I keep my potatoes, onions and garlic in a metal colander in a cabinet, close to the ground, far from my stove & sunlight. My family in Florida and Puerto Rico keeps garlic in the fridge or else it spoils too quickly - but cold moist areas like that, generally. Once I've roasted garlic, if I'm not going to use it all, I keep it in the fridge, but I keep my Black Garlic in a spice cabinet. Great question!
I keep the garlic I raise in a dark cool place. But a great deal depends on when the garlic was harvested. By March, my garlic will begin to develop green shoots even in its dark storage place; it's as if it knows that spring is coming. Potatoes correctly stored in a root cellar will also develop a yearning for spring (sprouted eyes) when springtime comes. Some varieties of garlic also keep longer than others.
I like to keep mine in a small, standard terra cotta flower pot, on the counter or in the pantry (during the months my pantry stays cool all day). I just like the way it looks. I sometimes keep ginger in there, too.
Garlic pots look lovely, and I bet they work great. A dark, hidden place, lots of air holes for the garlic to breath. Whoever invented that, had a great idea. 'Though, perhaps an unnecessary one. There are lots of other options.
I second the bowl on the counter for short term garlic storage. Garlic usually keeps fine there for a couple of months, and it also deters supernatural blood suckers.
If you are looking to store a large amount for many months, say over the winter for example, the key is more the quality of the garlic than what you store it in. A bruised garlic will go bad quickly. Worse than that, one bad garlic makes all the other garlics sad and then they quickly go bad (over simplified, but really haven't had enough coffee yet to explain about how plants communicate through gas).
For long term storage, a selection of pristine garlic, in a coolish (between 55 and 70 degrees F is fine), dark place with lots of airflow. So a plastic bucket would be a poor choice, but a paper bag would be fine.
Then again, if you want to get a garlic pot, then you should get a garlic pot. One of these days I'm going to get a garlic pot, they look wonderful.
I don't think one is necessary. A cool, dark place -- and not in a plastic bag -- is just fine. Frankly, I often just keep garlic in a bowl on my counter because I tend to use it quickly and don't really have to worry about preserving it.
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I second the bowl on the counter for short term garlic storage. Garlic usually keeps fine there for a couple of months, and it also deters supernatural blood suckers.
If you are looking to store a large amount for many months, say over the winter for example, the key is more the quality of the garlic than what you store it in. A bruised garlic will go bad quickly. Worse than that, one bad garlic makes all the other garlics sad and then they quickly go bad (over simplified, but really haven't had enough coffee yet to explain about how plants communicate through gas).
For long term storage, a selection of pristine garlic, in a coolish (between 55 and 70 degrees F is fine), dark place with lots of airflow. So a plastic bucket would be a poor choice, but a paper bag would be fine.
Then again, if you want to get a garlic pot, then you should get a garlic pot. One of these days I'm going to get a garlic pot, they look wonderful.