Don’t discard sprouted garlic! Grow them in water instead. Homegrown garlic sprouts add great flavour to omelette, noodles, salad, stir-fry, etc.
Have you ever seen garlic sprouting? If yes, did you throw the sprouted garlic into the bin? I bet some of you did. In fact, you have two other choices: 1. pull out the young shoots (which have a slightly bitter taste) from the bulb, then use the garlic as normal. 2. Let the sprouts grow in water then use them the same way as you would do with spring onion.
A personal memory
About 10 days ago, I noticed several bulbs of garlic in my kitchen had small green shoots in the middle. This reminded me that when I was growing up in China my father regularly grew garlic sprouts on our window sill. I still vividly remember how he peeled each garlic clove with great patient, then placed them carefully into a blue porcelain dish. He’d ask me to look after them by pouring a little water into the dish from time to time. I was very pleased to get involved and fascinated by how fast those green shoots grew…
How to grow garlic sprouts
With those sweet memories in mind, I planted all my sprouted garlic in water. This is how I grow them:
- Separate the garlic cloves by hand. Peel each clove (Do not cut off the root end of the clove).
- In a small flat-bottomed container (I use a tapas dish), stand the peeled cloves one beside another, with the sprouting end facing up. Keep them reasonably loose as they will expand when growing.
- Pour a little water into the dish (just enough to cover the roots) then leave it on a window sill. Check the water level every day. Top up when necessary.
How to use garlic sprouts
My garlic sprouts grew to over 20cm (about 8 inches) tall within a week. They resemble Chinese chives in appearance and have a mild garlic flavour. The other day I made an omelette with my freshly harvested garlic sprouts. It was simple to prepare and very tasty indeed. I also used them in Sichuan hot and sour glass noodle soup, instead of using spring onion. It worked very well too. There are in fact many ways to serve garlic sprouts, as a flavouring or garnish, just like how you use spring onions in various dishes.
Omelette with homegrown garlic sprouts
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- A handful garlic sprouts - chopped
- A pinch salt
- 2 teaspoon water
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
Instructions
- Put eggs, garlic sprouts, salt and water into a bowl. Beat until the egg white and yolk are well combined.
- Heat up the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat. Pour in the egg mixture. Give it a good swirl.
- Turn the omelette over when the first side becomes golden brown. Cook until the other side is done.
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Hope you find this post useful and interesting. If you are planning to grow some garlic sprouts and have young children, get them involved if possible. It will leave them with lovely memories to cherish for years to come (actually that’s the premier reason why I decided to write this post).
I do this too…but not in water in Soil. Must try the water method. thank you for sharing this
I love your story. I was just planting them out in the garden. I can’t wait for them to grow bigger now. They will look lovely in a little ceramic saucer that I have .
Thank you Kathleen! Hope you’ll have a great harvest and cook some yummy dishes with them.
Up up up, good
Yay! I did it! I loved your idea of growing garlic sprouts so I decided to do that last week and I have such pretty sprouts in the kitche now! 😀 yay! Thank you so much for this tip Wei!! 🙂 Now I have to figure out how to do that with green onions…I use so much of that! Hmmm
That’s great news! Home grown herbs are so handy to have. Good luck on the green onions!