Natures Wonder Drug (Garlic)

Member Name: steerpyke

Product:	Garlic
Date:	14/12/04 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very versatile, easy to grow, pick it for free

Disadvantages: none unless you are undead

Garlic is one of the easiest thing to grow in the garden, the most useful herb to have in the house and boasts one of the most interesting heritages of all plants. Grown from seeds or cloves, it is very cold tolerant and so may be planted before the end of the frosts. It does best in rich well drained soils, does not like too much water and although will grow in shady areas will produce the biggest bulbs in the sunniest parts of the garden. I find that if you cut back the flower stalks in the summer all the plants energy will be directed to the growth of the bulb. Once harvested if you braid the leaves into a rope it will give your kitchen that old world garden kitchen look and keeps the bulbs to hand, just cut them off as required, and it will make the place smell nice, at least until they dry out.

Garlic has a fine heritage, remains of the plant has been found in caves known to be inhabited 10,000 ago, and even appears on a Sumerian tablet as a prescription 3000 years ago. Garlic appears throughout the entire ancient world but is particularly associated with the Egyptians, they were even known as "the stinking ones" due to the amount they ate and the affect on their breath. It appears that the Egyptians would swear on Garlic in the same way that today people swear on the Bible. It was so revered that during the building of one pyramid a shortage of garlic in the builders rations led to one of the worlds first recorded strikes.

Greek athletes ate garlic before races and chewed it in battle, 1000 greek warriors advancing shoulder to shoulder munching on half a bulb of garlic each was probably more off putting to the enemy than the wounds that might be inflicted. Ancient physicians such as Hippocrates, Dioscorides and Pliny recommended garlic for a range of ailments, many of which have been supported by modern medicine. It as also connected with warriors in Anglo-Saxon times and the name we use today comes from the name Gar-Leac or Spear Leek as they knew it to be called.

Over the years as garlic came to be associated with the lower classes of society, the upper classes came to hate it and the name "stinking rose" became its adopted nickname. Though garlic went out of fashion as a food resource, it retained its uses as a healing substance and was particularly endorsed by the herbalist nicholas Culpeper. During World War One, British, French and Russian physicians used garlic juice to treat infected battle wounds as well as dysentery. Even during the Second World War, when Antibiotics had become a standard replacement for herbal cures, the Russian casualty rate was so high that garlic was once agin used as a back up for treating wounds, so much so that it was called "Russian Penicillin".

Even today garlic has many uses for the kitchen gardener. As stated above, garlic is a useful natural antibiotic. This is because garlic contains alliin. By itself alliin has no medicinal value, but when it is cruched, chopped orchewed, the chemical comes into contact with an enzyme which creates allicin, which is a powerful antibiotic. Chemistry lesson over.

There are many medications relating to heart problems. Some reduce blood pressure, some decrease cholesterol and others reduce the likelihood of blood clots that cause strokes. Garlic does all of these things and has been more recently regarded as being at least as potent as aspirin.

Other uses are reducing blood sugar levels in diabetics, helping to eliminate lead and other toxic metals from the blood and even to reduce the risk of stomach cancer. Modern research has even backed up the traditional belief that it helps slow and even reverse the effects of Leprosy.

For most uses, garlic should be crushed or chewed and is best taken as part of a meal, there by making use of its practical healing properties and its strong flavour. For use on the skin it should be made into a juice extract or a tincture. There are two type of infusion that can be extracted. Either steep about six choped cloves in cool water for six hours or soak a cup of crushed garlic in brandy for two weeks. The former can be drunk in large amounts, the later limit to three table spoons a day.

The normal warnings appy to the use of garlic and before using it as a regular medicine, especially on the skin, it is wise to check with your doctor.

In folk tradition garlic hung in the house will repel evil, thieves and envy and promote health. It was also carried by sailors to prevent shipwrecks, and brides to bring them luck in their new marriage. Garlic is known to most people as a warding for evil, witches and especialy Vampires.

"Bizi ko Visticia od biloga luka"
"She runs from it like a witch from white garlic"
Transylvanian folk-saying.

vampirism and the traditions that go with it are drawn largely from Slavic pagan folk traditions. It was hung around the house to prevent the shapeshifting creatures from entering the house. People even slept with cloves in their mouths to create a protective field around them. This I would not recommend for as recently as 1973 a 68 year old polish immigrant, living in perpetual fear of vampires was found to have choked to death in his sleep.

So there you have it, a versatile and useful culinary and medicinal plant with a great heritage and easy to grow in the garden, and if you use it for nothing else it will make your garden smell wonderful.

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