We tested 9 ways to store garlic—only 1 method kept it fresh for 90 days

After three months of side-by-side testing, one storage method kept garlic plump, firm, and nearly sprout-free—while the fridge accelerated spoilage.

Garlic stores well at room temperature. If you plan on using it within two weeks, store it on the countertop, away from sunlight. If you plan on storing garlic for longer, it's best to keep it in a porous terracotta garlic keeper, which ensures optimal freshness by regulating moisture and temperature, preventing the allium from sprouting and drying out for up to three months. The next best option is a paper bag at room temperature, which allows moisture to escape and reduces the risk of mold and sprouting.

I am a garlic fiend: I look at a recipe calling for one clove of garlic and, instead of following the directions, use an entire head. I go through so much garlic that I often buy the bulk pack at Costco or a restaurant supply shop. But I get that not everyone is as enthusiastic about garlic as I am. Some home cooks might buy a few heads, stuff them in their crisper drawer, and not get around to using them for a while. Eventually, the garlic sprouts or dries out and goes bad. It happens! To help other home cooks keep their garlic fresher for longer, I tested several methods for storing it—and it turns out that putting it in the fridge isn't the best approach.

Garlic Basics

Garlic is a flowering plant in the allium family, which also includes onions, leeks, and shallots. In most growing regions, garlic is planted in the fall and harvested from late spring to early summer. Spring garlic, also known as green garlic, is immature garlic harvested before the bulbs have fully formed. When harvested at full maturity, the bulbs are typically dried and cured for about two to three weeks in a well-ventilated, shaded area. Home gardeners often hang or braid the plants to dry before trimming and storing the cured bulbs in a cool, dry place, such as a pantry or cellar.

Commercially grown garlic is stored under carefully controlled conditions to extend shelf life and reduce spoilage. According to the University of California, Davis' Department of Plant Sciences, the optimal storage conditions for garlic are 30 to 32°F (-1 to 0°C) and 60 to 70% humidity. Under these conditions, it's possible to store garlic for up to eight or nine months. 

Because garlic has the potential to store well, it's available year-round in grocery stores. However, the garlic on supermarket shelves may have been harvested six to nine months before it reaches consumers.

How to Store Garlic, According to Experts

Ken Christopher, executive vice president of Christopher Ranch, a garlic producer in Gilroy, California, recommends storing whole bulbs in a cool, dry place with good air circulation, such as a pantry or kitchen counter away from heat and direct sunlight. Refrigerating whole garlic, he says, can encourage sprouting, which may result in sharper or bitter notes. The humidity and condensation in the fridge can also promote mold growth, says Cara Mangini, award-winning cookbook author of The Vegetable Butcher and The Vegetable Eater.

How to Shop for Garlic

In her book, The Vegetable Butcher, Mangini recommends choosing garlic that is firm, plump, and feels heavy for its size. The papery skin should be intact and dry, not damp or peeling away. Though garlic that has begun to sprout is still safe to eat, it's a sign the bulb is moving into its next growth cycle and may not store well once you bring it home. Sprouted cloves can also taste slightly more bitter, especially if the green shoot inside is large.

"Garlic that has been stored at room temperature and has sprouted has been stored beyond the plant's ability to maintain true garlic flavor," says Christopher. "This is the beginning of its reproductive cycle and will give the garlic a more bitter tone." 

Skip any garlic that has signs of mold—which may look like gray dust or ash—or bulbs that feel soft, shriveled, unusually light, or hollow, as they are all signs the garlic is old or has begun to spoil.

The Tests

To find the best way to store garlic, I tested several methods over three months, monitoring each batch until the bulb began to spoil. I stored heads of garlic in paper bags, zip-top bags, on their own, and in a terracotta garlic keeper. I kept them at room temperature and in the fridge. 

I also compared garlic purchased at the grocery store with garlic purchased from the farmers market. It's difficult to know the age of garlic sold at supermarkets, whereas it's possible to ask vendors when exactly they harvested their garlic. Our goal was to determine whether garlic freshness affected its shelf life. Throughout my testing, I checked the garlic by carefully using a paring knife to "segment" a clove from each head, avoiding disturbing the others.

Test One: Room Temperature

I took both store-bought garlic and farmers market garlic (which was harvested and dried in early August, four months before I purchased it), then stored them at room temperature for three months using the following methods:

• In a paper bag
• In a sealed zip-top bag
• In a ceramic garlic keeper
• On a shelf by itself, away from light

The store-bought garlic in the paper bag fared well, with a few cloves starting to dry out at the two-month mark and very little sprouting by the end of the three months. The farmers market garlic began to sprout by the two-month mark, and after three months, there was noticeable sprouting in most of the cloves.

