Why does sugar garlic turn green

Sugar garlic is a kind of food pickled with sugar and vinegar. In daily life, pickled garlic is a good dish to go with wine. Many families make their own pickles. However, some friends found that the pickled sugar garlic turned green. Why is this? Experts tell us that if pickled sugar garlic turns green, it is a normal chemical reaction and it is still edible.

Why does pickled garlic turn green?

The greening is a biochemical reaction between garlic and vinegar at low temperatures, which makes it edible to the public.

There are some active substances hidden in garlic. Under the action of enzymes, these substances will turn into allicin. Allicin is a good thing. It has strong antioxidant and anti-aging effects. Therefore, eating pickled garlic has certain health benefits for the human body.

Studies have found that the green pigment in sugar garlic is actually composed of a blue pigment that is generated first and a yellow pigment that is generated later. The transformation process of producing pigments is that alliin is produced first and then converted into allicin. The production time of allicin is very short and it is converted into allicin. During the garlic processing process, there have been reports both at home and abroad that the garlic paste turns green. The green pigment produced is not the common chlorophyll, but the same green pigment component as the traditional Chinese food sugar garlic.

Low temperature is the condition for breaking garlic dormancy, activating allinase, and causing greening. When pickling sweet and sour garlic cloves, the low temperature damages the cell walls, breaking the dormancy of the garlic cloves and activating the allinase. The sulfur-containing compounds in garlic cloves, under the action of allinase, generate precursors of garlic pigments such as thiosulfinate and allyl thiosulfinate, which are unstable. It further reacts with the high alkaline amino acids in garlic to produce pigment precursors, and finally reacts with the unsaturated compounds in garlic (like the unsaturated chains contained in vegetable oils) to produce allicin, which turns the garlic cloves green.

If the raw materials of vinegar garlic are not contaminated, the greening of garlic should be a change in the allicin itself in the garlic. If you continue to soak green garlic, it will most likely turn yellow. If you really cannot accept this green pigment, it is recommended to take out the garlic and place it in a higher temperature place for a while before soaking. You can also blanch it in hot water before soaking, so that the soaked garlic will not turn green. However, this can easily lead to microbial contamination. Experts remind citizens that garlic does not produce any harmful substances after turning green and can still be eaten safely.