Brown Garlic?

[CjH]

I bought a bulb of garlic the other day, and when I broke it apart to get a clove out, I noticed that some of the cloves were brownish in color. What causes this? Are they still edible?

 

[Wyogal]

I toss those. When buying garlic, I look for a tight head, unbroken "skin." But, sometimes that happens.

 

[Andy M.]

They've started to spoil. If the brown is just a spot or two, I just cut it out and use the rest. Otherwise, I toss it.

Lately this has been happening a lot with me. I find switching to the garlic that has a purplish outer skin to be more spot-free.

 

[RavenWhite]

Toss if to many spots. If theres just a couple of small ones just cut them off the garlic if you can. I cook with garlic a lot and I run into this problem about every time.

 

[Uncle Bob]

They've started to spoil. If the brown is just a spot or two, I just cut it out and use the rest. Otherwise, I toss it.

Lately this has been happening a lot with me. I find switching to the garlic that has a purplish outer skin to be more spot-free.

Garlic is seasonal...I think maybe we are winding up the white (California) crop...which will be getting kinda old, dark, and sprouting internally. The new crop should be coming soon....In the interim a lot of wholesalers/retailers switch over to what I've always called "Mexican" (purple) garlic due to it's availability and freshness
Check me out on this, as right now I've gotta run (actually amble) out to my car and run some errands..