24
Apr
It is famously associated with the Gilroy CA annual garlic festival. For example you may have chosen a variety of garlic that doesnt work well in your climate.
Splits are not big but I am worried.
Why is my garlic purple. Garlic contains anthocyanins water-soluble pigments that can turn blue or purple under acidic conditions. This is a variable phenomenon that is more pronounced for immature garlic but can differ among cloves within a single head of garlic. Ive never seen garlic TURN purple.
As others have said there are purple varieties as there are with other aliums shallots red onions. More significant is whether they are still firm and whether they have started shooting. The purple is just the anthocyanins in the garlic reacting to conditions.
Some types of garlic actually turn purple before they are picked if they are fertilized close to maturity. I do this now by choice because Ive decided I like the purple. Garlic contains anthocyanins which turn garlic purple under the right conditions.
It is perfectly harmless. Alternatively there are many types of garlic which are naturally always purple. Purple garlics are whats known as hard necked garlic.
White garlic is soft necked. Hard neck garlics grow in a stiff stalk these plants are the best source of garlic scrapes in June and all the varieties have varying amounts of purple. You mentioned the strong flavor which to me says you got your hands on some Spanish Roja.
Purple garlic has a purple hue to its papery skin though the inner cloves are the same color as white garlic cloves. It comes from a variety called hardneck garlic. Theres a woody stalk that grows right through the center of each bulb.
The cloves grow around this stalk and tend to be all the same size a bit larger than white garlic cloves. A quick glance at Italian Purple garlic info and we find it is a vigorous variety with a skin decorated with pastel purple vertical blotches. It is famously associated with the Gilroy CA annual garlic festival.
The bulbs are quick maturing and have that attractive purple hue. Early Italian Purple garlic will mature 5 to 10 days earlier than most other garlic varieties. This softneck is excellent for mild climates.
All the garlic at my local SS was purple-skinned last week and Im not sure why. Same price different color. My experience may not be representative or correct at all but I found my bulbs of purple skin garlic to have much bigger individual cloves almost 21 than what Ive seen in white garlic.
The hard heads are grown like a bulb–plant in the fall harvest in the summer and cured dried. Purple garlic is a type of hard head. All the cloves are about the same size.
Flavor-wise they are the same assuming the same freshness. If you can find purple garlic locally itll have the. When garlic is combined with an acid such as vinegar the allicin reacts with amino acids in the garlic to produce rings of carbon-nitrogen called pyrroles.
Pyrroles linked together form polypyrroles which throw colors. Most varietals produce the chemical compounds that provide onion or garlic types of flavors although not all of them are suitable for use in the. In most cases it is likely that your plants just arent ready to be harvested yet.
But there could be some other issues causing the problem. For example you may have chosen a variety of garlic that doesnt work well in your climate. Some do better in.
Hardneck garlic was planted last fall and now they are just starting to turn yellow. Scapes are cut last week and the bottom 1 or 2 leaves are yellow the rest range from 4 to 6 are green. But when I peeked at a few of the bulbs some of them have the outer most red layer split showing the inner white color.
Splits are not big but I am worried. Look for blotchy lesions on the garlic necks leaves and bulbs that steadily grow in size and turn purplebrown. This pathogen lives in soil and is triggered to action by heat and humidity.
Combat it with good airflow around your plants avoid overwatering and wetting foliage and dont overuse high-nitrogen fertilizer. The colors occur when enzymes and amino acids present in garlic react with the sulfur compounds responsible for garlics pungent smell. The reaction causes different multipyrrole molecules to form.
Different types of multipyrrole molecules are responsible for the different pigments.