Garlic, Do you remove the green stem?

[Elf]

Growing up watching Julia, Joc and Jeff Smith I always smash the garlic clove and remove the green stem, they said it added bittterness to the dish. Now all of the chefs just smash and cut it up whithout removing the gteen stem. Am just all school or is there a difference?

 

[cjs]

How many mother sauces are there and what are they?

what is a sauce and what is a gravy?

What's the best way to shell a hard cooked egg?

Is it best to salt & pepper steak before or after cooking?

Is it best to remove the green stem from a clove a garlic?



All these questions are guaranteed to start a debate!!

I weigh in on the side of using the green stem. Years ago Jacques Pepin said it was fine and I listen to whatever he has to say!! There will be as many cooks saying to discard it also. Maybe you should taste it and if it is objectionable to you, discard it. (hmmm, I'd never thot of that before.)

 

[ChefJune]

If it's going to be a long cooked dish with lots of other "stuff" in it, I don't bother, but if garlic is a dominant flavor in the dish I always remove it. I think it adds a bitter overtone to the dish.

With really young, fresh garlic, it doesn't make a difference, but when the garlic comes from the grocery store, and some of those sprouts are big and woody, I get rid of 'em.

Just my $.02

That was another of those funny running debates Julia and Jacques had.... she said take em out, he'd pick up the sprouts and eat them!

 

[kitchenelf]

If they are huge I take them out - but I don't know why I take them out - I've never actually tasted it to find out if it's bitter

 

[FryBoy]

If the green sprout is sticking out of the clove of garlic, I cut it off, but I ignore the part within the clove.

Variation on a theme: do you cut off the root end of the clove? I usually do.

 

[urmaniac13]

I always just chop them up and use them with the cloves. I don't remember having them grown so big, though I just buy a few bulbs at a time and I use them up before any kind of "deformation" occurs...

 

[Seven S]

i have seen jacques pepin and even his daughter mention that the green sprout isnt bitter... then a while back i believe it was Cooks magazine had a sampling of making some kind of cream sauce with the green sprouts, and a similar batch without and they concluded there was a bitter taste.... i would certainly like to see robert wolke (what einstein told his cook) conduct an experiment, however, this is a great question... i have seen italians remove it without knowing why and i personally remove it thinking of the bitterness but never done a side-by-side comparison... chefjune did point out that the older cloves are the ones that sprout, and so the pungency of the whole garlic clove itself (regardless of whether it has or hasnt a green sprout in it) will be much more prominent in an older clove versus a younger one.... i have read before that the great majority of garlic is grown on the us west coast therefore the recipes written in that area of the country need to be adjusted when trying them on the east coast, since, by the time the garlic has been picked and handled annd transported to the east coast, the pungency and stronger taste has been developed and can totally be overpowering... thomas keller seems to always simmer his garlic cloves in several changes of milk before using them to tame them down

 

[scott123]

I've tasted dishes with and without the green sprout and it's definitely bitter. I always remove it unless I know, for a fact, that the garlic is very fresh and not much of a sprout has formed.

I feel about a hundred times stronger about the sprouts in onions. Those are, imo, vile tasting, and I go to great lengths to remove them.

 

[FryBoy]

I've tasted dishes with and without the green sprout and it's definitely bitter. I always remove it unless I know, for a fact, that the garlic is very fresh and not much of a sprout has formed.

I feel about a hundred times stronger about the sprouts in onions. Those are, imo, vile tasting, and I go to great lengths to remove them.

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[vagriller]

If I see the sprout I take it out. Never really thought about why I did though.

 

[TexanFrench]

Garlic cooked Julia's way, without the sprout, is sort of "buttery" tasting, IMO. With the sprout, it's sharper. Depends on what flavor you want, and what you're putting it in. In a robust spicy sauce, the sprout won't matter. In a creamy sauce, it probably will.

 

[buckytom]

good answer texasfrench. i always remove the tiny, hardened root end, but will leave the sprout if i want that really sharp garlic taste. usually in dishes or marinades that require raw garlic. i wouldn't necessarily call young sprouts bitter, but they are strong.

 

[Michael in FtW]

i always remove both the root and stem ends ... even if they are not sprouting. Why? That's the way grandma taught me to do it!

 

[YT2095]

I grow my own garlic, and never take out the green, in fact just before they`re ready to pick, they throw a large shoot up from the middle with a baby seed pod, we take these off and cook with those too (use like garlic chives) a few weeks later, the garlic`s ready to pick

 

[licia]

If the dish calls for several cloves, I remove them, but if it is just a few, I don't.

 

[jennyema]

If it's going to be a long cooked dish with lots of other "stuff" in it, I don't bother, but if garlic is a dominant flavor in the dish I always remove it. I think it adds a bitter overtone to the dish.

With really young, fresh garlic, it doesn't make a difference, but when the garlic comes from the grocery store, and some of those sprouts are big and woody, I get rid of 'em.

Just my $.02

My 2 cents, too.

 

[Claire]

D'ya know, it is a little bitter. But, say what you will, I like that flavor. If I'm only cooking for us, I leave it in. If I'm expecting guests, I take it out.

 

[GB]

If when I smash the clove the sprout is easy to pick out then I will, but I do not go to any great lengths to get it out. I have never noticed a taste difference, but I also have never done a side by side comparison or even just tasted the sprout on its own.

 

[Mylegsbig]

can someone give me the 411 on the sprouts?

I thought only old garlic sprouted?

when i shop for garlic i smash into a clove, if there is green sprout inside i dont buy it

i go to another market and pick some up, for one it looks disgusting, for another i guess I have been misinfomed .. i thought they sprouted when they got old

 

[Steve A]

One thing I noticed over the years of mincing garlic ahead of time, if you're planning on holding it for any duration, removing the green sprout will keep the garlic from discoloring.

One of my sous' used to leave the sprout in and always wondered why my batches lasted longer than his... it was the sprout, Sprout.

Ciao,