Blue garlic
Last night I was making roasted red peppers, filled with cherry tomato, sun-dried tomato, feta cheese and garlic. The garlic was fresh with no sign of mould or yucky bits, and I crushed it over the peppers. I put the filled peppers into the oven at 375 'F for 45 minutes. I took a look at them after 20 minutes and noticed there was blue/green stuff in my peppers. I realised it was the garlic. After 45 minutes, the garlic was dark blue, but it tasted fine.
What is going on? I've made this dish about 100 times before and have never once see the garlic turn blue before.
posted by Sarah @ 1:59 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks to all of the people (Neill, Bryan, and Nenagh) who have pointed out that garlic turns blue in acidic conditions.
I am still surprised though, because I've made this dish hundreds of times before and I never saw the garlic turn blue before. Maybe Canadian tomatoes, or this season's tomatoes are more acidic than I was used to in Australia.
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http://www.diynet.com/diy/lc_general_food_info/article/0,2041,DIY_14005_2275656,
00.html
Question: I recently pressed fresh garlic onto a chicken breast and placed
lemon slices on top. After baking, I peeled back the lemon to see that my
garlic had turned blue! (I ate it and it was very good). Why does it turn
blue? -- Meg
Answer: That's an interesting, and rather timely question, Meg, because I
recently had a magical blue garlic occurrence myself. The phenomenon inspired
me to do a little research on the subject, so thankfully I have a very simple
answer for you. My blue garlic transformation happened to occur with vinegar --
I was making a pickling mixture. The common thread with our two stories,
however: acid. And that is the culprit. I learned that garlic contains
anthocyanins, water-soluble pigments that turn blue or purple in an acid
solution. While this color transformation tends to occur more often with
immature garlic, it can differ among cloves within the same head of garlic.
Sarah,
It's good to hear you're still making roasted "peppers" (CAPSICUM!!!!!!).
Love Jo
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