How to store dried garlic

Although garlic has a strong taste, it has extremely high nutritional value and is particularly effective in killing bacteria and disinfecting, making it especially suitable for consumption in the spring when viruses are rampant. Garlic is usually stored after being dried. There are many ways to store dried garlic, such as low-temperature storage, high-temperature storage, hanging storage, burying in rice husks, chemical storage or coating with plastic wrap, all of which can preserve dried garlic without affecting its nutritional content.

1. Low temperature storage

The garlic should be dried before storage. If it is not dried, the garlic will rot due to excessive humidity. Garlic should generally be stored in a refrigerator at a temperature of 0.6-0°C, with a relative humidity of 65%-70%, in a ventilated, dry, smokeless vegetable cellar or house. This method can be stored for 6-7 months.

2. High temperature storage

After experiencing a low-temperature dormancy stage, garlic will germinate rapidly at 5-18℃. If the harvested garlic is stored in a high temperature environment of 30-34℃, it can be kept fresh for more than one year. In addition, under conditions of relative humidity of 40%-50%, the respiratory metabolism of garlic can be inhibited and germination can be delayed. Low oxygen and high carbon dioxide can also inhibit the respiration and germination of garlic.

Garlic for seeds should be stored at high temperature, with the temperature at around 15°C and the relative humidity not exceeding 70%, which is conducive to improving the quality of the seeds. If the temperature can be kept stable at -1-3℃ in winter, the same preservation effect can be achieved by changing the high temperature treatment to 18-20℃ about 40 days before sowing.

3. Hanging storage

When harvesting, pull up the garlic plants with their roots, remove the garlic that is too large, too small, rotten, mechanically damaged, or damp from rain, and then use a knife to cut off the roots and part of the stem along the base of the bulb, leaving only 10-15 cm pseudostem. Make sure to flatten the stem. After exposure to the sun or artificial drying, string the garlic pseudostems with galvanized iron wire and hang them under the eaves in front and behind the house, or tie the garlic into bunches of 8-10 each, and then hang them in rows on iron wire or nylon rope under the eaves to dry naturally. In summer and autumn, it can be hung in a temporary shed, a cool room or a ventilated storage warehouse; in winter, it is best to move it into a ventilated storage warehouse to avoid moisture and freezing.

4. Burying rice husks

First, spread a layer of rice husk about 2 cm thick at the bottom of the box, basket or burial pit, and then add a layer of rice husk with 2-3 garlic heads higher, stacking layer by layer until it is about 5 cm away from the mouth of the container, and cover with rice husk to prevent the garlic from being exposed to the air.

5. Chemical storage

Within 7 days before garlic harvest, spray the garlic with 0.1% - 0.15% concentration of Qingxiansu MH aqueous solution. The liquid medicine must be sprayed evenly, and the leaves must be covered with mist drops. If it rains within 24 hours after applying the medicine, you need to spray it again after it clears up. Generally, the medicine can be stored until the new garlic is on the market. Garlic can be hung or stacked in a ventilated and cool place for storage. Garlic for seed cannot be sprayed with Qingxiansu.

6. Coating preservation

First melt the paraffin into paraffin liquid, and then soak the dried garlic in the paraffin liquid. The temperature of the paraffin liquid should not be too high and the immersion time should not be too long, as long as it is immersed evenly and thoroughly. This method can store garlic until May of the following year.