Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
I've never seen blue garlic.

Paul

On 07/23/10 1:46 PM, sometime in the recent past Paul M. Cook posted this:
> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
> I've never seen blue garlic.
>
> Paul
>
>
Wife makes a straight kosher style salt brine green tomato pickle she calls
'Molly Goldbergs.' The whole garlic cloves turn blue and I've eaten them
with no ill effects.

--
Wilson 44.69, -67.3

"Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> On 07/23/10 1:46 PM, sometime in the recent past Paul M. Cook posted this:
>> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
>> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
>> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
>> I've never seen blue garlic.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>
> Wife makes a straight kosher style salt brine green tomato pickle she
> calls 'Molly Goldbergs.' The whole garlic cloves turn blue and I've eaten
> them with no ill effects.
>

OK, great news. I was planning on secretly feeding them to company to see
if they survived.

Paul
> --
> Wilson 44.69, -67.3

On Jul 23, 12:46*pm, "Paul M. Cook" > wrote:
> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. *I made the brine with vinegar,
> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. *What could this be?
> I've never seen blue garlic.
>
> Paul

It's just a reaction that garlic does sometimes - very common - no
danger, if everything else is done properly.

N.

On Jul 23, 1:11*pm, "Paul M. Cook" > wrote:
> "Wilson" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
> > On 07/23/10 1:46 PM, sometime in the recent past Paul M. Cook posted this:
> >> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. *I made the brine with vinegar,
> >> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
> >> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. *What could this be?
> >> I've never seen blue garlic.
>
> >> Paul
>
> > Wife makes a straight kosher style salt brine green tomato pickle she
> > calls 'Molly Goldbergs.' The whole garlic cloves turn blue and I've eaten
> > them with no ill effects.
>
> OK, great news. *I was planning on secretly feeding them to company to see
> if they survived.
>
> Paul
>
>
>
> > --
> > Wilson 44.69, -67.3- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I think if you search Google Groups in rec.food.preserving (or
whatever that group's called), or even in this group, you'll find some
old posts about garlic turning blue.

N.

In article >,
"Paul M. Cook" > wrote:

> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
> I've never seen blue garlic.
>
> Paul

Question: Why did my garlic turn blue?

Answer: Garlic contains anthocyanins, water-sol-
uble pigments that can turn blue or purple under
acidic conditions. This is a variable phenomenon
that is more pronounced for immature garlic but
can differ among cloves within a single head of
garlic. If you grow your own garlic, be sure to
mature it at room temperature for a couple of
weeks before using it.

Thus saith LINDA J. HARRIS Food Safety/Microbiology Specialist,
Department of Food Science and Technology University of California, Davis


--
Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
Holy Order of the Sacred Sisters of
St. Pectina of Jella
"Always in a jam, never in a stew;
sometimes in a pickle."
Where are my pearls, Honey?

On 7/23/2010 12:46 PM, Paul M. Cook wrote:
> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
> I've never seen blue garlic.
>
> Paul
>
>
Not unusual at all Paul, caused by the sulfur content of garlic. Here's
an interesting article on the phenomenon:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/garlictips.htm

Scroll down until you see the header.

"Paul M. Cook" wrote:
>
> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
> I've never seen blue garlic.
>
> Paul

Better living through chemistry ISTR it forms copper sulphates (and
maybe other compounds) in the presence of acids. Voila, blue (or green)
garlic.

Harmless. Try blanching the garlic briefly first if it annoys you.

On Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:46:38 -0700, "Paul M. Cook" >
wrote:

>Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
>water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
>fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
>I've never seen blue garlic.

That's just the copper in the garlic, depends on where it is grown as
to how pronounced it will be.

Our local commercially grown Tasmanian garlic doesnt stain blue,
whereas the Chinese imported stuff does. Not saying the blue tint is
bad - just that (for us at least) it makes it easy to detect the
Chinese stuff (which I don't trust).

On 7/23/2010 12:46 PM, Paul M. Cook wrote:
> Odd thing in the pickle jar; blue garlic. I made the brine with vinegar,
> water, salt, sugar and assorted spices plus a sliced jalapeno and lots of
> fresh dill in the jar with 6 cloves of whole garlic. What could this be?
> I've never seen blue garlic.
>
> Paul
>
>


It's a garlic thing (you wouldn't understand) ;-) Seriously, it's
nothing to worry about. If it bothers you, make sure you garlic is
mature and fully-dried before you pickle it next time (it still might
happen, but less likely) HTH

Bob