The store-bought garlic in the sealed zip-top bag began to dry out and soften within a month, and by the end of three months, it felt hollow and lightweight, with most of the cloves dried out and shriveled. The farmers market garlic in the zip-top bag started to mold almost immediately—within two weeks. By the end of my testing, ashy mold had completely taken over the garlic bulb, turning it brown.

The terracotta garlic keeper did an excellent job storing the garlic. Store-bought garlic stayed mostly sprout-free without drying out throughout the entire three-month test. By the end, only one clove had begun to slightly sprout. The farmers market garlic also fared well. By the second month, two of the garlic cloves had sprouted (though I'd still consider them usable). By the end of the three months, there were four garlic cloves that sprouted, but the sprouts were shorter and smaller than other garlic heads tested, and the garlic was still plump and usable.

Store-bought garlic stored at room temperature, on its own and away from direct light, started softening at the two-month mark, and a number of cloves had begun to sprout at the beginning of the third month. The farmers market garlic sprouted six weeks into the tests, and by the end of three months, all the cloves had large sprouts.

The clear winner of the room temperature test was the store-bought garlic kept in the terracotta garlic keeper. By the end of the three-month testing period, the garlic was still plump and white, with very minimal sprouting. The garlic in the paper bag came in second: Though a few cloves had begun to dry out, there was minimal sprouting, and most of the garlic, especially the inner cloves, were usable. 

The farmers market garlic did not keep as well as the store-bought garlic across all tests: It sprouted, dried out, and, in the case of the zip-top bag and garlic keeper, molded faster than the store-bought garlic. What I have no way of knowing is how old the store-bought garlic was; it's possible it was younger than the farmers market garlic I had purchased. Of course, when garlic has been more freshly harvested, farmers market garlic will be much younger and fresher with a longer remaining shelf life than the four-month-old samples I acquired. On top of that, it's possible the grocery store garlic was kept in more controlled commercial storage under optimum conditions, while the farmers market garlic likely wasn't. 

I should note that I also purchased the farmers market garlic on a rainy day, and the humidity may have negatively affected it. After purchasing the garlic, however, I let the alliums dry out at room temperature for 48 hours before placing them in their various storage containers to try to even the playing field between the grocery store garlic and the farmers market garlic.

Test Two: Refrigeration

• Garlic in a sealed paper bag, placed on a fridge shelf
• Garlic in a sealed paper bag, in crisper
• Garlic on its own, in a crisper drawer
• Garlic in a sealed zip-top bag, placed on a fridge shelf
• Garlic on its own, placed on a fridge shelf

After three months, the store-bought garlic kept in a folded paper bag on the refrigerator shelf looked fine, with a few small sprouts. But upon closer inspection, the cloves began to shrivel and darken beneath their peels after six weeks, and the head felt light and hollow by the end of three months. The cloves had dark spots, and most of them had begun to sprout. The farmers market garlic, on the other hand, began to feel lightweight after just a month, and it began to shrivel and sprout after two months. By the end of the three-month testing period, most of the cloves had dark spots or were dry.

As for the garlic stored in a paper bag in the crisper drawer, it looked cosmetically fine for two months, but by the end of three months, there was sprouting in all the cloves. The farmers market garlic in a paper bag in the crisper drawer started to sprout by two months. Both garlic heads stored in the crisper drawer by themselves started to sprout by two months, and the cloves had dried out and turned brown by the three-month mark.

Both the store-bought and farmers market garlic kept in a zip-top bag on the refrigerator shelf had started to sprout by six weeks, with the farmers market garlic showing signs of mold by two months. Both the store-bought and farmers market garlic stored on the refrigerator shelf without a bag, by themselves, had sprouted by two months. 

Overall, the refrigerated garlic fared worse than its room temperature counterparts.

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Depending on the time of year, farmers market garlic will often be more freshly picked than store-bought garlic, but it may also be cured or stored less well, as farmers may not have the resources or facilities for temperature- and humidity-controlled long-term storage. Seek out farm-fresh garlic in the months following harvest; as you get farther from that time, its quality advantage wanes. It's also a good idea to use farmers market garlic more quickly than you would store-bought, just in case it has a shorter remaining shelf life. 

If you're using store-bought garlic, it's best to keep it in a spot with airflow and minimal humidity. Across all our room-temperature tests, the garlic stored in a garlic keeper stayed the freshest for the longest. I used an unglazed terracotta clay, a porous material that acts as a natural desiccant, absorbing ambient moisture from the garlic. It also kept the garlic cooler in warmer temperatures through evaporative cooling, in which the porous terracotta draws water away from the pot's interior, cooling it as the water evaporates into the air.  

If you plan on using your garlic within two weeks, keeping it on your counter, away from direct sunlight, is fine. But if you plan to keep your garlic for longer, it's best to store it in a porous garlic keeper or paper bag—both of which allow excess moisture to escape and keep the allium shaded, preventing it from molding and sprouting. Avoid refrigerating garlic, as the refrigerator's humidity accelerates sprouting and spoilage.