7/28/15

I have noticed with time, the blue in the garlic is really started to fade and some garlics are almost white again. I also noticed that the pickles are a lot darker green and look more like pickles than cucumbers.

Pickle Tasting!

The first time the pickles were tasted was by my brother 1 week after I made them. They were so bad he had to spit them out. 2 weeks after I made them we tried them again. This time they weren't as bad. They were still spicy because of the garlic but you could tell they were becoming more like pickles. They were decently crunchy also. 3 weeks after I made them they taste like spicy pickles and they are fairly good/ normal.

Still blue!

The garlic still turned blue though it wasn't as dark. I researched a little more and have found that it could also be because I didn't use distilled water. There is a possibility that there is metal traces in our water.


Either way, the garlic is still edible/doesn't affect the pickles. Sometimes it just turns blue for no reason.

Fermentation take 2

Since yesterday I learned why my garlic might have turned blue, I decided to do my 2nd trial of my fermentation project and this time I left out the vinegar in hopes that the garlic will not turn blue. I used the same exact process and recipe-minus the vinegar.

7/20/15

The blue garlic is starting to lighten. After doing a little research, I might have found out why it turned blue to begin with.
There is acid in the brine and so when the acidic vinegar is mixed with the garlic, it ruptures the cell membranes of the garlic which allows the amino acids and sulfur to mix. The blue pigment is when a certain enzyme is real eased and also mixes with the amino acids.

Even so, the garlic is still safe to eat and doesn't affect the pickles.

It has now been a little over 24 hours since the jar caps have popped. The garlic in each jar is starting to turn blue.

Pictures!

Cucumbers soaking in water

Jars in hot water

Packed jars

Garlic clove, peppercorn, and dill up close