Making a garlic braid.

Our first harvest of garlic (purple wight) has been drying in the conservatory for a couple of weeks so it was time to prepare it for long-term storage. I have never done this before, but I did a bit of research on the web and got a few ideas.

Firstly I prepared the garlic by trimming the roots and tops and cleaning with an old tooth brush. This is to remove any dried soil. I also removed the outer layer around the bulb to obtain a 'clean look'.

I then placed the garlic stems under a damp towel and left them for half an hour. This is to soften the stems to make the braiding process easier.


From here the last thing was to braid the garlic. With having an older sister, I have had plenty of practice braiding - I used a technique similar to putting a french plait into long hair. From here I added a string loop to make a stable system for hanging in the kitchen.

Overall, I am really pleased! This braid has 15 bulbs. We have about another 60 bulbs drying in the shed at plot 4.