Garlic
 

I love garlic, but I find that most (all?) restaurants that use it don't know the simple trick of removing the germ first. With the germ, the aftermath is just not pleasant. Without it, there's no problem.

Anyone else notice this?

My garlic has fast turnover. Usually there is no developing germ to remove.

I would think this would also be the case at a restaurant?

Good point. I'd think so, but I always get sick when I have garlic at a restaurant, and never at home, when I know the germ is removed.

Garlic
 

Germ?

I had to look it up too. :o

It turns out what I refer to as "sprout" is germ for garlic:

http://i-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/ui...terGarlic2.jpg

You learn something new everyday on FT. :D

There are restaurants that don't remove germ? :eek: I thought that's Cooking 101.

Wow, I love garlic and never knew about this. :) What exactly is wrong with this "germ?"

Well, congratulations on having the garlic gene anyway! I understand it's like licorice - you either love it or you hate it with no chance of it growing on you. I can't handle even a little bit. Had some black garlic recently that looked great. Couldn't stomach it.

all garlics are not the same. i presume the typical restaurant uses a powdered substance that comes from china. (heads from china are also at H-mart). a significant percentage of the stuff which are of different varities started in europe, and are now grown in truck farms all over the usa. i do not think most restaurants shuck and mince their own garlic. it is very time consuming project.

i planted garlic in my garden two years ago. planted two pounds, yield, maybe half a pound.

I always wondered what that was...and now I know. Never have removed it, nor noticed a bad taste, but I will go forward. Thanks Flyertalk!

I'm curious, one doesn't plant the entire bulb correct?

It's nothing to do with taste...just horrible gas. My dad showed me the trick of removing the germ. When I do, no problems. When I don't, problems. :)

The germ appears in older garlic. If the bulb is very fresh, there won't be a germ. If the bulb has been sitting somewhere for a week, the germ appears. Germ doesn't develop in that pre-peeled garlic in a jar...maybe it's because it's packed in liquid?

I buy bulbs instead of pre-peeled stuff in a jar since I'm one of those stodgy types who agrees with Anthony Bourdain that if you don't have time to peel and chop your own garlic, you don't deserve garlic. :)

I had no idea it was a genetic thing. I hate black licorice. Guess I don't have that gene. :)

one buys large bulbs, and plants individual cloves about a foot apart(i don't know why so far apart). i bought $30 of fancy seed garlic heads(2 lbs). took about a 4' by 16' space to plant them, got about a pound of garlic in return. one plants shallots the same way. i have great success with them.

If you store garlic cloves in the cold, like the refrigerator, the germ will develop faster than if you don't.

Some people remove it and say it matters
Some leave it in and say it doesn't
Some believe it's the most flavorful part of the garlic and would never remove it

It affects different people in totally different ways.

I have a huge bag of garlic that's been in the fridge for a while. I just took out a piece and dissected it but couldn't find the "germ." It's already been peeled though.

Our restaurants by garlic that is already pre-peeled. They are whole cloves and they come in gallon jars. Most restaurants use that. It's easy and it is real garlic.

This is odd and surprising. Since the primary purpose of refrigeration is to attenuate natural processes.

Educational thread though! ^ I love garlic, but I generally cook it!

I can't imagine eating raw garlic (though I have been known to take a little bit of what's on the cutting board...so maybe I do have it raw sometimes).

garlic comes in many flavors. elephant garlic, which is the common one grown for local markets in the mid atlantic is a very large head, and very mild. some of the italian varities are very strong.

Garlic is one of the many reasons I look forward to eating Korean barbecue. Usually accompanying the meat are about fifteen cloves...

I've seen garlic juice in the Republic of Korea. Has anyone tried it? (Come to think of it, I tried a tinned version of it, with a blend of ginger, somewhere in Japan).

Interesting. Was it packed with tons of added sugar like a lot of stuff over there is? Or just plain garlic with non-sugary stuff added?

Didn't think I'd learn such a thing on FT... I LOVE garlic in all forms, but it often gives me terrible gas if I have more than a little. Sounds like I have an experiment to run next time!

I'm sorry, I got that drink mixed up with one from the ROK. The ginger drink in Japan had welsh (spring) onion (called tamanegi) instead of garlic. It was sweet, but not nearly as sweet as many other things usually are. The garlic drink, although in at least one form sold in Japan, was from the ROK.

Another note- one of the many things I like about Japan is that you can easily find drinks WITHOUT added sugar (for example, sugarless bottled tea is the norm). Unrelated, but um...well at least it's germane to dining buzz.

i bought two kinds of garlic from a farm in lancaster pa(10lbs). was delivered this week. i gave a couple heads to each of two chefs in name brand dc restaurants to get their comments. comments were "something is wrong with the garlic we have been getting recently" they say it is labeled from usa, but they have been boiling??? it twice before using, and it still does not taste right.

Wow, I didn't know that. You made a good point here. I will try to look at it more.

Good to know. I eat a lot of garlic and have never thought to remove this little stalk.

Garlic, like some other bulbs like tulips requires vernalization to grow. It needs a period of cold. If you are planting it, you would normally plant it in the fall if you are in an area with winter, if not, like tulips, you have to get it cold for a while to trick it. Forty degrees (about the temp of the fridge for a few weeks usually is enough to get it into growing mode again . If your garlic was shipped refrigerated, or was refrigerated in the store, it may already have several weeks of cold behind it and it's all ready to sprout.

Mike, you are just a fount of knowledge.

No, it does not require vernalization to grow... Just to flower. A non-vernalized tulip, likewise, will grow but not flower. Plant your garlic whenever is most convenient.

ok, i will plant a few rows of cloves next week, and we'll see if they grow into anything by fall.

Entirely too much knowledge on display in this thread :D

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.