Garlic

Allium sativum

Family Alliacae (Onion)
Genus Allium
Species sativum

Synonyms and Common names: poor man’s treacle

Description and Habitat:  The leaves are long, narrow and flat like grass. The bulb consists of numerous bulb-lets, known as 'cloves,' grouped together between membrane scales and enclosed within a whitish skin, which holds them as in a sac.
The flowers are placed at the end of a stalk rising direct from the bulb and are whitish, grouped together in a globular head, or umbel, with an enclosing kind of leaf, and among them are small bulbils.

To prevent the plant running to leaf, Pliny advised bending the stalk downward and covering it with earth, seeding, he observed, may be prevented by twisting the stalk.
Garlic is grown from the individual cloves. Each clove will produce one plant with a single bulb, which may in turn contain up to twenty cloves. Growing garlic is therefore self-sustaining. When planting garlic, choose a garden site that gets plenty of sun and where the soil is not too damp. The cloves should be planted individually, upright and about an inch under the surface. Plant the cloves about 4 inches apart. Rows should be about 18 inches apart.  Garlic can be planted either in the early winter or spring, its usual to plant just after the first frost of the winter between October and late November depending on where you live. Garlic is winter hardy, however it can be damaged if the temperatures are very cold, if this happens then straw should protect it. Shoots should show in early spring, but if the crop fails then there is still the opportunity to plant a spring crop.
It is tempting to plant cloves left over from cooking, but these may not germinate as they have usually been treated, if this is your first crop then buy the cloves from a garden centre or seed shop. It is also worth noting that Wild Garlic Allium ursinum, found in gardens and in the wild has most of the active ingredients that cultivated garlic has, so can be used if you can find a reliable and renewable source.

Parts used: only the bulb is used.

Collection and preparation: In Northern Europe garlic is usually harvested in the summer months, from July to August. The best guide to when to harvest your garlic is to look at the leaves. The base of the leaves will form the layers wrapped around the garlic head once picked.  As summer progresses, these leaves will gradually brown and die off.  If you harvest too early, the garlic will not be ready. If you leave it too late and too many leaves have died off then there will be insufficient protection left for your garlic and it will not store well.  As a rule of thumb you should consider harvesting when about half of the leaves are green and the other half turning brown and dying off. Garlic is best taken when fresh, although the bulb itself can be treated like any other onion and stored in a dry, cool dark place.

Constituents: volatile oil, mucilage, glucokinins, germanium, sulphur

Actions:  antiseptic, antimicrobial, diaphoretic, cholagogue, hypotensive, anti spasmodic, alternative, anti-catarrhal, carminative, expectorant, pectoral, rubefacient, stimulant, tonic, vulnerary, aphrodisiac

Therapeutics: Garlic seems to be a cure all, its abilities to lower blood cholesterol (fat) levels, thin the blood, lower blood pressure and enhance blood circulation all make it number one for ensuring a healthy heart. This prevents heart disease, thrombosis and arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
Digestive infections and gastric upsets are alleviated, and a lowering of blood sugar helps with diabetes. Worms and other intestinal parasites are eradicated by the ingestion of garlic
Galic is invaluable as a preventative against infection, the healing of wounds and sores, and fungal infections such as athletes foot. Coughs and colds, infections of the chest and lung, asthma and the expellation of catarrh and the reduction of sweating in a fever, all these are helped by regular intake of garlic.

New research shows that taking garlic during pregnancy can cut the risk of pre-eclampsia (raised blood pressure and protein retained in the urine).
Garlic is an aphrodisiac as it increases the blood flow to the lower part of the abdomen therefore stimulates the hormones and testosterones to perform better in an emotional and a physical way.

Contraindications:  may cause stomach upset, this needs to be taken into consideration if lactation is in progress, garlic ingested by the mother may cause stomach upset in the child. 

Garlic should also be used cautiously with other anticoagulant herbs such as ginkgo, ginger and willow. Its also worth mentioning that prescription anticoagulants like warfarin may also be affected by ingesting garlic.
The biggest problem with garlic is the smell, it not only makes the breath smell of garlic but if enough is eaten it also leaks through the pores, which isn’t surprising when we realise its effect on the bloodstream.  Blame it on alliin that is converted to allicin by the action of the enzyme allinase. When raw garlic is cut, broken, or chewed, the "fragrant" allicin releases its powerful essential oil. When cooked, garlic loses its strong odor because the enzyme allinase is destroyed, preventing its conversion to the smelly allicin

Preparation and dosage: 3 cloves a day, eaten raw or can be cooked, if roasted garlic doesn’t have the same effect on the breath, yet still retains its health giving qualities. There are capsules you can buy at health food stores which are odour free, but always read the label and see what else is in them before committing yourself to putting them into the body.

Folklore and additional comments: Folklore concerning garlic is often proven fact. In ancient times, people used to eat garlic before making a journey at night, it made them belch and gives one a foul breath, believing that evil spirits would not come within the radius of that powerful smell. 
The entire ancient world loved garlic, particularly the Egyptians, who used to swear on garlic in much the same way as people swear on the bible today. Egyptian slaves were given a daily ration of garlic, as it was believed to ward off illness and to increase strength and endurance. During the reign of King Tut, fifteen pounds of garlic would buy a healthy male slave. Indeed, when King Tut's tomb was excavated, there were bulbs of garlic found scattered throughout the rooms

The Greeks had ideas of their own on the virtues of garlic. Greek athletes would take copious amounts of garlic before competition, and Greek soldiers would consume garlic before going into battle. It became custom for Greek midwives to hang garlic cloves in birthing rooms to keep the evil spirits away. As the centuries passed, this ancient custom became commonplace in most European homes.

Hippocrates (300BC) recommended garlic for infections, wounds, cancer, leprosy, and digestive disorders. Dioscorides praised it for its use in treating heart problems, and Pliny listed the plant in 61 remedies for a wide variety of ailments ranging from the common cold to leprosy, epilepsy and tapeworm.

During World War 1, the Russian army used garlic to treat wounds incurred by soldiers on the Front Line. Although Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928 largely replaced garlic at home, the war effort overwhelmed the capacity of most antibiotics, and garlic was again the antibiotic of choice. The Red Army physicians relied so heavily on garlic that it became known as the "Russian Penicillin".

The common name originates from the Anglo Saxon ‘gar’ meaning ‘lance’ and ‘leac’ meaning ‘pot herb’. Garlic traditionally warded off vampires, witches and evil spells. It may be possible that 8th century BCE Greek poet Homer, who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, set the stage that elevated garlic's powers. During Odysseus's long journey, he encounters the goddess Circe, who uses sorcery to turn men into pigs. Hermes warns Odysseus not to eat the Moly, a plant in the garlic family, saving him from the porcine fate of his companions.

Garlic's reputation as protector from evil touches nearly every continent. In Mohammed's writings, he equates garlic with Satan when he describes the feet of the Devil as he was cast out of the Garden of Eden. Where his left foot touched the earth, garlic sprang up, while onion emerged from the footprint of his right foot.

Though many ancient cultures recognized garlic's curative abilities, they were unable to comprehend its components. The "cure" was attributed to garlic's magic. Legend has made Transylvania the home of the vampires, and what better way to keep them away than with garlic, lots of it. When diseases caused by mosquito bites were considered "The touch of the vampire," garlic came in handy as a mosquito repellent. Recent research reveals garlic is quite effective in keeping mosquitoes at bay. Its easy to see how such lore came into being, vampires suck blood and so do mosquito’s.