Fresh garlic?

Question

Sometimes when I mince fresh garlic and put it in butter for garlic bread, the minced garlic pieces turn green. Why is this? It's only happened when I've made garlic butter a couple times.

Answer 1

Do you have a lot of copper in your water or was it exposed to copper? I've never had this happen, but heard of it.

Found on the web...
According to Food Network at www.foodtv.com (published in the Rocky Mountain news 2/20/2002), looked into the reason pickled garlic sometimes turns blue. 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. The garlic flavor remains unchanged, and it totally edible without bodily harm.

On the same subject, our friend, Bob Anderson, explains that garlic contains sulfur compounds which can react with copper to form copper sulfate, a blue or blue-green compound. The amount of copper needed for this reaction is very small and is frequently found in normal water supplies. Raw garlic contains an enzyme that if not inactivated by heating reacts with sulfur (in the garlic) and copper (from water or utensils) to form blue copper sulfate. The garlic is still safe to eat.

Answer 2

Try baking your garlic first.

Cut off the top of the whole head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper then wrap in foil. Bake for about 25 min or so in a 350 oven. When the ball of foil feels mushy it is done. Then when it cools just squeeze the whole head of garlic and the best tasting garlic will just slice out. Mix some in your butter and then spread over your bread.

I love roasted garlic on toasted bread or on crackers. I use it in soup and spaghetti recipes. So many good uses.

Answer 3

Being a former chef and having had that happen to me a number of times, like apples, avocados and other foods, garlic oxidizes, a bit of lemon juice in your garlic butter with fix that.

I also chop it with a bit of salt add it when you chop it, mash it in the salt releases the juices, then add it to the butter, with parsley (fresh or dried), garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice (1 wedge of a lemon cut into 8 or a 1/2 teaspoon of bottled lemon juice), a touch of salt, pepper and I like a dash of Tabasco or a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

You also to put some "umf" in to your butter is add a bit of garlic salt/powder or dehyrated, this will just allow the butter to absorb all the flavour and be more pronounced.

Answer 4

The garlic may be too fresh or not fully matured..
Look for a browner outer skin and a larger bulb