Have You Ever Been
Surprise By Garlic Turning Blue-Green?
I was
about to throw all my blue garlic out. It was such a shock to see my garlic
turn blue. I like to buy garlic cloves and blend them up in my blender with a
little water. They are so much stronger in scent and flavor rather than buying
the already hulled garlic cloves that come stored in a jar. I debated whether
or not to purchase them or overcome the dread I feel when having to hull garlic
cloves, they come in so many sizes and shapes inside the bulb and like a box of
chocolate, you never know what you are gonna get.
Then,
knowing that I had no idea how long those cloves had been in that jar I decided
to get over my dread and go ahead and hull the garlic while watching a crazy
news video on YouTube. I won't mention my favorites but I will mention that
many of the ones that are considered "alternative" media are only a
stone's throw away from the MSM when it comes to all kinds of crazy.
I have
done this routine several times in the past. But this time, I decided to add a
little vinegar to it to keep it fresher longer. Somewhere in my head I got the
idea that vinegar would do the trick, and of course, "Real Apple Cider
Vinegar" by Braggs would be the ultimate ingredient for my desired affect.
So I drop a little bit in, blended it down into small pieces and put it in a
jar in the refrigerator. However the jar I had was a bit too small so I had to
leave some out to be cooked with dinner later. To my surprise, when I returned
the small portion I had left out had turned the prettiest green ever! My
sensibilities took hold and the battle within started. Of course food poisoning
was my first thought and I quickly threw it away assuming that the garlic I had
stored away in the refrigerator was safe and sound. The next day, I noticed
that it too had begun to change. And with each passing day it got greener and
greener and bluer and bluer.
I
consider myself an alchemist especially when it comes to preparing a meal. So
as a scientist I began to think some type of chemical reaction had taken place.
However, I was not sure if the reaction was safe or not safe. I went threw the antics of taking it out of
the refrigerator and putting it back, taking the lid off and smelling it and
putting the lid back on. It did have a slight metallic scent to it, but it
smelled more like a really strong dose of garlic. I remained uncertain for
several days after, while my freshly chopped in the blender and stored in the
refrigerator garlic turned even bluer green.
I
began to question everything that I knew. For years I have used garlic and I
never, ever saw this happen. How could this not be a ominous sign of potential
food poisoning? Ironically, we have come to see green, the most healing color
ever, as poison! Especially when it sits on top of meats, breads, yogurt,
cheese and now it's sitting inside and outside of my GARLIC!!!
Thankfully,
before I wasted $2.00 and at least an hour of time I decided to check it out on
Google. My question started off like this, "Fresh Garlic turns….."
and before I could write the word green Google had already figured me out.
That's Google for you, reading your mind, I say.
I felt
that it was completely ludicrous to even ask such a question. Whoever heard of
such? GARLIC TURNING GREEN!!! But after years of using garlic, I really began
to wonder if I may have come across a bad batch or maybe even a poisonous one.
I began to question my home remedy Braggs "Apple Cider Vinegar". I
began to wonder if I had poisoned my food and if I would be too sick to attend
my online meetings or live performance. I really began to worry, so my only
other option was to look it up and to my surprise this is not an unusual
occurrence but it has been done purposefully by the Chinese in some of their
recipes. SMDH, who knew?
Well,
now I know and now I can put that garlic back in the refrigerator and enjoy
its even stronger taste and color.
What A
Difference A Google Search Makes!!
The Blue Garlic Surprise
Perhaps you, as I, have been cooking with garlic for years, expecting garlic to remain a kind of
off-white, uninteresting color throughout the cooking process. Then one day,
the garlic turns a bright blue-green, even an aquamarine or turquoise color,
transforming a familiar dish into an odd concoction of color accents that
undermine the familiar tones we expect. The visual impact of this changed dish
can be likened to the colors of trees in autumn, with their red, gold, green,
and dun colors, suddenly being splashed with fluorescent hues of blue and green
reminiscent of the op art of the 60s. Autumn colors aren’t supposed to display
this jarring contrast, nor is food. It’s unsettling.
If one
day your garlic turns a shocking shade of blue, making your homemade pickles,
pork roast, or pot of cabbage and kielbasa look strange and even poisonous, be
assured that no matter how strange it looks, it hurts only your eyes, not your
body.
My Blue Garlic Experience
This
past Thanksgiving I volunteered to bring our family's traditional Polish
kielbasa and cabbage dish to the holiday dinner. Ours is a simple recipe
consisting of traditional Eastern European ingredients including onion, garlic,
cabbage, sausage, black pepper, and apple. Our version of this dish is
mild-tasting and slightly sweet, and we all love the recipe just as it is. But
this year I decided to charge up the flavor a bit by adding sauerkraut to the
cabbage, something I had never done before.
By
early evening on Wednesday, my kitchen smelled heavenly from the onions,
cabbage, apple, and kraut slowly simmering on the stovetop, from the freshly
pressed whole head of garlic waiting to go into the pot, and from the thinly
sliced kielbasa resting on the cutting board. It was a peaceful moment, leaving
me with the feeling that all is well with the world.
An
hour before the pot was to finish, I added the pressed garlic and sliced
kielbasa and folded them in. Immediately, I began to see a few bright
blue-green bits of color in the pot. As I stirred the pot, more began to
appear. Soon, the pot contents were lavishly sprinkled with shocking, almost
neon-like, blue-green, confetti-looking bits. I started picking them out and
putting them in a small dish, but soon gave up. It seemed the more I removed,
the more appeared.
Read More: Click Here
Blue Garlic Facts for the Home Kitchen
Until more research is completed, here’s some helpful
information to have when your garlic turns blue in your kitchen:
- Absent any sign of spoilage such as foul smell or mold, yourblue garlic is safe to eat.
- There are so many variables causing accidental garlic color change that it may be impossible for you to duplicate this surprising event in your home kitchen.
- No one as yet has discovered how to turn blue garlic back to white, although continuing to heat the turquoise garlic may dull it down to a pinkish-brown.
- When serving your dish that contains aquamarine bits of color, say nothing. Most folks, if they notice this color at all, will never ask, knowing that whatever you bring to the table is good to eat because you brought it. If someone does happen to ask why there are bright blue-green flecks of color in the dish, take them aside and tell them your secret and that you expect them to keep it: “The dish needed some color.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment. Peace, NB