I don’t know about you, but we consume a lot of garlic in my house. We use it whenever possible in recipes and we use extra garlic in during cold season. It was traditionally believed that, due to its odor, garlic could ward off evils spirits and vampires.
We’ve grown quite a bit as far as superstitions go, but garlic’s potential for benefits is often indisputable. Garlic is antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, expectorant, diaphoretic, diuretic, and cholagogue. Garlic has a heating energy.
If you can handle raw garlic, it can be used for those harsh winters when colds suck the most. Its anti-inflammatory properties can ease a cold. A cold’s duration can be shortened due to the immune system stimulation caused by the consumption of garlic.
Garlic can also aid in breaking a fever while you have a cold.
Some with gastrointestinal sensitivities can find garlic aggravating to their specific conditions. Medicinal amounts of garlic should be avoided while pregnant and breastfeeding.
When chopping garlic for cooking, it is best to let it sit for about ten minutes after chopping/mincing at room temperature before cooking. This allows the enzyme reaction that triggers a boost in the healthy compounds found in garlic. Too high of a heat–or cooking for too long–can damage the beneficial properties.
Want to see what herbs we have in our garden? Take a look here.
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