Whether you've separated and peeled the whole thing or you just a few exposed cloves, refrigeration is going to be your best bet. Seal it up in an airtight container or zip-top bag, then toss it in the fridge. Though it may start losing pungency after only a few days, it'll be fine to use for about a week.
Just store in a cool (60 to 65 degrees), dimly lit place with air circulation. You don't want to put your garlic in an airtight container or it will begin to rot. Plastic bags are no good either—they'll trap moisture, which makes garlic rot faster. Reach for mesh bags or paper wrappers, instead.
If you've peeled more cloves than you need, the fridge is the best place to store them—wrap them in plastic or put them in a sealed bag or container for up to a week. Chopped generally doesn't last more than a day in the fridge, but you can eke out another two or so days if you cover it in olive oil.
Garlic is best stored in a cool, dry area in your kitchen. A kitchen cupboard, pantry, or shady corners on your countertop are good suggestions. Many people make the mistake of refrigerating their bulbs. Refrigeration will cause them to deteriorate, and the added moisture may cause them to become moldy.
Whole peeled garlic cloves should be refrigerated and will last about a week. Garlic is often sold in containers this way; while it's convenient to just reach for a clove without stopping to peel it, make sure you cook enough garlic-heavy dishes to use it up before it goes off.
Whole bulbs of garlic can keep for 6-12 months or more when stored at room temperature in a dry, dark place that has ample air circulation. Keep in mind, that garlic's lifetime decreases once you start removing cloves from the bulb.
If garlic loses its signature spicy, pungent smell or begins to smell sour, that's another sure sign it's gone bad. As for the feel, make sure it feels similar to what you're looking for at the store—firm, with no overly dry or soft cloves.
If you buy and use onions and garlic frequently, you can store them on your countertop, but again, don't store them near or with fresh fruit for the same reason you don't want to store potatoes near fresh fruit. The ethylene can cause the onions and garlic to sprout.
Place onion and garlic in separate mesh bags or a clean and dry wooden bin or waxed box. Don't wash your onions or garlic before you store them. Keep them very dry. While in Storage Check and cull them often to make sure the onions and garlic are not sprouting or developing soft spots.
Do not wash them off or get the bulbs wet. Leave the stalks and roots on the bulbs while they cure. To store the garlic, either bundle eight to 10 garlic stems together, tie them with twine, and hang bulb-side down in a cool, dark space, like a basement, or lay the garlic flat on a raised screen in a single layer.
The best way to store garlic
Once the garlic is fully cured, clean it up by removing the leaves at the neck and trimming the roots (with a pair of scissors or pruners) to 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch long. More dirt will dislodge and a couple layers of bulb wrappers may flake off, giving you a nice and neatly packaged bulb.
The answer is a resounding yes. Garlic is pretty versatile when it comes to freezing. You can freeze raw whole unpeeled bulbs, individual cloves (peeled or unpeeled), or chopped garlic. You can also cook or process garlic into various forms that make meal prep a breeze.
Once an onion has been peeled, it is best stored in the fridge to avoid contamination. Halved, sliced, or chopped raw onions should also be refrigerated, in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag.
Why? Your onions produce and emit ethylene gas, which speeds up the ripening process and can cause nearby potatoes to rot and spoil more quickly. However, garlic, another root bulb, can be safely stored alongside onions with no scary side effects.
The home refrigerator (typically 40°F, or 4°C) is not suitable for optimal long-term storage of garlic because holding garlic at that temperature stimulates sprouting. Instead, store both hardneck and softneck garlic bulbs in a cool, dry, well- ventilated place in well-ventilated containers such as mesh bags.
It's sharp in flavor, without any of the natural sweetness that garlic should have. But even though the flavor is a little less than ideal, sprouted garlic is fine to eat.
Can I use garlic right out of the ground? Yes, you can use freshly dug garlic right away, raw or cooked. You can also eat garlic before it's cured. A good way to split your harvest is to set a handful of bulbs aside that you can eat within three weeks, then cure the remaining garlic so they'll store for several months.
The cloves of garlic are left unpeeled as this helps to keep the cloves intact and reduces the risk of burning. Peeling the individual cloves from a whole bulb (head) of garlic is also rather fiddly and time consuming so it is easier to cook them unpeeled.
If you keep a whole head of garlic unpeeled it will last close to six months. (That is, if you store it properly. More on that later.) A single, unpeeled clove will last about three weeks.
Store peeled garlic cloves in an airtight food storage container (jar, plastic bag, etc.), and keep them in the refrigerator. Similarly, if you chop some extra garlic, keep it in an airtight container in the fridge too. In either form, use the garlic within two to three days.