Lovely when roasted (Garlic)

Member Name: enlightened_one

Product:	Garlic
Date:	24/02/07 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very good for your health

Disadvantages: Bad breath

Back again with probably one of the most used herbs in the cooking world – Garlic

The amount of time I hear people say I hate Garlic and won’t cook with it, or I don’t like the smell of it. They are so ignorant they don’t even know it’s used in most everyday things ranging from peri-peri sauce to ready meals and in lots of tinned food like soups etc.

How can you not love the smell of roasted garlic :)

As you may be able to tell I love garlic and I must go through a clump a week, its great with a massive amount of different foods, just don’t use to much of it. This is where people probably make the mistake; too much Garlic can taint the food and kill the flavour of the meat.

Quite a bit of information about the Garlic coming up so hear goes.

Garlic - Allium sativum

***The Plant***

Garlic also goes by the names of Clove garlic and originates from India and Central Asia and is one of the oldest valued plants. In Greek legend, Odysseus used Moly (wild garlic) as a charm to keep the sorceress (Circe) from turning into a pig.

The Egyptians used it for its medicinal properties and also fed the slave’s that where building the pyramids daily to sustain there strength, the Romans are believed to have introduced it to Britain. The common name is said to have been taken from the Anglo-Saxon name of “leac” which means pot herb, and “gar” a lance, after the shape of the stem.

During the First World War, spaghnum moss use to be soaked in garlic juice and used as an antiseptic wound dressing. Old time stories of a cure for whooping coughs was to put a clove of garlic in the shoe of the sufferer, if it didn’t cure the cough I suppose there feet smelt better.

A tradition which is still used today is that garlic will rid of you of an unwanted guest :)

***Species***

Garlic is a hardy perennial that is grown as an annual and can grow between 16-24 inches, and a bulb made up of several cloves enclosed in a white papery skin is produced at the base. The cloves vary in colour from white to pink with a green stem, eventually producing white or pink flowers in warm climates.

***Cultivation***

Don’t use the supermarket garlic as this hasn’t got protection against white rot. You need to be looking for garlic that is for growing and not eating. I picked some up from Wilkinson’s last week for £1.50 for three clumps; I split these into the smaller cloves then plant out direct into the ground, I think I got about 20 cloves altogether so all being well I should have 20 clumps at the end of the season.

Plant garlic in the first month of spring, with the pointed end up into holes about an inch deep and plant 6 inches apart, feed with a good liquid fertilizer and keep well watered. You can also plant garlic in the autumn but it will need protecting it the temperature drops below 5oF.

Hopefully by the end of the summer they will be well matured, a good sign is the top growth will start to change colour and will fall over. Tying the stems in a knot is said to increase the size of the clove. Ease the bulbs out of the ground once the leaves lose there greenness, and leave to dry in the sun for a few days if you can or bring indoors if there is rain forecast. Hang them up and place somewhere cool and dry.

Garlic can be planted in containers, it’s also a very good companion plant for roses to help ward of black spot.

***Pests***

Garlic can suffer from white rot, which causes a yellowing of the foliage and a fungal growth on the bulb. The only way to stop this is to dig up the effected plants and avoid using the ground again for garlic

***Medicinal***

Garlic juice is used as an insect repellent and neutralizes the poisons of bites and stings. It’s also used to reduce blood pressure, and is a useful guardian against strokes. It has also been used with great effect in controlling diarrhoea, TB, Whooping cough, typhoid and hepatitis.

Very good for fungal infections and is used to help cure worms, It’s also shown to be a good cure to lower blood sugar levels, and is being suggested it maybe help control diabetes.

Herbalists consider garlic to be a first rate herb that can be used in tonics to cure digestive problems, toothache, earache, coughs and colds. I can say I have used it on toothache and it works for a while, until you can get to the dentist.

Externally garlic can be rubbed into boils and unbroken chilblains.

***Culinary***

Where would we be without garlic in the kitchen, a good tip is to split it in half and cut the green piece out of the middle as this is meant to be the bit that gives of the bad breath. I don’t personally bother just crush or thinly slice it to use in cooking.

Divide the garlic and place under a leg of lamb and roast, and slivers of garlic can be placed under the skin to give of a wonderful flavour. I like to cut a whole clump up in half with half a lemon and stuff it into the cavity of a chicken.

To make a flavoured olive oil place a whole clove in a bottle of olive oil and leave, simply as that.

Another way to avoid the bad breath is to eat parsley or basil, mint or thyme all of which are supposed to help reduce the aroma on the breath.

***Other uses***

I will have to try this, simply crush a clove rub it onto a piece of glass and let it dry, the cut or drill the glass, its meant to be able to leave a clean hole in glass.

Traditionally used as a household disinfectant

***WARNING***

Garlic can irritate the skin if used for too long, and of course eating to much give a certain smelly breath.

As with all herbal medicine do your researches before you use it

Thanks for reading my reviews, and thankyou for rating them.

Tashi Delek (May everything be well)

enlightened_one © 2007

Summary: Such a useful herb in the kitchen and medicinally