Why does garlic turn blue in marinade? What to do to prevent garlic from getting blue: tips and tricks
Preserving is a separate type of culinaryart. Procuring vegetables for future use is a complex and responsible process. Often, as cooking products for the winter, the housewives face problems, the most common of which is the purchase of garlic in a marinade with blue-green vinegar. How to explain this phenomenon from the chemical point of view? How to use this knowledge to prevent an unpleasant process of staining the vegetable? Learn from our article!
Why garlic turns blue with canning: historical information
Mass industrial processing of garlic,which arose in American factories in the 50s of the last century, added to the concerns of biochemists. The fact is that the standard scheme for converting the garlic crop into canned mashed potatoes (grinding - mixing with salt and vinegar - packaging by containers - sterilization and rolling) once failed: huge volumes of the finished product were written off and not allowed for sale as a result of its blueing.
The gastronomic incident launched a series of biochemical research activities, during which scientists discovered why garlic turns blue in marinade.
Biochemists claim ...
Scientific substantiation of blueing of garlic in vinegarmarinade sounds as follows: color transformations of garlic in the process of conservation are caused by the release of components of essential oil and enzymes as a result of destruction of the vegetable tissues. The representative of the latter, alinase, leads to the decomposition of alliin, which entails the process of dividing the essential oils into sulphates and sulphides.
- thiol, ammonia and pyruvic acid - as a result, garlic gets an unpleasant odor;
- pigments, giving garlic blue-green color.
What does this mean for an ordinary cook?
Prevent blueing of garlic in marinade
We tried a dozen canning recipestomatoes for the winter, and the garlic is still turning blue? The main causes of this phenomenon are not concealed at all in the preparation formula - the process of staining is caused by factors such as the maturity of the product and the conditions in which garlic was grown and stored.
No more questions about why garlic turns blue in marinade: the secrets of canning
So, the selection of blue-green pigmentis due to the slightly acidic environment in which there are amino acids. Our culinary goal is to reduce the effect of alliin. What actions need to be taken to prevent the garlic from turning blue?
Give preference to garlic, originwhich is the northern latitudes. The fact is that vegetables grown in southern latitudes are characterized by a high content of allylsulfide, an enzyme responsible for intensive coloring of garlic.
If you are wondering why garlicturns blue when canning, then, it is likely that selecting the products for winter preparation, you chose not the young and freshly picked, but the old and rested garlic. And since the latter is characterized by a high concentration of alliin, its pigmentation is stronger than the staining of fresh vegetables.
To prevent blueing of garlic will allow itstorage in the right conditions. So, the vegetable should be stored at room temperature (from 20 to 25 degrees) - observing this rule, you can prevent the active accumulation of alliin, which occurs during storage at low temperature (1-5 degrees Celsius).
Nevertheless, it is important to note that preservation should be kept at low temperatures - so garlic does not turn blue by the time it needs to be opened.
The intensity of pigmentation of alliin depends ontemperature, at which marinating or canning of vegetables takes place. So, in order to preserve the pleasant appearance of the pickles, the culinary experts recommend that you prepare food for the winter in a cold way.
While cleaning garlic heads from the husks, try to be as accurate as possible: the less damage to the surface of the vegetable, the less the risk of ultimately obtaining blue-green garlic.
Universal advice, which will allow to forget about the question: "Why does garlic turn blue in marinade?"
Culinary experts recommend that: regardless of the conditions in which garlic was grown, stored or processed, a three-hour soak in cold water prevents blueing of any kind of garlic!
Is it possible to eat blue garlic in food
Winter evening, the whole family sits down at the table, Dadopens a can of canned tomatoes, carefully harvested in the summer season ... and here's the misfortune! The blue garlic spoiled not only the sight of beautiful red tomatoes, but also the appetite of the participants in the meal. The housewives instantly have a number of questions: "Why does garlic turn blue when preserving tomatoes?" And "Is it dangerous to eat it?"
Blue garlic is safe!
Indeed, blue garlic"attractiveness does not hold". However, the scientists found out that alliin - a substance harmless, therefore, the use of pigmented product is not negatively affected by human health. Moreover, in southern countries, where garlic with a high concentration of coloring enzymes grows, no one pays attention to the coloring of the vegetable and the question of why garlic turns blue in the marinade is not asked.
Thus, the use of blue garlic in food is absolutely safe! Enjoy, above all, the taste, not the appearance of the dish.
How to properly pick garlic
In the world of cooking, there are countlessthe number of tomato canning recipes for the winter with garlic, but the true benefit among the fierce winter will be brought cans with pickled garlic according to the classic recipe.
The first step is to prepare all the ingredients:
11 large garlic heads;
a few pods of chili peppers;
black pepper (peas);
2-3 bay leaves;
salt, sugar, spices and vinegar (to taste).
The cooking process is extremely simple!
Prepare garlic and pepper pods: peel, rinse thoroughly. Chop the peppers.
700 ml of water diluted with a tablespoon of vinegar, add 5-10 peas of black pepper, a couple of bay leaves, 30 grams of salt and sugar, spices - bring the mixture to a boil and allow to cool.
Separately boil 2 liters of water, which must be poured with two tablespoons of salt. She should give garlic.
Put the garlic and pepper slices in prepared jars. Pour the marinade.
Tightly closed jars can be left upside down until they are completely cooled.
You can get the dish on the table after 2 weeksstorage in a cool place. Bon Appetit! As noted above, the preparation formula does not have a big effect on the pigmentation process of garlic, but avoiding blueing is helped by marinating in a cold way.
