How long does garlic last

Keep an unbroken bulb somewhere cool, dry, and dark, in a mesh bag or an open basket. Do not jam it into a sealed plastic bag. FoodKeeper prints the pantry as 1 month. The bold number is one month. The fridge cell is No time is printed for this cell. That empty cell is deliberate: the fridge figure belongs to separated cloves, not the whole bulb. Do not wash the bulb before you peel it. Damp paper skin grows mould. A sooner date on a pack wins. Date types are on the use-by and best-before guide.

The moment you break the bulb, the pantry month of the head is no longer the clock for a clove. Separated cloves are 3–14 days in the fridge. The bold number is three days. Their pantry cell is No time is printed for this cell. This page does not invent a counter day for a loose clove. Chopped garlic in a jar, while unopened, stays in the pantry at 8–12 months. The bold number is eight months, the short end. The fridge is No time is printed for this cell and the freezer is No time is printed for this cell. This page does not print a day for an opened jar. Green garlic, the young plant with a stalk, is not these rows. No time is pasted onto it. Onions have their own page, and this clock is not pasted onto them either. The map of the fridge is in the fridge article. If you are still unsure, the still-safe tool asks from the short end of the chart.

Get perishable food into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking it or bringing it home, and within 1 hour if the kitchen is above 32°C (90°F). USDA FSIS and Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry both publish that cutoff. A closed deep pot stays warm; a shallow box cools.

A chart is a window, not a verdict on the container in your hand. A sour smell, a slimy surface, or mould means it is finished, even on day one. This page is not medical advice.

• A soft, hollow clove, or a bulb that gives under the thumb. Dry paper skin is not that.
• Green or blue-green mould in a crack or under a clove. Cutting around the mould does not rescue that clove.
• A sour, rotten smell. Garlic’s own smell is not that.
• A sprout. A small green shoot is a quality loss. With softness or mould, the clove is finished.

A yellowed clove that is still firm and smells like garlic is not the same as a collapsed one. Green garlic is a different plant, and this page does not time it.

Peel the cloves, chop them or leave them whole, press out the air, and freeze them. FoodKeeper prints the freezer as 1 month for the bulb and 1 month for separated cloves. The bold number is one month. The ministry caps vegetables at 12 months. The same ceiling sits on the clove row, 12 months. That line is not named garlic. It is a vegetable ceiling. The months are about quality. USDA says food held continuously at −18°C (0°F) stays safe. The jar’s freezer cell is No time is printed for this cell. No freezer time is pasted onto chopped garlic in a jar.

Thaw in the fridge. Do not refreeze what has thawed. Frozen garlic is for a cooked dish. The bite of a raw clove does not come back. Freezing an unbroken bulb in its paper skin is not what these rows recommend. An opened jar still has no day on this page. No time is pasted onto green garlic either.

Thaw in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Do not refreeze a portion that has thawed. The ministry states the same rule: thaw frozen food in the fridge and take out only what you will eat.

• A whole bulb keeps for a long stretch in the fridge. The fridge cell is No time is printed for this cell. The fridge figure is for separated cloves, 3–14 days. The bold number is three days. That day is not pasted onto the unbroken bulb.
• The ministry ceiling is a use-by date for garlic. That line is 12 months, and it is not named garlic. The bold freezer number is one month, 1 month. The months are about quality.
• An opened jar keeps the pantry window. The unopened jar is 8–12 months. The bold number is eight months. This page does not print a day for an opened jar. Green garlic is not these rows either.

The windows assume a generally healthy household. Pregnancy, young children, older age, or a weakened immune system are reasons to keep the shorter figure, to skip raw or undercooked food, and to reheat leftovers until the centre is steaming. USDA’s figure for reheating leftovers is 74°C (165°F).

Heating a mouldy clove does not undo mould. In pregnancy, for young children, in older age, or with a weakened immune system, do not sort a mouldy clove by tasting it. Garlic is not raw meat. A clove that sat warm after the bulb was broken is still not made safe by a sauce. Eating around the mould does not rescue that clove. An opened jar with a swollen lid is not a candidate for a longer day this page never printed.