Why does frozen garlic turn green

The chemical precursors of these compounds start out safely locked away within individual cells in the plant, but as you cut or grate them, they get exposed to each other, where they end up reacting, with the aid of anzymes.

According to this New York Times article from Harold McGee , under certain conditions, the chemical precursors will "react with each other and with common amino acids to make pyrroeles, clusters of carbon-nitrogen rings.

The molecules are perfectly safe to eat. So why does some garlic turn green and others not? It has to do with the garlic's age. Older garlic will build up larger quantities of chemical precursors than fresher garlic, thus both the region in which you buy your garlic and the specific markets in which you are purchasing it can affect how likely it is to form these blue-green compounds.

Since the colored compounds are created from the same chemical precursors as aromatic compounds, your perception that garlic that turns green has a stronger flavor than garlic that stays white is spot on. Indeed, level of greenness is almost a direct litmus test for how strong your garlic will taste. McGee notes that in some parts of the world, the color is specifically accentuated by cooking the garlic in acid low pH environments are more conducive to the reaction occurring. So how can you prevent the greenness and resulting strong flavor from occurring if you prefer your garlic milder?

Don't add acid at the beginning. Acid can increase the rate of pigment production. If you are working on a recipe that includes both acid and garlic, give the garlic a chance to cook down a bit before adding the acid in order to deactivate its enzymes.

It will only last around two weeks however in a tightly covered container. Yes, you can freeze garlic. Freezing garlic is simple because you can freeze the garlic as raw whole unpeeled bulbs, as individual cloves peeled or unpeeled or as chopped or minced. First, if you are freezing whole bulbs or individual cloves put them in airtight containers or freezer bags. To be safe I would recommend a double bag if you are using freezer bags.

Tip 1 — frozen garlic is much easier to peel. Second, you can freeze garlic in olive oil. A rule of thumb would be to use a ratio of 1 part garlic to 2 parts oil. The oil will keep it from freezing solid so you can take as little or as much as you need as needed.

Tip 2 — puree the garlic and add olive oil and freeze in ice cube trays for easy portion sizes. Again, make sure to cover tightly. First, crush garlic using a mortar and pestle.

Add the garlic and onion and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the juice from the two limes and season to taste with salt. Let sauce cook and combine for two minutes. Remove from heat and serve over yuca or lechon. Noelle fell in love with Cuban food at first bite.

She has been cooking, learning and crafting Cuban food for over 25 years. This website is where Noelle shares her love of Cuban food with the world. Now that we know why garlic is changing color, how do we stop it from changing color? Use cold garlic. The chemical reactions will start occurring with the first cut, grate or mince. Cook hot.

Cook garlic using high temperatures. Sauteing garlic at low temperatures can cause it to turn green quickly. A few weeks ago, the Epi kitchen was knee-deep in pickling jars and we noticed something weird: all the pickled garlic had turned blue. Shocked, we reached out to some food scientists to figure out what the heck was going on. Turns out, the scientists are nearly as stumped as we were when it comes to blue garlic. As far as they can tell, garlic enzymes—which give it that distinct flavor—break down over time.