The white part of the clove will get brown and nasty sometimes, or really dessicated—shrivelled and dark yellow. The sprout can be a little bitter, but they are also okay to eat.

I think the sprouts in the middle cause some people mild tummy aches, although if I remember correctly that’s less of a problem if it’s well cooked.

I remember Battali saying once that when he had a bunch of sprouted garlic, they would do a one-off dish of sauteed sprouts. Imagine the prep time in picking the sprouts out of that much garlene*.

*garlene = Justin Wilson pronunciation. I miss that dude.

Justin Wilson

He nailed me with a big ole kiss at a trade show once, after I told him how much I enjoyed his show! Scared the crap outta me!

AND AND AND!!! (the Battali connection and also garlic)—I finally got to eat at Salumi on Friday! Mario Battali’s dad’s cured meat and provolone decadence, slathered with chopped garlic on one side the bread and pesto on the other!

I need to try that again next time I’m there, but my sandwich had two big problems last time: the bread (hard as a rock) and the peppers/onions (waterlogged and bitter). I think I’ll try the gnocchi next time if it’s available.

http://www.aromacookery.com/aromacookery/2004/11/recipe_sauteed_.html

For when your sprouts are REALLY out of control.

thanks for the info, friends.

i’m cooking a lot now (a man, alone, first time in years) so this is but the first of many basic cooking questions i’m sure you’ll get in coming months.

see i said ‘basic cooking questions’ instead of ‘dumb cooking questions’ aren’t you proud of my self-esteem?

Never forget: cheese mold = ok; bread mold = not.

But all rules have exceptions! I had to toss out the solid-green mozzarella last night.

Ew.

jergins, what did you use the garlic for?

spaghetti with meat and butter and fresh tomatoes and garlic. i cooked the garlic and meat up together to make for a zesty garnishing! (i have no idea, i just threw it all in there, come what may. it was actually all way too greazy and gave me a headache. so, lesson learned. but at least it wasn’t because of bad garlic)

I find that the fresher the garlic, the harder it is to peel. Of course, now I have one of these, all garlic is easy to peel. But it’s a good general rule.