Garlic Drying
The next step in the production process is drying the garlic. We pull up the trailer to our greenhouse for this part of the process.
The drying facility is this green house. We started with clear plastic covered with shade cloth, but the temperatures were higher than we wanted. We then went to this black plastic covering which kept the temperature where we wanted, but it was so dark that it was hard to see. We now have a white plastic covering that really brightens up our day and keeps the temperature right where we need it. The green house is also equipped with two large fans that kick on when it gets to 90 degrees and shuts back off when temps get down to 70 degrees. Garlic is hung up upside down from the rafters with the string that was applied during harvest. The green house is now so full that we have added extra support from the ground to the upper rafters to support all the weight as a precaution.
Garlic hangs for three or four weeks then itʼs taken down and prepped for market. The cleaning process involves an assembly line of people. Removing the tops, cutting the roots, and removing the first outer layer of covering, if need be.