I just ate a few of the pictured garlic germs. :eek: :)

The garlic I just bought had a few small sprouts in them. So I tried 'em. They have a really pleasant, mild taste.

No idea how they would cause any culinary or gastro distress...

Your intestinal fauna differ from mine, apparently. :)

You will have to let us know tomorrow if you get any ill effects.

I'm probably not the best test subject.

I pretty much abuse my stomach, at home or travelling, and variations on everyday ingredients won't get my gut in a bunch.

Great place for me to ask this--when I was younger I could eat garlic cloves whole and raw--just peel and chomp down on them. Nowadays I get a scorching pain going all the way down to, and possibly including, the stomach, and I feel quite sick. How can I prevent this?

Don't eat garlic whole and raw.

It's like the guy who goes to the doctor and says, "Doctor, it hurts when I raise my arm like this."

The doctor says, "So don't raise your arm like that."

Microwave them for 1 minute. Or, dip in olive oil and bake at 350 for 10 min.

This thread caught my eye. I also like garlic but to take a tangent on the OP, when my wife was preggers with our son, she developed an allergy to garlic. Since then, we have modified our spice selections at home and have discovered so many other great tastes that garlic masks. We have learned that garlic is the most overused spice in restaurants. The initial reaction from most is shock about how we can actually live and function without it but I will respond that once you learn how to cook without it, you realize what an amazing world of spices that exist out there!

Garlic
 

Since I don't know how to cook without garlic, my heads don't last long enough to develop a germ.

hmm wow... I will now be removing the garlic germs, didn't realize that they could be the source of gastro-intestinal issues.

never knew this.. but going to try it.

I made my first batch of Mojo de Ajo last year, here is the recipe I followed:
www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=244

Fantastic stuff with a multitude of uses. Latest use for me was to use a few tablespoons in a sturdy pot, heated until sizzling, put in 1.5 lbs of Manila clams & a good splash of white wine. Shake pan a few times while clams are opening.

Serve in a bowl w/clams, some broth & a hunk of French bread, delicious.

Can you user pre-peeled garlic for this (often cheaper for some reason)?

I've now used both and pre-peeled garlic (cloves) was fine. You are correct, pre-peeled garlic (cloves) can be very cheap sometimes, (in Chicago at the Korean grocery markets).