healthy inside and tasted delicious in the dish I made for dinner.
My Northern White bulbs looked a little more wrinkled, and the cloves looked a little dehydrated after a year in storage. I was a little concerned, to be honest. But I cut into a few cloves and saw that the flesh of the garlic clove was moist and vibrant! The germ in the Northern White was completely green, which can be a bitter flavor. I chose to remove the green germ, but many chefs use it anyway. The garlic tasted delicious and worked in the dish exactly as I expected it to.
I’ve never kept garlic longer than a year, but I know that each year I’ve grown my own garlic and stored it well, it has lasted a year with no problem. For more information about storing garlic, read our post
https://www.5sistersorganics.com/storing-garlic-a-successful-approach/
Our garlic will be ready to sell (online and at White Bear Lake and Shoreview Farmer’s Markets) around the second week of August. Be sure to buy enough to last you through the winter!