Sprouted Garlic?
 

Should garlic that has sprouted be thrown away?

I typically buy 3-packs of garlic and more often than not the last bulb has sprouts growing out of it before it gets used. Does the sprouting affect the flavour of the garlic?

What do you typically do with sprouted garlic?

i'm not too sure about that...the same thing happens to me loads!
i just usually chop the sprouts off and it doesn't seem to have done me any harm yet!

I can't find a source on it -- but somewhere in the back of my head, I thought that when onions sprout or when garlic sprouts, it should be thrown out, because they went bad. Same held true for potatoes I thought.

I have used garlic that was a little sprouted, and when it was sliced open, as long as I took out all the sprouty stuff, whcih was in the center of the garlic clove, the garlic had a somewhat bitter taste to it.

According to Alton Brown you should toss it. Not because it will hurt you but because it will be more bitter than the unsprouted kind. As he says, it is so cheap, why bother with sub par stuff?

That does it for me. Alton is my cooking sensi.

Can you provide a link please (or is it in one of his books)?

It is from one of his shows. I would happily tell you which one, but I have seen far too many to recall the specific show. It was news to me when he pointed it out, so it made an impression on me. I will look at a few of the more recent ones that I have seen and see if I can nail down which episode...

Ok, after a tiny bit of research I have discovered the transcript of his "The Bulb of the Night" show with this quote:
AB: That's right. That's because the sprout in the middle is still immature, okay? If
you'd looked down there and seen green, that means that the sprout is getting
ready to pop and that means that it would be bitter. [smells it] God, I love
that fragrance.

The entire transcript can be read at this link: http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Seaso...Transcript.htm

I am pretty sure he went over this in another episode too with a bit more information, but this pretty much confirms what I remember.

I've never had a problem using sprouted garlic. I think its a bit stronger, but everyone has their own tastes.

I'm pretty much a garlic freak, I can't get enough of the stuff.

Thanks teflonian, I have an .avi of that episode I will have to watch tonight.

I've used the sprouts like you would chives. Diced them and put on a baked potato. I usually let old garlic grow, remove the sprouts, and then chuck out the bulb.

It's not going to hurt you i'm sure, but I cut out or throw away any sprouted pieces

I absolutely love garlic. Anyone here eat at the Stinking Rose Restaurant which is basically all garlic stuff?

There is a middle eastern restaurant where I live that serves Shish Taouk with a garlic puree spread - I go just for the spread.