Wondering about why you have translucent garlic between the healthy cloves?, you are in the right place, transparent cloves is considered an advanced stage of the physiological procedure, and it is called in this case waxy breakdown garlic, to explain even further, it is waxy decomposition happen initially before harvest time which will lead eventually to sticky and slightly translucent garlic, it may affect few to all the cloves, and it can spread if it did not handled properly.

 

To demonstrate this issue even further, here you will find all the information about this condition, and also discuss the possibility of usability in cooking, and of course how to prevent this issue from happening and reducing the spreading when you find it, and now straightforward to the point.

you will find in this topic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 What is the reason behind waxy breakdown garlic (translucent) cloves?

First thing first, in order to understand this issue, you must know the reasons and the circumstances behind the waxy garlic, like we said earlier, it is considered a physiological condition, and it is not disease, generally it happens during the growing and precisely in post harvest time, and the main factor is the high temperature (68-75 °F) during that time, which is not a good thing because it is literally harm many healthy cloves. read more.

 

In addition, there is another factor may cause this issue, which is the lack of oxygen during the transporting or in the storage spaces, causing by that developing this issue and help it even more to happen.

 

Another key point to consider, waxy breakdown garlic can happen also when you proceed the curing process, and you are not respecting the necessary conditions for the success of this operation, such as exposing the heads to the sunlight which will prevent them from curing and also provoke this issue to develop.

 

 

 

 

2 Is it safe to eat translucent and waxy breakdown garlic cloves?

Unless you want to get sick from eating those translucent and waxy garlic cloves, it is better for you and your family to avoid using them either in cooking or anything that including consuming meals, because as far the science says and what is known, it is better to eat healthy white garlic cloves that contain the good benefits rather those transparent and sticky ones.

 

Additionally, if you think of it, it is not that costly vegetable that you will risk your health because of it, so what is best is to throw them without any regret, instead of this you should consider how to prevent this issue in the future, and this what you will find it below.

 

 

3 How to prevent waxy breakdown garlic from happening?

 

Now that we know the main reasons that causing this issue, it is time to handle it from its roots, firstly what you should do is:

 

1. You should inspect and search between your garlic cloves about any symptoms that are about to happen, such as sticky and soft cloves that are slightly translucent and about to rot.
2. When you select those affected cloves, you should remove and throw them away, even if you find some cloves are half effected it is better to lose them in order to prevent any spreading from happening and developing into something bigger, and believe me when I tell you, either i and you wish that not happen to your cloves.
3. When you complete the removing process, it is time to cure your vegetable, you should be aware that you have two options here, either by curing them by the air circulation, or you can use a ventilator if you don’t have a shady space that is away from any sunlight exposure.
4. The process of curing your vegetable is basically about hanging your garlic cloves and letting the air do its job, this process will take approximately around 4 weeks to complete, either by hanging them in your garden, or using the ventilator inside your house, both methods do quite the job.
5. After the curing process is finished, it is time either using your vegetable, or storing it for later use, here what you should take into account, is providing the good storage conditions, such as dry and dark space, if you don’t have those you can use ventilator also as it is a good option to solve the lake of air circulation.

 

 

Under the previous precautions, you will prevent any waxy breakdown garlic from happening, and of course you can enjoy with much more healthy cloves to use them in your meals as a cooked or raw, both ways are healthy to you.

 

 

 

 

 

4 Conclusion:

 

In a short brief from the above, translucent garlic cloves is an advanced physiological condition that is called waxy breakdown garlic, the reasons behind it are: the high temperature during the growing and before harvesting, it can happen also if there is diminution of oxygen when storing or transporting, it may also happen because of sunlight hit when curing this vegetable.

 

You should be aware that those transparent garlic cloves are not safe to eat, and it is best to avoid and throw them away, in order to prevent and reduce this issue in the future, inspect your vegetable and remove any sticky and soft cloves, after that you must cure your vegetable for four weeks, and then you should store it in dry and dark place where there is air circulation is existing, if not use a ventilator instead.

 

Moreover, if you want to enjoy with much more fresh garlic you should consider growing it, if you like this topic, and you have other opinions and suggestions, you are welcome below.