Is blue garlic safe to eat?

With a few notable exceptions, such as blueberries, blue raspberry candies, and certain cocktails, blue is not the color you want for food, unless you have specifically planned. Blue (or turquoise, or green) garlic is especially amazing.Garlic is beige, golden brown, or Deep sticky blackBut-like the vivid pattern of poisonous frogs-blue garlic sounds some alarm bells.

Why is this happening?

I first encountered bluish garlic during a sous vide experiment, which is most commonly seen during pickles. The blue tint is caused by a chemical reaction between the sulfur-containing amino acid (Alliin) and the enzyme (Alliinase). These two compounds are separated from each other throughout the garlic, but when the garlic is chopped, chopped and ground, the two compounds are exposed to each other, giving the garlic its famous pungent flavor and aroma. ..according to Spruce sweetsThe introduction of acids (such as pickles) can change the color, but metals can also cause similar reactions.

When garlic is combined with an acid (such as vinegar), allicin reacts with the amino acids in the garlic to form the following carbon-nitrogen ring. Pyrrole. The pyrroles linked together form a polypyrrole that throws color. The four pyrroles clustered together create a green color (which is why chlorophyll is green). The three pyrroles linked together create blue.

Similar color reactions can occur when garlic is in contact with minerals from certain metals such as copper, aluminum, iron and tin. Minerals can come from pots and pans made of those metals, or from trace minerals in the water.

The acid itself is not used up in the reaction, but it helps to accelerate the change by further destroying the cell wall. Depending on the freshness of the pickled garlic, it is possible that 50 garlics were pickled without observing such color changes.According to food science writers Harold McGeeAging garlic to promote color change is a common practice in northern China, soaking green onions in vinegar is highly regarded for its bright color and slightly spicy flavor with acidity. Make rabanin garlic.

According to chemists at the Chinese Agricultural University in Beijing, aging garlic gives you the opportunity to accumulate large amounts of one of the color-producing chemicals. Fresh garlic does not turn green at all. Also, in rabanin garlic, acetic acid (also contained in sourdough), which is the main acid of vinegar, produces a strong green color. This is because it is particularly effective in breaking the endometrium and mixing reactive cytochemicals to produce a green pigment. The pigment itself turns out to be a chemical relative close to chlorophyll, which gives all green leaves their color.

Can i eat it?

As you can imagine, blue, turquoise and green garlic are all completely safe to eat and don’t taste much different from beige garlic.You can also make yourself Rabanin garlic Eat it as a pickle with dumplings (or other greasy foods that benefit from sour and spicy pickles).

How to prevent garlic from turning blue

Blue garlic is not harmful to the body, but the blue color may be slightly off, especially if it is chopped into small pieces and applied to garlic bread or stuffed in chicken breast.

It is effective to use fresh garlic or cook it before it is exposed to acid. For pickling Simple Blanche It can inactivate some of the enzymes that cause color changes. Avoiding copper, aluminum, and cast iron utensils can also reduce the chances of the garlic itself turning blue, but the easiest way to treat green garlic is to eat it.If nothing else, it will give you the opportunity to look really smart at a dinner party, that’s my goal when dining with a group Friends and companions.