Spices and Medicinal Herbs
A complete guide to vegetables, spices & herbs
A complete guide to vegetables, spices & herbs
Garlic is believed to be the native of Central Asia, the center of
diversity ranging from the Himalayas to Turkestan and has been cultivated
for more than 5000 years.
It was worshipped by the Egyptians and fed to workers building the Great
Pyramid at Gaza, about 2600 BC. Greek athletes ate it to build their
strength. It was largely consumed by the ancient Greek and Roman soldiers,
sailors and rural classes and by the African peasantry.
Garlic came to the Western Hemisphere with some of the first European
explorers, and its use spread rapidly. In the United States it was first
cultivated in New Orleans by French settlers. Missionaries brought it to
California, where it is grown today. Garlic was rare in traditional
English cuisine.
It is a perennial plant which rises to a height of 1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m)
tall at maturity. The foliage comprises a central stem 25 - 100 cm tall,
with flat or keeled leaves 30 - 60 cm long and 2 - 3 cm broad.
The leaves are long, narrow and flat like grass, with a crease down the
middle and are held erect in two opposite ranks.
The flowers are placed at the end of a stalk rising direct from the bulb
and are whitish, grouped together in a globular head and are surrounded by
a papery basal spathe; each flower is white, pink or purple, with six
tepals 3 - 5 millimetres long. The flowers are commonly abortive and
rarely produce any seeds.
A garlic head is generally four to eight centimeters in diameter, white to
pinkish or purple, and is composed of numerous (8 - 25) discrete bulbs.
The bulb is of a compound nature, consisting of numerous bulblets, known
technically as 'cloves,' grouped together between the membranous scales
and enclosed within a whitish skin, which holds them as in a sac.
It does not grow in the wild, and is thought to have arisen in
cultivation, probably descended from the species Allium longicuspis, which
grows wild in south-western Asia.
The soil may be sandy, loam or clay, though Garlic flourishes best in a
rich, moist, sandy soil. Garlic beds should be in a sunny spot. They must
be kept thoroughly free from weeds.
The domesticated garlic plant does not produce seeds, but is grown from
bulbs. Divide the bulbs into their component 'cloves' - each fair-sized
bulb will divide into ten or twelve cloves.
Garlic can tolerate periods without rain, but best results come from
plants that receive regular watering. Garlic is best planted in the fall
and allowed to over winter in the ground, to be harvested the following
summer. In mild climates garlic will grow all winter; in cold climates
areas, it will go dormant in the winter, and should be mulched.
When planted early in the spring, in February or March, the bulbs should
be ready for lifting in August, when the leaves will be beginning to
wither. Should the summer have been wet and cold, they may probably not be
ready till nearly the middle of September.
The bulb is the only edible part.
When a cell of a garlic clove is broken by chopping, chewing, or crushing,
enzymes stored in cell vacuoles trigger the breakdown of several
sulfur-containing compounds stored in the cell fluids. The resultant
compounds are responsible for the sharp or hot taste and strong smell of
garlic.
When eaten in quantity, garlic may be strongly evident in the diner's
sweat and breath the following day. This is because garlic's strong
smelling sulfur compounds are metabolized forming allyl methyl sulfide.
Allyl methyl sulfide (AMS) cannot be digested and is passed into the
blood. It is carried to the lungs and the skin where it is excreted. Since
digestion takes several hours, and release of AMS several hours more, the
effect of eating garlic may be present for a long time.
The active properties of Garlic depend on a pungent, volatile, essential
oil. Garlic contains 0.1-0.36% of a volatile oil composed of
sulfur-containing compounds: allicin, diallyl disulfide, diallyl
trisulfide, and others. The pecular penetrating odour of Garlic is due to
this intensely smelling sulphuret of allyl.
Other constituents of garlic include: alliin (S-allyl-L-cysteine
sulfoxide), S-methyl- L-cysteine sulfoxide, protein (16.8%, dry weight
basis), high concentrations of trace minerals (particularly selenium),
vitamins, glucosinolates, and enzymes (alliinase, peroxidase, and
myrosinase).1, 2 Allicin is mainly responsible for garlic’s pungent
odor. It is formed by the action of the enzyme alliinase on the compound
alliin. The essential oil of garlic yields approximately 60% of its weight
in allicin after exposure to alliinase.
The components of Garlic include Calcium, Folate, Iron, Magnesium,
Manganese, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Zinc.
The Vitamins present in it are Vitamin B1, B2, B3, and C.
