Those are big cloves, I don't grow hardnecks. Good harvest size. What variety was that?

I'm sure they're fine to eat - especially cooked. I will generally cut off the brown parts when using. You sometimes buy cloves in the store which have brown spots.

Is this the first time you've grown and harvested garlic? How did you cure them and then store them? My guess is that they may not have been dried and cured fully before storing. I like to hang my garlic outside to air dry for a week, then shake off any dried dirt, then mesh bag them and put them in my basement near my dehumidifier to ensure full dry for another week. Then commit to normal storage.

Thank you for your thoughts and input. I have grown garlic for several years now and have never had this problem. I harvest, lay on a wire shelf in the garage (with excellent air circulation) for several weeks with leaves still attached, then clean them up a bit and return them to the shelf and we use them as needed. The shelf is not exposed to any direct sunlight but the garage has bright light due to a row of windows in the garage door. I forget what variety they are since they were grown from bulbs i saved from the previous year's harvest. I will venture a guess that they are organic german red. Yes, the cloves are enormous - almost like a small italian plum or pecan. Thanks again and happy growing!

There was another garlic posting that has a good article linked in it, identifying it as fusarium.

Brown spots on garlic cloves

great suggestions - thanks. I'm still not sure it's fusarium since the browning stays very superficial, never causing deep rotting areas. I will take precautions next fall and use some of the suggestions about soaking in a baking soda mix, etc.

happy planting!