Although garlic is something most people regard as a seasoning, garlic functions as a delicious vegetable on its own. For centuries, garlic has grown worldwide, and nearly all cuisines include garlic recipes. Garlic is the most aromatic member of the Allium family, which includes onion, leek, chive, shallot—and lilies! It can fit in small places in a home garden, and some gardeners swear by a "garlic fence" to repel rabbits and other predators. Cloves from a home-raised plant can provide the sources of new plants.
Spread by trade from Asia, garlic has always figured in stories about magic. In various mythologies, wearing garlic around one's neck provided protection from witchcraft, evil spells, and vampires. (Common sense suggests that, although garlic has genuine medical properties, it gained its reputation as a cold-preventer mostly because people avoided crowding close to those wearing garlic!)
What to Look For:
Garlic Storage and Preparation Tips:
Cooking with Garlic:
Crushed, garlic cloves combine very well with meats, poultry, fish and vegetables. Italian, Mediterranean, French, and Asian cooking all rely on garlic in a wide variety of sauces and salad dressings. Cooks concerned with lowering fat have pioneered new uses for garlic, roasting whole bulbs or cloves until soft enough to be spread on bread or mashed into potatoes in the place of butter.
Garlic Nutrition Highlights:
Garlic is a good source of vitamin C, selenium, and magnesium, all of which impact on healthy cell metabolism. Garlic is a vasodilator (blood-vessel expander) that has been studied, with mixed results, for its effects on hypertension, atherosclerotic plaque accumulation, and blood-flow in diabetics. Garlic also appears to take a role in preventing blood clots. Garlic's phytochemicals may provide protection against some kinds of cancer; again, results are not conclusive.