This is my second year growing garlic, and so far it’s been a success. I’ve been wanting to learn the proper way to braid my garlic in order to store it in my pantry, so a quick google search revealed an excellent YouTube video from Gardenerd.com. I followed her video pretty much word for word, except I couldn’t find twist-ties. If my tutorial is unclear, please watch her video. It was a big help! If you have ever French braided hair, you will have no problem braiding garlic. It’s basically one big garlicky French braid.
I planted three varieties of garlic on November 22nd: organic white, elephant, and some purple garlic. From what I can tell from my post on November 22nd, I’ve only harvested the organic white. The elephant garlic died, and the purple garlic is still growing, waiting to be harvested. The purple garlic sent off scapes, while I didn’t see any scapes from the white garlic. I wonder if it’s because it’s a more common, commercial variety, and not having scapes spares mass “de-escaping”? I have no idea (See *UPDATE). Anyway, I harvested our white garlic on Saturday, June 23, and since there was of course NO threat of rain, I let them dry out on our patio table for three days.
*UPDATE: I think I’ve found the answer to my scape conundrum. Thanks to Lydia for commenting about the different varieties of garlic: hardneck and softneck. The August September issue of Mary Jane’s Farm published an article about garlic braiding. Apparently, garlic grows in hardneck and softneck varieties. Hardneck garlic produces scapes, and they yield larger cloves. Softneck varieties do not produce scapes, but they are better for braiding because they remain bendable enough to braid. I love finding answers to my questions!
Here’s how to make a garlic braid.
After adding head to the right side, braid the left over the middle, just like you would in a normal braid.
That’s it! You’re all set to enjoy beautifully stored, delicious garlic for as long as it lasts!
Again, I hope this demo was clear, but if you have any questions, leave them in the comment section, or visit this link to watch the video. Remember…garlicky French braid.
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I was wondering how to do this. Thanks!
Thanks for reading! I hope it helps.
Awesome! That would make me happy every time I saw it hanging in my pantry, I think
Thanks! It does bring a certain satisfaction knowing that it only traveled a few yards to get to our pantry!
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Me and my best friend sat on the backporch with a little breeze, and braided our first garlic
It was sooooo satisfiying !!! I loved it !
Sounds like a great afternoon. And a little breeze on the back porch? I’m jealous. It’s about 100 degrees here with no breeze. Glad you had a good time.
thank you… then do i cut one off to use it? is there a prefered order?
Yep. Just cut them off as needed. I don’t know if there’s a preferred order. I’ve been doing smallest first because I want to keep the bigger ones for when they’ve really dried and developed flavor. Enjoy your garlic braid!
from what I understand, “hardneck” garlic gives you scapes. “Softneck” does not. Softneck is the kind that you braid, so that is always the kind I grow. Not sure if the taste is any different.
Oh! Thanks for the info. So do you braid softneck because it doesn’t dry out as fast? Interesting!
I still let it dry out about 3 days. I just “heard” (somewhere) that you braid softneck. So I never grew any other kind. I will plant both this fall , so I can get scapes, and to see if hard neck is any harder to braid. I would write and let you know, but I have the feeling that you will try the same thing.