There's an enzymatic change in color sometimes with immature garlic. It's not harmful.

Carol

Thanks Carol - that's what I thought - but didn't know that the garlic was immature. Now that I think about it, I did harvest some garlic before it began to form cloves. The rainy weather was beginning to rot them, so harvested early.

Hope I remember this nice "heads-up" the next time I do beans.

Bejay

Bejay, where have you been ? I have not seen you around for a long time.
The garlic is fine, just looks strange. It can be the garlic itself being immature or also not dried long enough before use. It can also be from copper in the water.

I seem to remember when I was a kid, eating home canned dill pickles. I just always thought garlic was supposed to look that way in pickles, lol!

Linda lou -

Oh, I've been around. Just didn't have much to can. We had such a very cold, rainy winter (cool crops loved it), that I spent most of my time learning to bake. I must say, my sourdough breads are "superb" and some of the sweet type rolls and breads also. My family loves home made mixed flour rolls for sandwiches, etc.

Also have turned my attention to making and brewing home made wine. So far, the limes make great "Skeeter Pea" wine during winter months, when crops are heavy. Now have a bumper crop of plums and presently hovering closely over a primary fermenter, bubbling away.

All-in-all, I knew when I retired that my back yard garden and cooking efforts would have to pay off or we never would make it. So far, God has been good to us - a full freezer, my GD worked hard to turn her live around and is now in the medical field and church. Grand son - just back from Arizona, where he was fighting wild fires.

Soo - I still have lots of beans coming off, and hope to do more dill brine stuff. Plus a bumper crop of apricots must need some attending to. The boysenberries were frozen.

Hope the weather warms - so that I can get enough tomatoes, and want to do Annie's salsa. The last batch went off the shelves fast.

Nice to see every one getting ready for the summer's harvest.

Missed you all. Appreciate all of the wonderful advice over the years - it was a great pleasure and worth every minute of it.

Bejay

Bejay, you do keep busy. That is healthy for you to do.
Glad to hear your GD is doing well now. So heartbreaking when you see them live a bad life.
Good for all the fun things you get to do now.
Me, I am busy working away. I never thought I would start a job at my age, though. I do love it, however.
Yesterday I taught a jams and jellies class. They totally loved it ! They got to try 6 kinds in class. I did demos of 3 of them for them.
Local strawberries are in, so I made strawberry syrup for them.
Keep in touch, Bejay !

My small strawberry patch doesn't produce much - although very tasty berries when it does. It seems crazy, because this is "strawberry country" - and lots of local growers nearby doing great. Their berries, however, are those huge things - pumped up with water - look great, but not much taste usually. I hope to do a "U-pick" soon anyway, and will tell my kids to pick the smaller ones - for better jam making.

How many do you usually have in your canning classes? Sounds like fun. Have you done the jams in the pressure canner with the new settings yet? I did apricots - 2 batches - using the 3-piece weight that I bought awhile back. The first batch siphoned - but sealed, so had to "review" the basics (when will I ever learn?). At least I corrected myself - and the 2nd batch was fine. I let the canner go back to zero - then waited 10 minutes before opening. No problem with the 2nd batch.

I have some fermenting beans in the pantry - mixed with garlic, squash, onion, hot pepper and dill - smelling wonderfully - and when they are finished, intend to chop together into relish and can - again with the pressure canner. I like the idea of not having to lose a lot of water - from the BWB - until another canning session roles around, even tho our mandatory water rationing schedule is over. Nature is so funny - first a drought, then a flood - and our reservoirs are running over this year.

Do you teach for GW or work on your own time?

Nice to see so many folks taking an interest in preserving. With food prices so high now. California used to have some wonderful fruit/veg stands - now only housing subdivisions, and those prices are gone. I'm so fortunate to have enough "dirt" to be able to grow some nice fresh foods on my own.

Bejay