The Wonders of Garlic
QualityBooks.com

Volumes could be written about the wonders of garlic. It has been recognized for centuries for its medicinal qualities as well as for flavoring and enhancing foods. And now, medical science is linking its use to lower blood pressure and are finding garlic acts to lower blood cholesterol.

Garlic can be an aid against heart attacks because it contains an oil which interferes with the formation of blood clots. If a clot does form, garlic has an ingredient to help dissolve it, and so minimize damage.

Garlic is defined as a bulbous plant of the lily family. It is a strong smelling bulb, made up of small sections called cloves. This distinctive herb should not be confined merely to food preparation because it has many other uses. That's not to say that it doesn't perk up many food dishes and salad dressing. You can try it with practically any soup, and garlic butter will make any bread or roll better. Many vegetable dishes are enhanced by a sprinkle or two of garlic salt.

Garlic has long been recognized for opening up the air passages to enable more freer breathing during sinus attacks, colds and flu. If you can, you might like to grow your own fresh garlic and store it for your own food and medicinal needs. Garlic is always available at your super markets and health food stores.

Some people tend to be extra cautious when it comes to using the herb, garlic. And in fact, the many uses for garlic are still being explored, both in the field of medicine as well as in preparing various foods.

When you consider the medicinal use of garlic in your home remedies, you might also explore the possibilities of livening up some of those tired old recipes and bring smiles to the faces of your family at meal-time.

For a good cough and cold syrup, you can simmer a generous handful of garlic cloves in water until very soft. Mash the garlic and add an equal amount of honey. Then stir in a tablespoon of vinegar.

You can slice a bit of fresh garlic into fried foods to help lessen their artery clogging effects. Old-timers recommend that we eat garlic every day for a healthy heart and to live a longer life.

Prevent infection by wrapping minor abrasions with a soft moss, soaked in garlic juice. Mash up some fresh garlic cloves and rub it on broken skin. It will encourage healing and help discourage infection. Children fed regularly with garlic will not develop worms.

To ease a nagging cough, sip on the juice of raw garlic cloves. This works best when sweetened with honey and flavored with caraway. Garlic is recommended to treat the distress of respiratory infections with hot soup, laced with sliced garlic.

A light broth, rich in garlic, will soothe gas pains. Garlic is also a fine dressing for salads when used with oil and vinegar and may also be made into various vinaigrette dressings in combination with other herbs and spices.

Eat a clove of garlic each day to relieve dizziness. And chew a bit of parsley after you eat foods containing garlic so that it will moderate your breath.

Garlic is used daily in homes around the world. It is prized for the taste and flavor it adds to foods as well as being recognized for its medicinal qualities. It is most definitely a vermifuge, antiseptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, stimulant and expectorant. It is also said to have great value when applied as a topical ointment to skin conditions such as acne or other types of pimples.

Ancient Egyptians ate garlic and it is said that the great tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs could not have been built but for the strength the Israelites gained from their daily ration of garlic and onion. Garlic was a symbol of the cosmos as manifested by its successive layers of skin that form the bulb. The Greeks and the Romans also ate of this magical herb. They used it as a health protector and aphrodisiac.

Garlic is used internally to protect a body from disease and externally as an antiseptic to protect the skin form germs and disease. A couple of interesting and useful garlic recipes are listed below:

GARLIC SOUP
If you have a cold, you can substitute this unique garlic soup for the traditional chicken broth. Recipe yields 4 to 6 servings.
Ingredients:1 garlic bulb, coarsely chopped2 tsp. olive oil4 c. hearty chicken broth2 - 4 egg yolks, beaten1/2

Saute the chopped garlic in the olive oil until translucent and tender. It is not necessary to peel the individual cloves. Add the chicken broth. Bring to a slow boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently until the garlic is mushy, usually about 30 minutes. Put through a strainer into a small pot. Add the beaten egg yolks slowly, stirring all the while. Return to the heat until thickened. When all is incorporated, serve hot or chilled. You'll find it to be delicious either way.

GARLICKED HONEY
Ingredients: Garlic cloves, Honey

Peel garlic cloves and put them in a jar. Add honey, a little at a time over a couple of days until the jar is full. Set in a warm window for 2 weeks to a month or until the garlic has turned somewhat opaque and all the garlic flavor has been transferred to the honey.This garlic honey is an excellent cough syrup. Just take a teaspoonful every couple of hours or whenever it seems necessary. You must remember though, that the honey has a lot of concentrated garlic power in it and one teaspoonful can represent many cloves of garlic. If you are giving this syrup to a child, you should dilute each spoonful with a bit of water. Garlic honey also soothes a sore throat. As an application for acne or herpes it has no equal because it is both healing, soothing and slightly anesthetic. Some cooks like to baste their chicken with this garlic honey mixture.