Why does Laba garlic turn green, and why does it turn yellow after being stored for a long time? Are there any benefits to eating Laba garlic?

How can you eat dumplings or noodles without a little vinegar? Yes, it is Laba vinegar.

Pickling Laba garlic is a major custom in the north in winter. When the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month comes, people will soak the garlic in vinegar and then seal it. When the Chinese New Year comes, a bottle of green Laba garlic is born. The ingredients for Laba garlic are very simple, only garlic and vinegar are needed, but not everyone can pickle it well. Some people's garlic turns green quickly, while others' garlic still does not turn green after pickling for a month. Why is this? First of all, we need to know why Laba garlic turns green.

Garlic needs to go through a complex reaction process to turn from white to green, and this reaction is called "enzyme reaction".

As the name suggests, the role of enzymes is crucial in this reaction. Enzymes are essentially a type of protein that exists inside cells and can play a specific catalytic role in the body of an organism. There is such an enzyme inside garlic cells, and vinegar is needed to release this enzyme. After the garlic is soaked in vinegar, the acidic environment will cause the permeability of the cells to increase significantly, so the enzymes in the garlic cells will be released. Now that the enzyme is available, a key condition factor is needed to promote the reaction, that is, low temperature. The low temperature environment can activate these released enzymes and trigger an enzymatic reaction.

Enzymatic reactions require a low temperature environment, so it is wrong to place the bottle of pickled Laba garlic next to the heater. The high temperature environment may be the key factor that causes the garlic to fail to change color.

Under low temperature, the activated enzymes will promote the reaction between amino acids in garlic and specific acids, which will form yellow pigments, so the garlic will gradually turn yellow. On the other hand, garlic also contains many sulfur compounds, which will produce blue pigments when metabolized. What color will yellow plus blue become? Yes, green.

The green color of Laba garlic is actually the result of the superposition of yellow pigment and blue pigment, so this green does not look very natural, and even gives people a "biochemical" feeling. It is for this reason that Laba garlic will undergo a secondary color change after being left for a long time.

The blue pigment produced by the metabolism of sulfur-containing compounds is very unstable and will gradually decompose over time. When the blue pigment disappears, only the yellow pigment will remain, so the Laba garlic will turn from green to yellow again. Objectively speaking, the "biochemical green" of Laba garlic does not seem very appetizing, so is eating Laba garlic good for the body?

After being pickled, does the nutritional value of garlic change from white to green? The answer is yes.

The main nutritional value of garlic lies in the various soluble vitamins, trace elements and antioxidant capacity it contains. After soaking, these nutrients and functions of garlic will change. Soluble vitamins will drop by about one-third, while iron content will double, manganese content will increase fourfold, and selenium content will drop by 10%. Because the antioxidant capacity of garlic mainly comes from selenium, the antioxidant capacity of Laba garlic will also drop by about 20% compared to fresh garlic. The nutritional value of Laba garlic can be said to have both ups and downs compared to fresh garlic, and the overall change is not very large, but in the actual consumption process, eating Laba garlic has obvious advantages.

Although garlic is very nutritious, it is meaningless to discuss its effects without considering the dosage.

Normally, we eat garlic as a condiment or side dish. The amount of consumption can be said to be very limited. Garlic is very irritating and can easily irritate the stomach and intestines, so we can't eat too much. No matter how nutritious something is, if the amount is so small, the effect it can play can basically be ignored. But Laba garlic is different. After being pickled, the irritation of Laba garlic disappears, and the consumption is significantly increased. You can even use Laba garlic directly as the main ingredient to cook dishes. When the amount is increased, the tonic effect can be shown.

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