I dried my E by hanging it outside for a few days and then clipped and cleaned it and put it in the cupboard. When I went to cook with it last night, the cloves were very red and very dry. After a good peeling, the meat was still soft and fine.

Should I be refrigerating or storing these somehow to keep them from becoming garlic powder?

Maggie

Ps - Dave, sorry for cooking with the garlic. I left one to seed so I can plant from seed instead of clove.

It's okay, I forgive you. You aren't saving any cloves to plant? I would think your harvest from seeds will be meager next year? I have a few extra if you need cloves to plant.

Maggie, I noticed a few of my Italian Purple bulbs doing the same thing...a couple of the cloves appeared to have shrunk. I haven't cooked with those (they are supposed to be planting stock), so I don't know what the inside looks like. I just hope it's okay and they will hang on til Oct.

Dave, I will no doubt plant some cloves, but not until October or November. I doubt I'll plant the elephant, though I did love the scapes on it. I'm probably going to look for a couple of new varieties and possibly plant among my fruit bushes, as the garlic doesn't seem to mind a bit of company and that's where I have the most open space with weeds to be managed. But I thought it would be fun to plant garlic and onion seeds to see how that goes, too. Course, any gifts are welcome, but I wouldn't want to deceive you into that. I loved growing garlic and I love being able to plant something in the fall and watch it appear before the snows are over.

Maggie