How to properly dry garlic at home after digging it up?
To prepare the harvested harvest of garlic for a whole year, you need to know a few secrets of drying it. There are several methods for drying garlic after digging, each of which prepares the vegetable for further use. Before you think about how to dry the garlic after digging it out, you need to know the features of preparing the vegetable for this procedure.
Training
If the summer resident originally planned to use the harvested crop for drying, he needs to plant in garden the right kind of vegetable. For this, it is better to use winter or French pink varieties. These varieties do not lose their taste after drying.
It is required to prepare the crop for drying from the moment it is harvested. Before removing the vegetable from the garden, you need to make sure that the soil is well dried. Also, watering cannot be done a couple of days before collection. After removing the garlic from the soil, it cannot be washed, it is better if cleaning it consists in removing the top layer of the husk. Otherwise, it will be problematic to dry the vegetable, moreover, it may rot.
For drying at home, prepare a cool room with low humidity. Do not cut off the root, foliage and stem of the dug garlic.
Drying methods
A lot of techniques have been invented that tell how to dry garlic after harvesting. Many summer residents prefer to dry the dug out garlic in a whole state in order to prolong its freshness and get a lot of possibilities for its use. However, some of them advise you to dry this vegetable by chopping it right away. This method of preparation will reduce the amount of time spent preparing the product for use in dishes.
How to dry peeled garlic?
This method is also suitable for the need to dry a greenhouse vegetable that ripens before the onset of heat. In order to dry the garlic in a peeled state, it is necessary to wait for its ripeness, remove it from the ground and clean it from the upper dirty layers. To do this, it is recommended to follow the tips:
- The vegetable is cleared of a strong layer.
- The head is cut into several pieces with a thickness of 5-6 millimeters.
- The slices are distributed over the sieve. Then the slices are dried in the oven. The garlic should dry at a temperature of 50 degrees.
- Then the garlic slices are cooled to room temperature. After that, they need to be put in jars and well closed.
If desired, the prepared raw materials can be turned into powder. To do this, the slices are placed in a coffee grinder and ground. Such a spice is stored for 1 year.
One-piece heads
Drying garlic with whole heads at home is done when the vegetable is fully ripe. Storage is carried out in a room with good ventilation, where the temperature indicator does not exceed 10 degrees Celsius. Then you need to follow the instructions:
- Garlic peeled from the top layer is stacked in one layer so that the heads do not touch each other.
- How long does it take to dry like this? After 2 months, the plant will dry out. You can find out about this by the brown foliage and shriveled roots.
- The roots are trimmed so that only 6 millimeters are left of them.
- Then the top layer of leaves is removed so that the cloves are not exposed.
- The stem is cut to a height of 2.5 centimeters from the beginning of the head.
You can use stockings to store these vegetables. They should be hung in the shade.
Also, for storage, such a vegetable can be chopped. To do this, the teeth are cut into pieces of 2 millimeters. The knife must be constantly moistened with water in order to exclude the process of darkening of the slices. Then the slices are slightly dried and stored in an airtight container.
Drying in a bundle
This method helps to dry the roots and tops, while the vegetable itself begins to ripen and does not lose its structure and taste. You need to dry a vegetable in bundles at home according to the following instructions:
- The vegetable is removed from the soil, cleaned of the top dirty layer so that the bulb is not exposed. In this case, the garlic should have a long stem.
- The garlic stalks are tied into a nice tight braid so that the heads are on opposite sides around it.
- The bunch will dry at 30 degrees for 6-8 days. On the last day, the excess tops are cut off.
The finished bundles are hung in a dry, cool room. The storage of a pigtail, dried at a temperature of 30 degrees, can last an average of 9 months.
How to dry minced garlic properly?
Whole heads not damaged by diseases are selected for drying. Drying garlic in a chopped state is required according to the following instructions:
- The first step is to peel the product off.
- The head is disassembled into slices, and then cut into slices with a knife.
- The slices are laid out on parchment and dried in the oven at 93 degrees.
- You can also use dryers: for this, the slices are placed in the device for 2 days and dried at a temperature of 35 degrees.
- It is better to cool the dried slices, and then immediately grind them with a coffee grinder to a powder state. If the mass is not dry, it must again be spread over the parchment and dried a little. In this case, the temperature should be set at 50 degrees.
In order for the powder prepared at home to acquire a homogeneous structure, it should be passed through a sieve.
Can garlic be dried in the sun?
Many summer residents are thinking whether it is possible to dry the harvested garlic crop in the sun? The answer to this question is not unambiguous. The fact is that when dried in the sun, the shelf life of a vegetable is greatly reduced. Therefore, only those who are engaged in the industrial cultivation of garlic are allowed to dry vegetables in this way, because such drying significantly saves time. If, after harvesting, you plan to eat the product yourself, you need to dry the garlic in a longer way.
Shade drying is considered best. If the summer resident decides to dry the vegetable for planting for the next season, it must be dried in the sun after harvesting for 3 days. Drying is carried out during the day, at night the garlic is cleaned in a dry room.
The described methods allow you to keep the harvested crop for a long period in a dried form. It is worth considering that such a preparation at home helps to preserve all the useful properties of the product. You can store the prepared product in sealed jars or in a well-ventilated place, for example, in wicker baskets, stockings, bundles. A regularly dried vegetable should be inspected for rot or mold.
