I finally got my small garlic crop into the ground this past week and I thought it would be a great time to talk about why I think EVERYONE (who isn’t allergic) should be eating garlic.
I’ve come a long way from the time some garlic bulbs sprouted in my pantry and I dug a little hole in my side yard to plant them in June, hoping for garlic to magically appear. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.
First, a little story (I’m totally boasting): When I first moved to this property in March 2017, there was a large neglected and very messy garden in the backyard. Once the warm weather hit, I started noticing garlic sprouts… not just inside the garden but ALL over the yard, the woods, just about everywhere!
It turned out that the guy who built the garden back in the 60s had planted garlic at some point that his successors (after he died in the early 2000s) either did not notice or didn’t care about. So the garlic was left to run wild.
When garlic bulbs grow, they send up a scape: a long green stem at the end of which forms a flower. The flower develops into a seed head with a ball full of baby garlic seeds. By the time August rolls around, those seed heads are ready to drop and can be dispersed by the wind, animals, or whatever other force of nature exists. This is why when farmers grow their garlic for the nice large bulbs, we cut off the scapes in June. We want the plant to put more energy into growing bigger bulbs rather than tiny flowers and seeds.
Well, with no one to tend the garden for a good 10-15 years, the garlic scapes just kept growing seed heads and spreading. So much so that my yard smelled more like garlic when we mowed than grass.
Eventually I was able to clean up the big garden area (which is where my garden stands today) and dig up most of the stray baby garlic. I transplanted some to my new gardens, carefully separating the tiny bulbs into their own places to each grow a new plant and removing the skinny baby scapes when they came up. Over several seasons, I was able to develop these into the big, beautiful bulbs that I grow and plant today.
So the garlic that I plant every season really is MY garlic!
If you want to grow your own, you can order seed garlic from a catalog or buy organic garlic from a local farm. I always plant the hardneck varieties, which have a hard stem in the middle surrounded by the bulbs of garlic. Separate the cloves from each bulb and treat each clove as its own plant. Pick a garden area with nice thick soil and plenty of compost or manure. Garlic is a heavy feeder and needs lots of organic matter!
You always plant garlic in the late fall (after Halloween is best, to prevent them from sprouting before winter) so they can get situated in the soil and have a cold period for their development. Just plant the tops up about 2 inches under the soil level and at least 4 inches apart from each other.
I always mulch with hay or straw on top of the garlic to help the beds retain moisture throughout the winter and spring.
Garlic is a phenomenal flavoring to your food, adding a spicy, pungent aroma to any savory meal.
Garlic skirts the line between food and medicine because it acts as both whether you want it to or not. However, taking garlic in large amounts at once or by itself is usually how I qualify it being worked with medicinally.
A small warning for anyone who is eating raw garlic (and yes, that’s me!): raw garlic can cause gastric upset in some individuals. If you try eating a small clove of raw garlic and you get a really upset tummy, switch to eating it with some food to lessen this effect.
Garlic combines well with other herbs in formulas for treating bacterial, fungal, parasite, or viral infections. It is a primary component in both my Fire Cider and my Parasite Cleanse tincture. Garlic’s energetics are warming and drying, so use it sparingly if you have a hot/dry constitution.
One of garlic’s primary constituents is allinase, an enzyme that is released and begins its metabolization process when the clove cells are crushed or broken. This breakdown happens at room temperature within a few hours, or within minutes during cooking. So remember to cut, crush, or bruise your garlic before use! (HerbRally)
Garlic is a blood thinner and can be taken daily to help hypertension. Its effects won’t be seen for at least 3-6 months though, so get used to that flavor in your mouth! On the bright side, if you eat raw garlic sometimes the scent can escape through your skin pores, giving you an extra layer of protection from insects in the summer time. Or from those annoying neighbors who come too close when they talk to you.
Consuming garlic regularly has been found to reduce the incidence of cancer in the body and also act has an antioxidant for endothelial cells. It was even found in one study to protect the liver from damage due to acetaminophen damage! (Source)
While I cook dinner with garlic pretty much every day, it is also one of my first choices in defending my body against a viral infection.
I remember once I had a booth at a winter market in December and I started experiencing that telltale feeling of swollen lymph glands under my chin. I knew this was the beginning of some kind of sickness, so I went to a neighboring booth and bought a bulb of garlic. I ate a clove raw right then and there (not caring whether my customers were concerned about me having garlic breath). By the time I got home just 2 hours later, all signs of an infection or sickness were gone.
Garlic is easy to grow once you know how. It prefers being in the ground, but if you had some of those cloth grow bags and set them up correctly before winter you might have luck growing some on your back porch.
If you can’t grow your own, I definitely recommend you buy locally-grown garlic whenever possible. Almost every vegetable farm I know of grows some. But you definitely want garlic that looks fresh and was grown in the United States if possible. Much of the cheap garlic you can buy at Walmart and other discount stores is produced in China under less than desirable growing conditions.
Never buy pre-peeled garlic! That’s almost always made in China. They make prisoners peel it for free labor and those poor men end up with garlic burns (yes, allium oil can burn your skin if enough of it is applied) under their nails and sometimes resort to using their teeth to peel the garlic.
Garlic powder, incidentally, is incredibly easy to make if you have the time. All you have to do is chop up some garlic (you can even use the papery skin! It’s edible) and dehydrate it until it’s completely crunchy dry. Then put it into a strong blender and grind it up until it’s powder. THAT’S IT!
You can also make a very simple Fermented Honey Garlic recipe to take medicinally or flavor your next culinary dish. Simply peel a dozen garlic cloves, stab them each with a fork, then put them into a clean glass jar. Cover them with honey and put a lid on the jar. You can shake this every now and then and open the jar every few days to allow air bubbles to escape. I often make this and forget about it in my cupboard for a year or two, as is evidenced by this 2 year old jar I just found:
It’s still good! Honey preserves the garlic indefinitely. You can simply eat one clove when you’re sick or mash some up to marinate pork chops in. It’s super tasty and gives your body a boost when you’re sick!
If you’d like more recipes for cooking with garlic, check out my WildCrafted Eats online video compilation class. 70 recipes and counting!
And if you enjoyed what I had to say, you can get my new print book Forage and Heal or check out all my online classes at HerbalRemediesByAmelia.com
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