Garlic is a very healthy vegetable, known for its distinctive, and intense smell. It is used in many recipes, in order to make the food’s flavour stronger.
Let’s find out more about it!
- Garlic’s scientific name is Allium sativum.
- It is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the onion genus Allium.
- Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion.
- It is native to Central Asia and northeastern Iran.
- It has long been a common seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use.
- It was known to ancient Egyptians.
- It has been used as both a food flavoring and a traditional medicine.
- China produces some 80% of the world’s supply of garlic.
- The word garlic derives from Old English, garlēac, meaning gar (spear) and leek, as a ‘spear-shaped leek’.
- Allium sativum is a perennial flowering plant growing from a bulb.
- It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to 1 m (3 ft). The leaf blade is flat, linear, solid, and approximately 1.25–2.5 cm (0.5–1.0 in) wide, with an acute apex.
- The plant may produce pink to purple flowers from July to September in the Northern Hemisphere.
- The bulb is odoriferous and contains outer layers of thin sheathing leaves surrounding an inner sheath that encloses the clove.
- Often the bulb contains 10 to 20 cloves that are asymmetric in shape, except for those closest to the center.
- If garlic is planted at the proper time and depth, it can be grown as far north as Alaska.
- It produces hermaphrodite flowers.
- It is pollinated by bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects.
- Hard-neck varieties of garlic produce “scapes,” green shoots that can be especially delicious and tender when they’re young.
- They also make a wonderful addition to pestos, soups, and butters.
- China holds the record for most garlic grown. Per a 2012 study, China grows a staggering two-thirds of the world’s garlic, believed to be around 46 billion pounds per year.
- Average consumption of garlic is believed to weigh in at around 2 pounds per person.
- Even with just two pounds, that means eating roughly 302 cloves per person per year, as each clove typically weighs about three grams.
- The best way to release the health-happy power of garlic is to cut it, which then turns garlic’s thio-sulfinite compounds into allicin.
- Allicin is an antibiotic and antifungal that is believed to reduce “bad” cholesterol, as it inhibits enzymes from growing in liver cells.
- Garlic’s scientific name is Allium sativum.
- It is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the onion genus Allium.
- Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion.
- It is native to Central Asia and northeastern Iran.
- It has long been a common seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use.
- It was known to ancient Egyptians.
- It has been used as both a food flavoring and a traditional medicine.
- China produces some 80% of the world’s supply of garlic.
- The word garlic derives from Old English, garlēac, meaning gar (spear) and leek, as a ‘spear-shaped leek’.
- Allium sativum is a perennial flowering plant growing from a bulb.
- It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to 1 m (3 ft). The leaf blade is flat, linear, solid, and approximately 1.25–2.5 cm (0.5–1.0 in) wide, with an acute apex.
- The plant may produce pink to purple flowers from July to September in the Northern Hemisphere.
- The bulb is odoriferous and contains outer layers of thin sheathing leaves surrounding an inner sheath that encloses the clove.
- Often the bulb contains 10 to 20 cloves that are asymmetric in shape, except for those closest to the center.
- If garlic is planted at the proper time and depth, it can be grown as far north as Alaska.
- It produces hermaphrodite flowers.
- It is pollinated by bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects.
- Hard-neck varieties of garlic produce “scapes,” green shoots that can be especially delicious and tender when they’re young.
- They also make a wonderful addition to pestos, soups, and butters.
- China holds the record for most garlic grown. Per a 2012 study, China grows a staggering two-thirds of the world’s garlic, believed to be around 46 billion pounds per year.
- Average consumption of garlic is believed to weigh in at around 2 pounds per person.
- Even with just two pounds, that means eating roughly 302 cloves per person per year, as each clove typically weighs about three grams.
- The best way to release the health-happy power of garlic is to cut it, which then turns garlic’s thio-sulfinite compounds into allicin.
- Allicin is an antibiotic and antifungal that is believed to reduce “bad” cholesterol, as it inhibits enzymes from growing in liver cells.
- It’s believed that Egyptian pharaohs plied their pyramid-builders with garlic for strength.
- Also, in an ancient Egyptian medical document called the Ebers Papyrus counts a stunning 22 different medicinal uses for the plant.
- Garlic also pops up in texts from Virgil, Pliny the Elder, Chaucer, and Galen, all of which detail its various uses and share lore about the magic plant.
- A strange use of garlic is to use it for making… glue! You just need to crush the cloves to get to the sticky stuff which, despite its smell, works surprisingly well as a bonding agent for smaller jobs.
- You can battle both acne and cold sores with garlic, simply by slicing cloves in half and applying them directly to the skin. Hold for a bit—as long as you can stand!—and while the smell might not be the best, the antibacterial properties of the miracle plant will speed along the healing process.
- Also, garlic is necessary if you want to cook the famous greek recipe of tzatziki.
