Garlic is a staple crop that does not get much credit. People use garlic when cooking at home, either fresh or in seasoning/powder form, but it is also included in dishes when eating out, sauces, salad dressings, seasoning on meats, etc. (You can click here to learn more about how to select and store garlic.) Garlic is everywhere! However, one thing that we do not think about often, is how garlic is grown, harvested and packed. Without that, there would be no staple crop.
When we used to live in Morgan Hill, we could always smell when it was the peak of garlic season in the nearby town of Gilroy (aka, the Garlic Capital of the World!). It has been a few years, so I was pretty excited when I went to visit Harris Fresh’s garlic operations in Coalinga, California!
Table of Contents
How Garlic Grows
Garlic is a root crop and the actual part that we eat (the bulb) grows underneath the soil line. Garlic is grown in rows and has a beautiful green stalk and leaves that grow up out of the soil. In the pictures below, provided by Garlic Gods, you can see the garlic plants while they are still green and growing, as well as what the weeding process looks like.
Garlic Harvest
When the garlic reaches the desired maturity in the field, a tractor goes through and undercuts the garlic. At that time, the workers go through and move four rows of garlic to form one larger row of garlic. The garlic remains in the field in this manner for 2-3 weeks to cure. The garlic is stacked together and mounds are formed along the sides to provide shade during the curing process.
Garlic Curing
During the garlic curing process, the garlic dries in the field. After 2-3 weeks, the dryness is measured to determine when the crop is ready to harvest, which includes dry necks and outer skins. At that point, the garlic harvest crew enters the field.
Garlic Harvesting
The workers harvest the crop from the ground, while sitting down, and trim the bottom of the garlic using a hand tool and remove the upper portion of the garlic plant, and then place the heads into plastic 5 gallon buckets. Once 2 buckets have been filled, they are taken to the nearby wooden bins and are dumped. They can pass through a filter to remove some of the field debris prior to entering the bin. After dumping, the harvesters get their field tickets stamped, and the harvested bins are then brought to the nearby packinghouse.
How Garlic Harvesters are Paid
In this particular case, the garlic harvest workers are working at piece rate. This means that they are compensated based on how many buckets they harvest per day. However, if the workers do not harvest enough to earn minimum wage per hour, they are compensated at the minimum wage rate. This is very rare, and the workers often make significantly more money per day working piece rate compared to an hourly wage.
Garlic Packing
The harvested bins are transported to the packinghouse, where the garlic undergoes additional cleaning. (This packinghouse does not process the garlic into seasonings or do any of the chopping. However, the garlic destined for processing passes through this step prior to being processed.)
In a nutshell, the garlic packing process can be explained as follows:
- Bin Dump – The harvested bins are dumped onto the packing line.
- Initial Sort – The garlic passes through an initial sorting step. Here, the workers sort out any visible defects (e.g., any that contain mold).
- Optical Sorter – The garlic is transported via conveyor line to individual cups, where they then pass through the optical sorter. The optical sorting machine sorts the garlic by size, and then transports the garlic to the specific packing line that is packing that size of garlic.
- Garlic Packing – Each packing line has a designated size that they are packing. The garlic passes through a brush step as it arrives to the appropriate packing line, where the workers use their hands to remove the outer skin of the garlic prior to packing.
Some fun facts:
- In this facility, there are large ceiling fans to help with air movement in the facility.
- There is no waste. All of the garlic, including the culls, have a place where they can either be sold or donated.
Garlic Harvesting & Packing Video
See below for a full step-by-step process of garlic harvesting and packing.
Food Safety Considerations
For a garlic harvesting and packing operation, some of the main food safety concerns are:
- Sanitation of the harvesting containers and bins – Cleaning and sanitizing of the harvesting containers and bins needs to occur on a regular and frequent basis.
- Sanitation of the harvesting tools – Cleaning and sanitizing of the harvesting tools needs to take place on a a regular and frequent basis, performed by the company, and there needs to be some sort of dip/storage for the tools when the workers are on break.
- Glove policy – There needs to be rules for which gloves can be worn, and if they are disposable, when they should be changed, or if they are reusable, how often and how they will be cleaned. If reusable gloves are used, they need to be able to be cleaned and that cleaning needs to be handled by the company and not the individual worker.
There are many more items to be taken into consideration, but this is just a brief list to get you thinking about it!
Postharvest Considerations
Assuming that the garlic was cured correctly and the necks and skins are dried out, the main factors during the postharvest shelf-life are to maintain a low temperature during storage, and to keep garlic separate from other crops since the garlic smell will transfer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there different garlic curing methods?
Yes. Garlic is commonly cured in the field, in sheds or in hoophouses. In the main example provided above, the garlic is cured in the field. In the example below from Garlic Gods in Idaho, you can see garlic being cured in a shed. The difference in how garlic is cured is based on what is best with the environmental conditions, as the goal is to get the garlic dried out without damaging it.
Curing in the field in the middle of the summer in California’s Central Valley will provide the heat needed to dry out the garlic, but they run the risk of causing sunscald to the garlic. In the other two examples, there needs to be good ventilation to dry out the garlic without creating an environment that favors mold growth.
How long does the garlic harvesting process last?
The garlic harvesting process lasts for 2-3 weeks.
Featured Grower Information
I would like to thank Harris Fresh for allowing me to come for a visit, and to share the gathered content. Harris Fresh is a part of the Harris Ranch family, and this specific garlic packing house is located in Coalinga, California. You might know them from the restaurant stop on I-5, or by the meat that is served at Cattlemens restaurants. You might also recognize the name from the onion harvesting and onion packing posts!
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