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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum BWCA Food and Recipes FoodSaver Foolishness and Exploding Garlic |
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12/10/2013 08:39PM (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
I came home from the grocery store a couple of weeks ago with three heads of garlic. As we don't use garlic all that much, I thought I'd vacuum seal two of them to keep them fresh longer. Imagine my surprise when I saw that my tightly sealed garlic had blown up like a balloon! Can anyone explain what's happened here to cause the garlic to form gasses and expand?
Sooner or later this thing's going to explode, and startle whoever is near.
Sooner or later this thing's going to explode, and startle whoever is near.
"To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize" - Voltaire
12/10/2013 08:57PM
looks similar to how it feels in the tummy?
this just in from Google: "Garlic can hold Clostridium botulinum spores which can find a favorable environment to produce the bacteria and toxin. Remember what happens when there is a swelled top on a canned product?.. that is because the anaerobic bacteria have grown and in their growth process, releases toxins & gas."
hope this helps!
this just in from Google: "Garlic can hold Clostridium botulinum spores which can find a favorable environment to produce the bacteria and toxin. Remember what happens when there is a swelled top on a canned product?.. that is because the anaerobic bacteria have grown and in their growth process, releases toxins & gas."
hope this helps!
12/10/2013 09:24PM
quote Mocha: "looks similar to how it feels in the tummy?
this just in from Google: "Garlic can hold Clostridium botulinum spores which can find a favorable environment to produce the bacteria and toxin. Remember what happens when there is a swelled top on a canned product?.. that is because the anaerobic bacteria have grown and in their growth process, releases toxins & gas."
hope this helps!"
Thanks, Sheryl. It helps that I won't be getting sick from my little science project. I guess I'll be throwing these out now.
"To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize" - Voltaire
12/11/2013 08:57AM
Garlic bulbs are alive and actively respire like all other living organisms. Since those bulbs do not look to be rotting yet, the gas causing that bubble is most likely only CO2. Garlic bulbs can keep up to nine months if stored in cool dry places. Only foods that have been cooked at a temperature high enough to stop all respiration and enzymatic activity (to kill all living cells) should be vacuum sealed.
12/12/2013 05:32PM
quote billconner: "I think garlic should be left to dry, not sealed."
Yep, that's why they sell unfinished clay jars with holes in them to store garlic bulbs.
It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop. -Confucius
02/09/2014 08:26PM
If it is CO2 then it will put out a fire. Take a wood match light it, cut a whole in the bag and stick the match in and see if it goes out.
But plants with photosynthesis produce oxygen. In that case, it will burn all the brighter. Just like blowing on a campfire.
But plants with photosynthesis produce oxygen. In that case, it will burn all the brighter. Just like blowing on a campfire.
02/13/2014 09:00PM
The Clostridial genera of bacteria--common soil anaerobes--are known for gas production (probably hydrogen sulfide), but my guess is that this is just a benign product of organic decomposition present despite the fact that no signs of garlicious decay are evident.
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