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Garlic- age old condiment and medicine
Garlic or Alliums sativum is an aromatic bulb usually used for seasoning. It has got medicinal properties too. The garlic plant is perennial. It is closely related to the onion, shallot and leek. Throughout all of recorded history garlic has been used for culinary or medicinal purpose. Its usage has also not been restricted to particular civilizations. The cloves have been used all over the world for seasoning. Its various medicinal properties were also discovered and gainfully utilized in various cultures.
Garlic has been very widely used in Lebanese cuisine. Israelites in Egypt also consumed it as did laborers employed in pyramid construction work. The ancient Greek and Roman soldiers, sailors and rural classes have been known to have consumed garlic. In Africa, the class of peasants had also been known to take garlic.
Through the ages many myths and superstitions have come to become associated with garlic too. Garlic’s reputation as a powerful preventive medicine has led people to perceive it as a protective object that can ward off all evil- devils, werewolves, vampires and the like.
Parts of the garlic plant used
It is the bulb of the garlic that is usually used. However, the early spring shoots are also used at times in cooking. The underground storage structure called a head is the portion of the plant most often consumed. The head of the garlic consists of a dozen or more discrete cloves. These cloves are each a bulb- underground structure comprising of thickened leaf bases.
Use of garlic as a condiment
The primary usage of garlic is as a seasoning or condiment. The crushed or finely chopped cloves of garlic yield allicin. This is a powerful antibiotic and anti-fungal compound. It is allicin which is considered to be most responsible for the spiciness of raw garlic. This gets removed by the process of cooking. This is why the spiciness of garlic gets mellowed upon cooking.
Many forms of cooking make use of the strong flavor of garlic that enhances many other flavors. Garlic is often used alongside onion, tomato and ginger. For using for cooking purposes the parchment like skin of the garlic cloves are to be removed. In Russia and states of the Caucasus the tender shoots of garlic are often pickled.
Too much of garlic in food is, however, not recommended. This is because then the sweat and breath of the person taking excessive garlic emits a bad odor. As a way out of the embarrassing situation of having a garlic breath chewing of fresh parsley mint, lemon peel or orange peel is suggested.
Usage of the medicinal properties of garlic
Garlic has been known to play a significant role in disease prevention and in supplying important nutrients. Allicin present in raw garlic has been known to be endowed with antibacterial properties. Besides, garlic also has a host of antioxidants. Consumption of raw garlic or garlic taken as a health supplement in some form does away with the need to take in Vitamin C, Vitamin E and selenium which are proven antioxidants.
A whole lot of traditional medicines make use of garlic. Authentic Ayurvedic recipes from India make good use of garlic and its essential oil. Ayurvedic practitioners believe that garlic can control hypertension and cholesterol and can work towards rejuvenation of the body.