It doesn't matter if you love it or hate it. Garlic can do something good for you. There can't be many plants that are so versatile. Garlic belongs to the same family group as onions, chives, tulips and lilies and it's been with us a long time. Evidence of its existence has been found in caves that were lived in 10,000 years ago and the first written reference, on a clay tablet, is dated from 3,000 BC. It seems that ancient civilisations had a good understanding of the many varied uses of the herb. It was widely used in remedies and has even been used as currency. Slaves building the pyramids were given garlic in their rations as it was believed it would keep up their strength.
Roman and Greek physicians recommended garlic for use against infections, cancer, leprosy, heart problems and dozens of other ailments and illnesses. Modern scientific evidence shows that they were on the right track with many of their suggestions. The Greeks seem to be the first to hang garlic cloves around doorways to ward off disease, and as a charm to ensure the survival of new-born babies. This was later followed in Europe and is where the braids of garlic we see today originate. Eventually garlic started to become unpopular, due to the smell, and by the tenth century it was regarded as
only fit for peasants. Despite this it was still recognised as a brilliant heal-all, which must have caused a few dilemmas for the better classes when illness struck them. Garlic's medicinal use endured until, in 1721, a dreadful plague killed most of the population of Marseilles. Recipes survive for garlic wine vinegar that, legend has it, stopped the spread of the disease, saved France and ensured the future popularity of garlic. Up until the discovery of Penicillin in 1928, garlic was still a major ingredient of treatment against wound infections, and modern day science is regularly finding proof of garlic's useful properties.
If you want to grow some, it's best to buy garlic that's bred to suit our climate. Garden centres stock it from September to March. This year I paid £1.99 a pack. This size pack will give you about 30 good cloves to plant. I like to try new varieties if available. My most successful so far was called Moralus, but I can't recommend it, as I can't find anyone who stocks it any more. The garlic is packed in complete bulbs, just the same as in the supermarket, and can be very tough to split into separate cloves. Sort them out and put the really puny ones aside. There's a use for these later so don't throw them away.
I plant mine six inches apart, pushed just under the soil surface. Planting date can be any time between late autumn to early spring, but mine go in on December 1st. This is just a family tradition but it does seem to grow better with an early start and it's quite happy to grow through winter. I plant in raised beds which helps with drainage, bit if you have heavy soil try a little sand or gravel in the bottom of each planting hole. These plants can't stand being waterlogged. Keep weeds away and that's all you need to do until it's ready to harvest. Mine get a monthly spray of liquid seaweed but that's only because every thing else in the garden is getting one anyway. Once the leaves start to die back I dig the bulbs up and leave them in a shed to dry out. Once the leaves are dry I string them up in a plait. It looks posh and gives the bulbs plenty of air. Any with a thick, green stalk need using right away, as they won't keep. Remember those little cloves you kept back from planting? Save them until spring and then pot them into some gritty compost. Put out in the sun and keep watering well. Cut finger length shoots and use them in stir-fries. More shoots will grow so you can have more another day.
In the kitchen you can use it in all your usual recipes, but why stop there? Try roasting whole cloves with potatoes, red onions and red peppers. Sprinkle with olive oil and fresh thyme. Roast for an hour and serve with grilled chicken breasts. Roast big tomatoes, halved, with olive oil thyme and whole garlic cloves. Puree this if you can resist eating it from the roasting dish. Fill a bottle (sterilised first) with olive oil and drop in a few cloves of garlic with a couple of sprigs of rosemary. Keep it on a sunny windowsill. It looks pretty and, if you can afford a joint of lamb, try roast potatoes cooked in it. Yummy! Mix dried flakes of it with sea salt, pickle it, make paste with it. Buy smoked garlic and roast whole bulbs of it or, better still make soup of it. Eating fresh parsley is supposed to take the smell of it from your breath. I don't know if it works because anyone who comes round here ends up eating it.
Garlic helps to keep you healthy. I used to keep a jar of runny honey with garlic cloves in the airing cupboard. My children always preferred a spoonful of this to shop cough mix. And it seemed very effective. Health food shops are full off garlic products. It has been proven to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and comes in little capsules that neither smell nor taste of garlic, so you can enjoy the benefits even if you hate the stuff.
For animals it can apparently be used to kill intestinal worms. I can't vouch for this as my chickens refused to touch it in liquid or solid form. I'm quite relieved, although there may have been a market for garlic flavour eggs. It did work as a spray applied to a wound on a young cockerel, after a fight. The sore patch healed very fast and it seemed to repel the other birds so they didn't peck at him.
In the garden I spray against fungal diseases with a spray made from a whole head of garlic covered with a pint of boiling water. When it cools, strain and spray. Any cloves that have started to sprout or are past their best gat planted around roses and fruit trees. This is reputed to keep disease at bay. It seems to work for me. Leave the plants in the ground over winter and they'll flower into big, white pom poms in the summer. These attract beneficial insects, so never throw any away. There'll be a use for it somewhere.
And finally, it just looks nice. A best seller on my stall at Christmas is a willow wreath, bound in rosemary, and decorated with bay leaves, bunches of thyme, tiny red and green chillies and bulbs of garlic. It smells good and keeps for months. Make one yourself, you'll have fun.
So. Who thinks garlic's boring now?
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Advantages: Dried marjoram can be stored for ages in the kitchen cupboard Disadvantages: Sometimes the fresh version can be sold out in the supermarket
planetchelsea 27.03.2009 ·
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