Nov 26 2008
Garlic
The best know use of garlic is to keep vampires away. But, come on, the smell of garlic would keep anyone away unless you are eating it together. It’s true, I’m not a huge garlic fan. A little garlic powder for seasoning is okay, but a lot seems awfully overpowering to me. That is until I tried roasted garlic. I loved it. It seemed to have a whole different flavor. So, what does it matter, you ask. It’s the huge health benefit and disease fighter that garlic offers.
Alicin is the substance within garlic that gives it the distinguishable odor. It’s also the compound that is beneficial in killing viruses and even serious diseases such as tuberculosis. If you can eat it raw, studies have shown that the garlic maintains a higher nutritional value, including more alicin. It seems that garlic stored in water at room temperature for 6 days lost about half of the alicin and garlic in oil lost about half in just 1 hour.
Other scientific studies have shown garlic to be beneficial in treating cancer, bacterial infections and preventing blood clots. Studies showed, however, that even the garlic stored in water or oil and cooked garlic had some benefits for cancer and blood clot patients.
A recent study done by Penn State researchers showed in order to get the best benefit from garlic when cooking it should be chopped or crushed and allowed to rest for 10 minutes before cooking. For some reason this action allows the garlic to retain it’s healthful benefits.
