Softneck Vs. Hardneck Garlic + Tips for Curing & Storing It
It’s the end of August. Have you started thinking about growing garlic yet? Every year about this time, we love to talk about garlic because, in our minds, it is a crucial element in so many recipes. Garlic is such an easy thing to grow, and you honestly just can’t beat the unique flavour profiles. There are also tons of different kinds of garlic, and you might be blown away to discover just how much flavour variation there is from one kind to the next.
We’ve talked about how to grow great garlic and featured some tasty varieties, and we’ve also covered how to plant and care for garlic. So this year, we’re going to dive into the differences between hardneck and softneck varieties and talk about best practices for curing and storing your garlic for the winter.
What’s the Difference Between Hardneck and Softneck Garlic?
Here are the key differences between hardneck and softneck garlic:
Hardneck Garlic Characteristics
- Develop scapes (flower stem) in summer, which must be removed.
- Cloves form evenly around the central scape.
- Grow better in colder climates.
- Have fewer large cloves per head.
- Don’t last as long in storage, only 4-6 months.
- Hundreds of different varieties.
Softneck Garlic Characteristics
- Do better in warmer climates.
- Store very well, lasting 9-12 months or longer.
- Have many cloves of varying sizes per head.
- Don’t develop scapes; the stems stay soft; this is the kind you can braid.
- Only about 30 different varieties.
Regardless of what you choose, it’s best to grow a few different varieties at a time in case one type doesn’t do well in your garden.
How to Harvest, Cure, and Store Fresh Garlic
Most people begin harvesting their garlic in July. Ideally, you want to wait until 50% of the leaves start to go yellow. Depending on the year and your soil, you may be able to simply pull your garlic by hand. But, if the ground is a little hard and doesn’t want to let go, dig under them with a potato fork to loosen them up.
It is best to harvest garlic with the leaves still on if you can, so if the tops are pulling off, get a fork or spade. Be gentle when pulling. Banging the bulbs together can cause bruises, which can cause early spoiling. If it’s a muddy, damp day when you harvest your garlic, all too common in Powell River, you can pull the lowest leaf, or the most outside layer of skin, off to get most of the mud off before setting them to cure. If the roots are really muddy, you can trim them as well.
If you’re going to braid your softneck garlic, it should be done relatively soon after harvesting, while the leaves are still flexible and strong. Once you have your garlic bulbs harvested, they need to cure for a while before you put them into storage for the year. To cure, they need good ventilation in a cool dark location.
Garlic can be hung to dry in bundles or laid out in a single layer to dry. The key is good ventilation. Somewhere as humid as Powell River, you may end up with mold if you bundle them to dry. Laundry drying racks or even baking racks work well for drying garlic, as long as the air can get all the way around the bulbs. A fan blowing gently across them will also help. Garlic should cure for 2-4 weeks before being stored.
Air circulation is even more critical for braids since there is a lot clustered close together. If you’re running a fan, your braided garlic should be pretty close to it, and you’ll want to check it every few days and turn it so that every side is getting proper airflow.
Once your garlic is cured, you’ll want to store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry for the fall and winter. Temperatures in the range of 10º-20º are best. You can trim roots and stems once it’s cured.
Garlic stores best when 6-10 inches of stem is left on the bulb. This also allows you to tie them together in bundles of 8-10 if you want to hang them. You can also store them in loose bundles in open containers with good airflow, like a cardboard apple box or wooden crate. Check every few weeks to see if any bulbs are soft or mushy, and remove them immediately.
Our garlic varieties will be hitting the shelves at Mother Nature soon, so get in early to get your pick of all the tasty varieties available!