Garlic – Nature’s Medicine Chest

Garlic is a cornucopia of goodness and is really should be on your list of ten things to have on a dessert island!! It will heal you internally and externally, you can eat it raw, cooked or just use it to flavour, just think how it would add new dimensions to that raw fish supper!!

When I was young I can remember garlic was ‘that foreign stuff’ and to be avoided at all costs!! Oh how things have changed, and I am so glad they have, as I adore my organic heirloom garlic, it’s truly THE World’s best garlic and I lovingly treasure it.

Garlic is No Stranger in the History Books
Garlic has a long, long history with archaeological findings in Central Asia from as long ago as 3000BC. The medicinal benefits of garlic have been recorded since Ancient times and it has been actively used in many cultures as an healing herb for more than 5000 years.

In Ancient Rome, Pliny named 61 ailments that would be cured with the use of garlic and Nicholas Culpepper, the renowned English herbalist believed quite simply that garlic ‘cures all that ails you’

Garlic’s healing powers helped build the pyramids and keep the Ancient Egyptians free from respiratory ailments and it has survived two World wars, in WW1 it was used externally to treat open wounds on the battle field and in WW2 is was used for it’s antiviral and anti bacterial properties and became known as ‘Russian Penicillin’

How Garlic Unleashes it’s Healing Powers
A universal medicine chest in a tiny bulb, all very impressive stuff, but how exactly does garlic do it?? Well its actually quite clever as Mother Nature always is.

Garlic contains two important compounds: an amino acid called allin and an enzyme called allinase. Mother Nature designed the garlic clove to keep these two important compounds separate until their services as a natural defense system was needed, in nature this would be if the garlic plant was under attack or was crushed.

When the cell walls in the garlic bulb are damaged, by cutting, chopping or crushing the enzyme allinase mixes with the amino acid alliin and forms the powerful healing compound called allicin. Creating, probable one of the MOST important medicinal compounds in the plant world.

Allinase can only formed like this and can not be found as a compound individually, the allin and the allinase have to mix to create a chemical reaction and form the allicin. So, freshly crushed or finely chopped garlic contains the ingredients to make Natures medicine chest.

Leaving Preparation until the Last Minute
Allinase starts to deteriorate very quickly and lose it’s potency, so in a health perspective, it is always better to prepare your garlic cloves as you are going to use them and not leave them hanging around. Research has shown microwaving or cooking garlic destroys the Allinase and the best way to avoid this is to cook you dish and add the prepared garlic 10 – 15 mins before serving.

This way the garlic is ‘cooked’ gently in the heat of the surrounding food and this reduces the sometimes irritant effect of raw garlic on the stomach lining. so simple yet so effective!

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