My best friend in the kitchen (Garlic)

Member Name: sun-is-shining

Product:	Garlic
Date:	23/06/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: healthy & delicious

Disadvantages: bad breath

You either love or hate the smell and taste of this wonderful white bulb.

Having lived two years in Italy garlic was part of my daily diet, be it in home made tomato sauce, as garlic and herb focaccia or the delicious garlic chicken that still hunts me in my dreams. I could probably eat pure garlic and have to agree with Jamie Oliver 'the more the better'!

Garlic is part of the same family as onions, chives and leeks. A native to central Asia and was used in China and Egypt as a spice and medicine long before it was known in Europe.

The bulb grows underground and consists of around 20 cloves. The cloves must be peeled and can than be used to cook the most diverse dishes - a cuisine without garlic is no cuisine!
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Health benefits

Garlic is the nature's aspirin. The oil allicin which can be found in any garlic type works as an anti-coagulant - meaning that it helps the blood flow and reducing high blood pressure.

Allicin is also an antibacterial and garlic i soften used to colds, that's something my grandma told me over and over again when I was young.

Garlic is also said to have a positive influence on the rate at which the body expels cholesterol thus being good for you if you suffer from high cholesterol levels or any circulatory problems and heart diseases.

To receive these benefits you can either eat raw garlic, take garlic supplements or do what I do, use garlic as often as possible when cooking!

Please note that these are the health benefits that you can experience when using garlic, however garlic is not a substitute for your normal medicine!
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How to grow your own garlic

I normally kill everything that is green and has the unlucky fate to end up on my window sill; basil lasts for 3 days, stronger plants like rosemary maybe survive for two weeks but that's normally the maximum. I never planted anything till my cooking god Jamie Oliver told me (unfortunately not in person but via TV) that everyone, very everyone can grow garlic.

Chose a nice and sunny place in your garden, the soil shouldn't be too moist. Plant the single cloves roughly 10 inch apart from each other - plant them 1 inch under the surface. Don't try to plant a whole bulb (I'm not speaking from experience here :-) ) but the single cloves. From one clove you'll get a new bulb with 15 to 12 cloves - do the maths and you'll see that you can end up with a garden full of garlic withing a few years time if you want.

The best time when to plant garlic is in late autumn or early winter. In warmer regions garlic can be planted in spring as well but let's face it, the UK will never be considered a 'warm' region.
Plant your garlic before the first big frost. If it's a very harsh winter and if you don't want to take any chances cover the patch where you planted the garlic with straw throughout the winter.

You should see the first results in early spring; I could see the first tiny shoots in late march and you cannot imagine how happy I was!

You know that you can finally harvest your own garlic when its leaves start to get brown. I always find this description a bit random but that seems to bet he only help you get. After harvesting your garlic store them in a dry place to dry. After 2 weeks it should be dry and you can brush the remaining dirt of - don't wash!
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My favourite garlic recipes

Garlic can be eaten raw, chopped to small pieces or thin slices or crushed. I prefer the chopped version as I think it is tastier than crushed. I just like the big garlic bits in my pasta sauce!

Garlic, Tomato & Rocket Pasta

* 600g Pasta of your choice
* 10 garlic cloves, chopped
* 100g dried tomato, chopped
* 150g fresh rocket, cut in small slices
* Olive oil
* Salt

This recipe is very easy and quick. Good ingredients will make it a light and refreshing pasta dish for summer evenings.

* Cook the pasta al dente
* Chop and slice all the ingredients
* Heat plenty of olive oil - the better the quality the better the taste
* add the garlic and the tomatoes
* simmer for a few seconds - don't fry them!
* add the cooked pasta and the rocket, mix well
* Serve with Parmesan slices on top

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Wild Garlic Butter

* 200g of soft butter (room temperature)
* 4 cloves of garlic,
* 10 leaves of wild garlic
* Juice of one lime or 1/2 lemon
* Zest of lime or lemon
* Salt

* Blend both garlic types with the lemon juice and zests in a blender
* Add butter and blend for a few seconds
* Store in fridge till the butter is chilled

This homemade garlic butter is far better than anything you can buy in a shop and a perfect topping for steaks or baguettes.
The extra is the wild garlic which adds this little special touch to your butter.

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Roasted Potatoes

The garlic and the onions give a great taste to the normal and boring roasted potatoes and can easily be taken out before serving the potatoes. I'd actually let them stay in the bowl because the whole mix looks so great and tasty.

* 10 big potatoes
* 2 bulbs of garlic
* 3 red onions
* fresh rosemary
* Sea salt
* Olive oil
* balsamic vinegar

* Quarter the potatoes and onion
* Cut the garlic bulbs horizontal in half and crush them a bit
* Mix the potatoes, onions, garlic bulbs and the rosemary twigs in a oven bowl
* add lots of olive oil and balsamic vinegar
* top with the salt
* roast in the oven and stir every 10min till evenly brown

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