The freezing and supercooling of garlic ( Allium sativum L.)

Abstract

This work shows that peeled garlic cloves demonstrate significant supercooling during freezing under standard conditions and can be stored at temperatures well below their freezing point (−2.7 °C) without freezing. The nucleation point or ‘metastable limit temperature’ (the point at which ice crystal nucleation is initiated) of peeled garlic cloves was found to be between −7.7 and −14.6 °C. Peeled garlic cloves were stored under static air conditions at temperatures between −6 and −9 °C for up to 69 h without freezing, and unpeeled whole garlic bulbs and cloves were stored for 1 week at −6 °C without freezing.