My Garlic Has a Green Stem. Should I Remove It?

You know your garlic is old when it starts trying to give birth to a new generation of garlic. The very center of a clove of garlic is called the germ. And when this germ sprouts a little green stem, it means that the garlic has started to germinate. Traditional cooking wisdom tells us to remove this green part because it will have a strong and bitter flavor. Is this true? Does the green stem on garlic actually affect the flavor of your dish?

I’ll be honest, I’m a researcher, not an experimenter. I would not have the patience to test this for myself, although I do experiment when the potential outcome is worth the trouble. However, if you’ve read many of the articles on this site, or similar sites, you’ll realize that traditional cooking wisdom is often completely bogus. For example, the wisdom concerning throwing away unopened mussels or clams.

One thing to keep in mind is that garlic that has sprouted and has a visible green stem is old garlic. While it may still be fine to use, it may also be shriveled and dry. The examples in the image above are obviously a bit past their prime. But, assuming that garlic with a green stem is still usable, will it be bitter? Unlike me, another writer and a much more accomplished cook, David Lebovitz, decided to check this out for himself. He, like myself, had always removed any green sprout from old, stored garlic, because it might be bitter. However, says David:

…I’ve never really put it to the test. So when a friend, who worked closely with Marcella Hazan (an expert on Italian cuisine) told me that Marcella never removed the green germ (her reasoning being that since it was new garlic in the making, it was tender and not bitter), I figured it would be interesting to see – and taste – if removing it really did make a difference.

Go ahead and see what David found out about the green stems in garlic cloves, and his easy-going conclusion.

Why You Should Stop Obliterating Your Garlic

David also mentions that he prefers slicing garlic for frying rather than mincing it; a habit I share. The culinary obsession with crushing, grating, or mincing garlic into an unrecognizable paste is largely an aesthetic habit that works against how garlic actually behaves in a pan.

When you rupture plant cells in garlic, the enzyme alliinase interacts with alliin to create allicin, the compound responsible for raw garlic’s sharp, pungent bite. The more finely you chop, puree, or press a clove, the more cellular damage you cause, creating an aggressive, volatile blast of sulfur compounds. In delicate raw applications like aioli or salad dressings, that intense emulsified paste can easily turn harsh and acrid. In a hot skillet, microscopic garlic mince burns in seconds, turning irrecoverably bitter before your other aromatics have even started to soften.

Unless a recipe specifically requires garlic to disappear invisibly into an emulsion, pulverizing it is counterproductive. Garlic performs significantly better when sliced, smashed, or roughly chopped. Larger pieces release flavor more steadily into the cooking fat, resist scorching, and allow the sugars in the clove to soften and sweeten as they cook.

If you want more garlic flavor in a cooked dish, don’t press the life out of one clove. Simply chop two or three cloves roughly and let gentle heat do the work.