HISTORY OF GARLIC
This pungent herb is one of the oldest cultivated plants. It was worshiped by the Egyptians as a god and used as local currency. Clay garlic bulbs were placed in Egyptian tombs with the dearly departed. Archeologists are unsure whether the clay bulbs were intended as funds for the afterlife or as idols to appease the gods. In addition, garlic was used to pay and feed workers and slaves on the great pyramids. The bulb was so popular with those who toiled on the pyramids that garlic shortages caused work stoppages. A garlic crop failure, due to the Nile flooding, caused one of the only two recorded Egyptian slave revolts. Garlic as currency is not necessarily an ancient idea.
Garlic inspired literary passion as well. The aromatic bulb is mentioned in ancient Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese writings as well as the Bible, Talmud and Quran. Greek, Egyptian, Chinese cite garlic as the cure for many ailments, including impotence, scorpion bites, heart disease, lack of energy, and the black plague.
Garlic is believed to be a native of central Asia, South Asia or southwestern Siberia. There is some debate over the origin of this herb. It is one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops. Garlic lovers carried the pungent herb into Egypt, Pakistan, India and China. The crusaders brought back garlic to Europe. Later Spanish, French, and Portuguese settlers introduced garlic into the Americas.
The name garlic comes from garleac, an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning "spear leek." Garlic is believed to be descended from Allium longicuspis, a wild strain of Asian garlic but its origins are still in question. It is from the lily (Liliaceae) family and related to onions, leeks, chives, and shallots.
Garlic consumption in the United States has tripled since the 1990’s, with more people discovering the delightful properties of this bulb. Worldwide there are over 2.5 million acres in garlic cultivation
BENEFIT OF GARLIC
Intensely aromatic and flavorful, garlic is used in virtually every cuisine in the world. When eaten raw, it has a powerful, pungent flavor to match the truly mighty garlic benefits. Garlic is particularly high in certain sulfur compounds that are believed to be responsible for its scent and taste, as well as its very positive effects on human health. Garlic benefits rank only second to turmeric benefits in the amount of research backing this superfood. At the time of this article’s publication, there were more than 5,100 peer-reviewed articles that evaluated garlic’s ability to prevent and improve a wide spectrum of diseases.
1. Garlic for Heart Disease
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States, followed by cancer. Garlic has been widely recognized as both a preventative agent and treatment of many cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes. A scientific review of experimental and clinical studies of garlic benefits found that, overall, garlic consumption has significant cardioprotective effects in both animal and human studies.
Probably the most amazing characteristic of garlic is that it’s been shown to literally reverse early heart disease by reversing plaque buildup in arteries. A 2016 randomized, double-blind study published in the Journal of Nutrition involved 55 patients, aged 40 to 75 years, who had been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. The results of the study showed that aged garlic extract effectively reduced plaque in coronary arteries (the arteries supplying blood to the heart) for patients with metabolic syndrome.
One of the lead researchers, Matthew J. Budoff, M.D., said, “This study is another demonstration of the benefits of this supplement in reducing the accumulation of soft plaque and preventing the formation of new plaque in the arteries, which can cause heart disease. We have completed four randomized studies, and they have led us to conclude that Aged Garlic Extract can help slow the progression of atherosclerosis and reverse the early stages of heart disease.”
2. Garlic for Cancer
Allium vegetables, especially garlic and onions, and their bioactive sulfur compounds are believed to have effects at each stage of cancer formation and affect many biological processes that modify cancer risk.
In the words of the NIH National Cancer Institute, “Several population studies show an association between increased intake of garlic and reduced risk of certain cancers, including cancers of the stomach, colon, esophagus, pancreas, and breast.” It also includes an answer to a very key question: How can garlic act to prevent cancer? The National Cancer Institute explains that “protective effects from garlic may arise from its antibacterial properties or from its ability to block the formation of cancer-causing substances, halt the activation of cancer-causing substances, enhance DNA repair, reduce cell proliferation, or induce cell death.”
A French study of 345 breast cancer patients found that increased garlic, onion and fiber consumption were associated with a statistically significant reduction in breast cancer risk. Another cancer that garlic has been specifically shown to positively affect is pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly forms cancer. The good news is that scientific research has now shown that increased garlic consumption may reduce the risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
A population-based study conducted in the San Francisco Bay area found that pancreatic cancer risk was 54 percent lower in people who ate larger amounts of garlic and onions compared with those who ate lower amounts. The study also showed that increasing the overall intake of vegetables and fruits may protect against developing pancreatic cancer.
