Why Does My Garlic Turn Blue?

I was getting ready to write a post about the PERFECT dill pickle, when this happened...

Looks scary, huh? Sometimes this happens to me and sometimes it doesn't, so I decided to look into what was going on. From what I found:

"Garlic contains anthocyanins, water-soluble pigments that turn blue, green or purple in an acid solution. While this color transformation tends to occur more often with immature garlic, it can differ among cloves within the same head of garlic. The garlic flavor remains unchanged, and it totally edible without bodily harm."

And since I had just picked up some garlic from the farmer's market last weekend versus buying garlic that had been sitting in a basket in the grocery store for who-knows-how-long, that pretty much sums it up: Younger garlic will most likely turn blue/green when you pickle. 

So, it looks like this first batch of pickles will be destined for only me and my husband, as previous experience has told me that people who don't know this scientific tidbit tend to freak out when they see it. As much as I would love to use local, fresh garlic for my pickles when pickling cukes are in season, it ain't happening and I'll be digging into that basket at the grocery store.