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Health Benefits of Garlic and How it Works

By Suzi Franks

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!

A former ER Nurse with over 15 years experience is now a healer of The Earth. I have now dedicated my life to tending my piece of paradise and returning the chemical torn landscape back to its former glory with lovingly applied organic principles and tender loving care. I am on a quest to help share my knowledge of organic vegetable growing, so you and others may feel the goodness of Mother Nature and eat her bountiful gifts.

I agree with you, garlic is just beautiful anyway it comes!! The more the better!!

Hey Suzi, another awesome article, and your photography...! I am envious of your heirloom seeds! I studied Biodynamic Gardening and agriculture a bit in Germany and generationally clean, heirloom seeds are almost impossible to come by although Turtletree Seed Company has some good seeds. I hope New Zealand, where you live, have outlawed GMO crops??

Thank you for some more kind words David:) Now don't get me started on GMO crops...I am not allowed to buy seeds from outside NZ because of the risk of bringing in 'diseases' which was fair enough but..
And so what are the powers that be doing now...GMO seeds, oh yes 'Clean Green New Zealand' grows GMO..not many people know that one...I rest my case.

I have had many garden, over the years, Suzi, but I never grew garlic. I also never knew the value of garlic, so I may have to give it a try,
Thank you for sharing.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Hi Frederick, I nearly called you Fred:)
Growing your own garlic is so easy, it's sourcing the bulbs for growing that may prove difficult. Shop brought garlic is sterile and has been sprayed to stop it sprouting.
I have heirloom varieties and so just ask if you have difficulty sourcing:)
Garlic loves humus rich fertile soil, add lots of manure, organic matter and humus is the late summer. Plant out large outside cloves in Early Autumn, traditionally on the shortest day and harvest on the longest day.
Good Luck!! Thank you for the comment. Suzi

odls Mar 16, 2010 07:14

A good and informative intel Suzie, thank you. Other people usually complain if your breath smells of garlic! That is their loss as you are on your way to good health and they aren't.
Don't forget the other allium vegetables though as they also have healing properties. I use a Garlic Allium Complex supplement daily that is enteric coated and gets into the intestines where it is digested and doesn't produce 'garlic breath' like raw garlic does. linked text
Apparently garlic was the cause of the first known 'industial action' when the Egyptian slaves went on strike as they were being denied their daily garlic!

adge747 May 30, 2010 05:59

I can vouch for that statement that it's THE world's best garlic. It is.

My mother used to tell me that when she was a kid and she got sick, a clove of garlic would be put in her sock and she'd have to walk around all day... crushing it. How clever, now I understand why that works. She said after a few minutes she could taste the garlic, just as if she had eaten it.

It's interesting that so many people know that garlic has awesome healing qualities, but I don't think many know that when you cook it the healing element, the Allinase gets destroyed. I had never heard that. Of course it makes perfect sense to me because cooking food totally changes so much about the food, most nutrients are lost, or severely reduced.

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