November 21, 2024

VIDEO: How to Braid Garlic (hardneck or softneck)


How to braid hardneck or softneck garlic (and the difference between the two).

Table of Contents:
0:00 – Introduction
1:02 – What you’ll need
1:20 – Curing garlic
1:45 – Cleaning the garlic
2:16 – Leaves are protective layers
3:19 – Hardneck vs Softneck
4:37 – Preparing hardneck
5:21 – Standard braid (3 string)
6:38 – “French braid” (10+ strings)
8:06 – Braiding garlic
10:04 – Final results

Related videos:
Full Garlic Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR0R_IpM9Urbq9mj7U00B4bABdaDydbE_
Full Homesteading Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR0R_IpM9UrbO45K27D0ngY5UbLLpDsdf

27 thoughts on “VIDEO: How to Braid Garlic (hardneck or softneck)

  1. Great tutorial for braiding garlic! I have thought about it, but I figured it would not keep as well in a braid if it was hung up anywhere that light could reach it. I always keep mine in a cardboard box with the flaps loosely closed. That way they can breathe, but not get any light that might encourage growth. Does you braided garlic keep as well as any you store in a box or basket?

  2. Great to hear from you! Hope you are doing well ๐Ÿ™‚ Would love to see more videos from you, but of course that depends on your motivation and time ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. We had our first garlic harvest this Fall, from bulbs we planted in the early Spring. They weren't huge, but it was lovely, all things considered. Made me hopeful that we'll have a nice harvest next year! Can't wait to try braiding ours when the day comes.

  4. Thanks, I've got some garlic I need to braid up. I actually planted my "grocery store garlic" late. I didn't do it in the fall, zone 6b. I planted it in April and harvested it this summer. They are small but they are garlic. I actually have 2 that are growing again. I thought they died. So, I guess I'll wait until I pull up my voluntary cherry tomato plant in December and get those and try to transplant them in a pot and keep them on my front porch. I'm supposed to be making a little green house on my south-facing front porch for the broccoli rabe, pak choi, tomatoes and pepper plants I have left…we'll see if I get that done.

  5. Don't think Ill ever grow garlic, but I plan to have kids someday and I appreciate the simple and broken down explanation on how to braid! As always you guys are amazing!

    P.S. I love garlic and knew different kinds existed, but I didn't know much about the differences, I live in Maine (cold state a lot of the time) and I now plan to look for some hardneck garlic since you mentioned a stronger flavor!

  6. Had an interesting thought, you could probably make a sort of "garlic rope" with the bulbs hanging freely. Rope is insanely easy to make out of just about anything flexible and would make a pretty neat feature to hang around a kitchen. Plus, the garlic would always be handy.

  7. Plzzz plzzz post more frequently. Atleast 1 video per month. Yours is the 1st (gardening) channel i started to watchand binge watched all your videos. Now you are posting 1 video after 2 to 3 months. Plzz post more videos. Updates of your garden.

  8. Thank you! Clear and concise! I will review next year after my harvest. After years of jumbled up messes of garlic, this year I just trimmed and placed in netted bags. I like the braided look but just couldn't get it right. This is a big help! ๐Ÿ˜€

  9. Could you skip the rehydrating step by doing the braiding before you hang the garlic to dry? And then just dry the garlic already braided?

  10. I appreciate the esthetic appeal of a nicely braided garlic, but for my part I love the look of a full basket of neatly trimmed bulbs and skip all that work of rehydrating and rolling pins ๐Ÿ™‚

    I find the act of garlic growing to be very profound and rewarding, more so than any other crop to me. The act in the fall of sacrificing my 100+ absolute best cloves into the cold fall earth is nothing short of a leap of faith, but every summer around mid July I am grateful to my previous self for that act. I love the tactile feel of every part of this – the crumbly shredded maple leaves I use to mulch, the tear of the roots when I harvest (I don't follow conventional wisdom of loosening with a fork first and have never had a issue, granted I only plant hard neck), and feel of the dirty paper coming off after curing to expose the gorgeous, clean white inner layer. I planted two weeks later than usual this year as we experienced a very warm fall here in NH, so yesterday I got mine in the ground. I won't be braiding next year either, but I thank you for this content!

  11. Just started getting into your channel and love your content. Im on year two of trying to grow garlic from scapes to bulbs. Have you, or anyone reading comments, tried this? I havenโ€™t been able to find too much.

  12. Hi Derek,
    As usual your video is great and your way to braid is as interesting as the result is beautiful.
    Just to enlarge the options of different technics to braid hardneck garlic, I stumbled to this version by YT algorithm: https://youtu.be/DPk3DXDIzoE
    Very beautiful result and easy to learn!
    Happy garlic to you all! ๐Ÿ™‚

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