Garlic also shows promise when it comes to treating cancer. Garlic’s organosulfur compounds, including DATS, DADS, ajoene, and S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC), have been found to induce cell cycle arrest when added to cancer cells during in vitro experiments. In addition, these sulfur compounds have been found to induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) when added to various cancer cell lines grown in culture. Taking liquid garlic extract and S-allylcysteine (SAC) orally has also been reported to increase cancer cell death in animal models of oral cancer.
Overall, garlic clearly show some real potential as a cancer-fighting food that should not be ignored or discounted.
3. Garlic for High Blood Pressure
An interesting phenomenon of garlic is that has been shown to help control high blood pressure. One study looked at the effect of aged garlic extract as an adjunct treatment for people already taking antihypertensive medication yet still having uncontrolled hypertension. Garlic showed itself to be highly effective once again. The study, published in the scientific journal Maturitas, evaluated 50 people with “uncontrollable” blood pressure. It was uncovered that simply taking four capsules of aged garlic extract (960 milligrams) daily for three months caused blood pressure to drop by an average of 10 points. Another study published in 2014 found that garlic has “the potential to lower BP in hypertensive individuals similarly to standard BP medication.” So garlic, specifically in the form of the standardizable and highly tolerable aged garlic extract for this study, could work just as well as prescription hypertension medications. This study further explains that garlic’s polysulfides promote the opening or widening of blood vessels and, hence, blood pressure reduction.
TYPE OF GARLIC
Softneck Garlic
Softneck garlic is the type you'll most likely see in the produce section of your grocery store. Its name comes from the multilayered parchment that covers the entire bulb, continues up the neck of the bulb, and forms a soft, pliable stalk suitable for braiding. Its papery skin, or sheath, is a beautiful creamy white color.
Softneck garlic typically has several layers of cloves surrounding the central portion of the garlic bulb. The outermost layer's cloves are the stoutest; the cloves of the internal layers become smaller closer to the center of the bulb. Of the several types of softneck garlic, two are most abundant:
Silverskin garlic
This easy-to-grow variety has a strong flavor and stores well when dried -- it will last nearly a year under the right conditions. The Creole group of silverskin garlics has a rose-tinted parchment.
Artichoke garlic
Artichoke garlic has a milder flavor and may have fewer and larger cloves than silverskin. You can store it as long as eight months. Artichoke garlic may occasionally have purple spots or streaks on its skin, but don't confuse it with purple stripe garlic, a hardneck variety that has quite a bit of purple coloring.
Hardneck Garlic
Unlike softneck garlic, hardneck varieties do not have a flexible stalk. When you buy this type of garlic, it will typically have an extremely firm stalk protruding an inch or two from the top of the bulb.
Hardneck garlic sends up scapes from its central woody stalk when it is growing. A scape is a thin green extension of the stalk that forms a 360-degree curl with a small bulbil, or swelling, several inches from its end. Inside the bulbil are more than 100 tiny cloves that are genetically identical to the parent bulb beneath.
Many people call these "flowers," but they are not really blooms. If left on the plant, the scape will eventually die and fall over, and the tiny cloves will spill onto the ground. However, most never make it that far.
Cutting off the scapes keeps the plant's energy from forming the bulbil and therefore encourages larger bulbs. But don't throw out the scapes. They can be a delicious ingredient in your cooking.
There are three main types of hardneck garlic:
Rocambole
This variety has a rich, full-bodied taste. It peels easily and typically has just one set of cloves around the woody stalk. It keeps for up to six months.
Porcelain
Porcelain garlic is similar to rocambole in flavor and typically contains about four large cloves wrapped in a very smooth, white, papery sheath. People often mistake porcelain garlic for elephant garlic because its cloves are so large. Porcelain garlic stores well for about eight months.
Purple stripe
This hardneck variety is famous for making the best baked garlic. There are several types of purple stripe, all with distinctive bright purple streaks on their papery sheaths. Purple stripe garlic keeps for about six months.
Another member of the Allium clan, elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum), may look like a good buy because it is so large, but its flavor is very bland. Elephant garlic tastes more like a leek; in fact, its garlic flavor is slight and its healing properties are inferior to those of other garlic varieties. Use elephant garlic more like a vegetable than a flavorful herb.
SOURCES :
http://greyduckgarlic.com/The_History_of_Garlic.html
https://draxe.com/7-raw-garlic-benefits-reversing-disease/
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/food-facts/how-to-plant-and-store-garlic1.htm
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