Why Is My Pickled Garlic Blue?

Two weeks ago, I pickled a bunch of garden vegetables and have been storing them in the fridge. Last night I pulled the jar out to see if they were ready and noticed one of the garlic cloves is blue.

Why is it blue? What does this mean? Is it still safe for me to eat these pickles or do I need to toss them?

Thank you for any input, dear readers! I'm baffled by this.

(Image: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (9)

This happened to me too! With my pickled okra. I ate the okra anyway. Hopefully it was OK! It was a few weeks ago, and no scary side effects.

posted by Joanna on September 18th 2008 at 8:38am
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this happened to me! i was cooking, not pickling. I made my shrimp scampi and noticed the garlic had turned blue. How weird. I assumed it had something to do w/ the shrimp but maybe not.

posted by mascarah on September 18th 2008 at 8:41am
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my mom's pickles always have blue garlic. I don't know why, but everything is still good.

posted by revolution9 on September 18th 2008 at 8:45am
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Howard McGee explains it much better than I ever could! But yes, it's normal and safe:
http://news.curiouscook.com/2006/12/curious-cook-in-new-york-times-colorful.html

posted by sjbreeze on September 18th 2008 at 8:46am
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It's Harold McGee, and he does always have the answer!

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/harold-mcgee-on-aqua-green-garlic-and-brown-vegetables-and-fruits/

posted by lyrabella on September 18th 2008 at 10:23am
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I recently finished copyediting a 400-page cookbook all about pickling, so I just learned about this! Blue garlic is indeed safe to eat, even though it seems weird. And the same goes for pickled asparagus that turns pink!

posted by wisekaren on September 18th 2008 at 10:45am
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Thank You for the link to Harold McGee's site! He's a new science fellow for geeky me. Awesome!!! :)

posted by VeryDelishVeg on September 18th 2008 at 2:36pm
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My Moms did that too....still tastes like it should though!

Thanks for the link too!

posted by miriamjudith on September 18th 2008 at 4:15pm
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I did an entire jar of pickled garlic at the boyfriend's request....and it turned blue, too! (So did the cloves in the jars of pickles and okra.) So thanks for posing the question because I have been VERY curious.

posted by amber77 on September 19th 2008 at 5:49am
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