Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Humble Garlic




Garlic is one of the most diverse ingredients in the culinary world.

Garlic is featured in many types of cuisine, from Chinese to Italian to Indian. There are more than 600 varieties of garlic, which can be categorized into 17 subgroups. Garlic tastes great and is great for your health. Garlic was seen as having healing powers by the Egyptians and was cherished by the Romans.

Garlic is a way to add flavor to food without adding calories or fat. One clove of garlic has only 4 calories. It's also very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. Garlic is a good source of calcium, phosphorus and selenium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B-6 and manganese.

Garlic helps reduce inflammation in the body and lowers blood pressure. It's also loaded with omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, is a natural blood thinner and has a dilating effect on blood vessels.

Garlic has the ability to activate liver enzymes that helps your body flush out toxins. Garlic also holds high amounts of allicin and selenium, two natural compounds that aid in liver cleansing.

I love to take whole bulbs of garlic and bake them until they soften like butter. It is delicious on whole grain bread. I also add fresh garlic to all my stews and bean dishes. When I don't plan to be around anyone for a few days, I blend sprouted garbanzo beans with several cloves of garlic and lemon. Try adding one clove of garlic to your juices

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