Green Garlic, Anyone?
I’ve been getting much better at actually cooking real dinners lately, and it’s all thanks to my trusty, magical crock pot. I adore it! Yesterday I wanted to be nice and prepare a yummy home-cooked meal, so I picked out a recipe involving chicken breasts on the bone.
The recipe instructions were simple: sprinkle chicken with thyme and minced garlic, pour orange juice and balsamic vinegar over the breasts and cook. EASY! After about 30 minutes, I decided to check on the pot — the pungent odor of garlic permeated the entire house, so I had to take a peek. I was shocked to find that the minced garlic that adorned the tops of the breasts turned the most unnatural shade of TURQUOISE and I mean the kind of turquoise you only find in candy! Um, that’s more than just a little unnerving.
Thank God for the internet, because I hopped right on the computer and looked up the cause for this strange phenomenon. In case this ever happens to you, here’s what I found out. The garlic had a chemical reaction to the acid in the balsamic vinegar and orange juice. For you science buffs out there, here’s why it happened.
The problem of garlic changing colour is associated with the addition of acid which changes the normal pH of the product. This is precisely what is required to ensure that the garlic remains safe but the change in acidity brings about chemical changes in pigments in the garlic.All plant materials contain various pigments some of which change colour as the pH of the plant tissue is changed by the addition of vinegar or other acids. The most common of these pigments are the anthocyanins which may be blue, colourless or red depending on the pH…
…Certain amino acids, natural components of foods, are responsible for many of the pigment characteristics of the onion family which includes garlic. The American scientists have shown that the outstanding difference in composition between garlic which turns green and garlic which does not is the presence of much higher levels of one particular amino acid in the green garlic. — Get the source of this quote here.
There you have it! I’m so stupid tho, I didn’t get a picture of it. GAH. Maybe it’ll happen the next time I make it. From what I gathered, the age of the garlic seems to be a factor in whether it will change color or not. There’s your science lesson for the day, kids. FREAKY!
