Once garlic has been peeled or chopped, its storage requirements change. Cut or peeled garlic should be handled carefully and refrigerated when appropriate.
One especially important food-safety point involves garlic stored in oil.
Garlic-in-oil mixtures can create an environment favorable to the growth of Clostridium botulinum if prepared and stored improperly. Because botulism can be extremely serious, homemade garlic oil should not simply be left at room temperature for extended periods.
Follow a tested food-preservation method and appropriate refrigeration guidance rather than relying on appearance or smell.
What About Garlic That Has Sprouted?
This is where social-media advice can become unnecessarily dramatic.
Sometimes you’ll cut open a garlic clove and find a green shoot growing through the center.
Does that mean the garlic is poisonous?
Not necessarily.
Sprouting generally means that the garlic is older and beginning to grow.
A sprouted clove may have a somewhat different or more bitter flavor, but sprouting itself does not automatically make garlic unsafe to eat.
