Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
of
bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs dur ...
ous flowering plant in the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''
Allium
''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, D ...
''. Its close relatives include the
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...
,
shallot
The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...
,
leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...
,
chive
Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, an ...
,
Welsh onion
''Allium fistulosum'', the Welsh onion, also commonly called bunching onion, long green onion, Japanese bunching onion, and spring onion, is a species of perennial plant, often considered to be a kind of scallion.
The species is very similar ...
and
Chinese onion.
It is native to
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
and northeastern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and has long been used as a seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use.
It was known to
ancient Egyptians and has been used as both a food flavoring and a
traditional medicine
Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
.
[ ]China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
produces 76% of the world's supply of garlic.
Etymology
The word ''garlic'' derives from Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
, ''garlēac'', meaning ''gar'' (spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...
) and leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...
, as a 'spear-shaped leek'.
Description
''Allium sativum'' is a perennial flowering plant growing from a bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs dur ...
. It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to . The leaf blade is flat, linear, solid, and approximately wide, with an acute apex. The plant may produce pink to purple flowers from July to September in the Northern Hemisphere. The bulb is odoriferous and contains outer layers of thin sheathing leaves surrounding an inner sheath that encloses the clove. Often the bulb contains 10 to 20 cloves that are asymmetric in shape, except for those closest to the center.[ If garlic is planted at the proper time and depth, it can be grown as far north as Alaska. It produces ]hermaphrodite
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have ...
flowers. It is pollinated
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...
by bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects.
Origin and major types
Identification of the wild progenitor of common garlic is difficult due to the sterility of its many cultivars
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
, which limits the ability to cross test with wild relatives. Genetically and morphologically, garlic is most similar to the wild species ''Allium longicuspis'', which grows in central and southwestern Asia. However, because ''Allium longicuspis'' is also mostly sterile, it is doubtful that it is the ancestor of ''Allium sativum''. Other candidates that have been suggested include ''Allium tuncelianum
''Allium tuncelianum'' is a species of wild onion which is endemic to the Munzur Valley in Tunceli, in eastern Turkey.It usually produces a single-bulb white onion, unlike garlic, which has multiple bulbs. It has a garlic odor and taste and ...
'', ''Allium macrochaetum
''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, D ...
'', and '' Allium truncatum'', all of which are native to the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
.
''Allium sativum'' grows in the wild in areas where it has become naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
. The "wild garlic", "crow garlic", and " field garlic" of Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
are members of the species ''Allium ursinum
''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amary ...
'', '' Allium vineale'', and ''Allium oleraceum
''Allium oleraceum'', the field garlic, is a Eurasian species of wild onion. It is a bulbous perennial that grows wild in dry places, reaching in height. It reproduces by seed, bulbs and by the production of small bulblets in the flower head (sim ...
'', respectively. In North America, '' Allium vineale'' (known as "wild garlic" or "crow garlic") and '' Allium canadense'' (known as "meadow garlic", "wild garlic", or "wild onion") are common weed
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...
s in fields. So-called elephant garlic
Elephant garlic (''Allium ampeloprasum'' var. ''ampeloprasum'') is a perennial plant belonging to the onion genus. It has a tall, solid, flowering stalk and broad, flat leaves. The flavor is milder than garlic and can be eaten raw in salads, ro ...
is actually a wild leek (''Allium ampeloprasum
''Allium ampeloprasum'' is a member of the onion genus ''Allium''. The wild plant is commonly known as wild leek or broadleaf wild leek. Its native range is southern Europe to western Asia, but it is cultivated in many other places and has becom ...
''), and not a true garlic. Single clove garlic (also called pearl or solo garlic) originated in the Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
province of China.
Garlic as a geographical indication
Some garlics have protected status in the UK and the EU, including:
Subspecies and varieties
There are two subspecies of ''A. sativum'', ten major groups of varieties, and hundreds of varieties or cultivars.
*''A. sativum'' var. ''ophioscorodon'' (Link) Döll, called ''Ophioscorodon'', or hard-necked garlic, includes porcelain garlics, rocambole garlic, and purple stripe garlics. It is sometimes considered to be a separate species, ''Allium ophioscorodon'' G.Don.
*''A. sativum'' var. ''sativum'', or soft-necked garlic, includes artichoke garlic, silverskin garlic, and creole garlic.
There are at least 120 cultivars originating from Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
, making it the main center of garlic biodiversity.
Cultivation
Garlic is easy to grow and can be grown year-round in mild climates. While sexual propagation of garlic is possible, nearly all of the garlic in cultivation is propagated asexually, by planting individual cloves in the ground.
In colder climates, cloves are best planted about six weeks before the soil freezes. The goal is to have the bulbs produce only roots and no shoots above the ground.
Harvest is in late spring or early summer.
Garlic plants can be grown closely together, leaving enough space for the bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs dur ...
s to mature, and are easily grown in containers of sufficient depth. Garlic does well in loose, dry, well-drained soils in sunny locations, and is hardy throughout USDA climate zones
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
4–9. When selecting garlic for planting, it is important to pick large bulbs from which to separate cloves. Large cloves, along with proper spacing in the planting bed, will also increase bulb size. Garlic plants prefer to grow in a soil with a high organic material
Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...
content, but are capable of growing in a wide range of soil conditions and pH levels.
There are different varieties of garlic, most notably split into the subspecies of hardneck garlic and softneck garlic. The latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...
where the garlic is grown affects the choice of type, as garlic can be day-length sensitive. Hardneck garlic is generally grown in cooler climates and produces relatively large cloves, whereas softneck garlic is generally grown closer to the equator and produces small, tightly packed cloves.
Garlic scapes
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatta ...
are removed to focus all the garlic's energy into bulb growth. The scapes can be eaten raw or cooked.
Diseases
Garlic plants are usually hardy and not affected by many pests or diseases. Garlic plants are said to repel rabbits
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...
and moles Moles can refer to:
* Moles de Xert, a mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain
*The Moles (Australian band)
*The Moles, alter ego of Scottish band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound
People
* Abraham Moles, French engin ...
.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) conducts a certification program to assure freedom from nematode
The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant- parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a bro ...
and white rot disease caused by '' Stromatinia cepivora'', two pathogens that can both destroy a crop as well as remain in the soil indefinitely, once introduced.
Garlic may also suffer from pink root, a typically non-fatal disease that stunts the roots and turns them pink or red; or leek rust. The larvae of the leek moth
The leek moth or onion leaf miner (''Acrolepiopsis assectella'') is a species of moth of family Acrolepiidae (formerly Glyphipterigidae) and the genus ''Acrolepiopsis''. The species is native to Europe and Siberia, but is also found in North Ame ...
attack garlic by mining into the leaves or bulbs.
Botrytis Botrytis may refer to:
* ''Botrytis'' (fungus), the anamorphs of fungi of the genus '' Botryotinia''
**''Botrytis cinerea'', a mold important in wine making
*Botrytis, the cauliflower cultivar group of ''Brassica oleracea
''Brassica oleracea'' is ...
neck and bulb rot is a disease of onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...
, garlic, leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...
and shallot
The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...
. ''Botrytis allii'' and ''Botrytis aclada'' cause this disease in onion and ''Botrytis porri'' causes it in garlic. "Initial symptoms usually begin at the neck, where affected tissue softens, becomes water-soaked, and turns brown. In a humid atmosphere, a gray and feltlike growth (where spores are produced) appears on rotting scales, and mycelia may develop between scales. Dark-brown-to-black sclerotia (the resting bodies of the pathogen) may eventually develop in the neck or between scales."
Production
In 2020, world production of garlic was 28 million tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s, with China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
alone accounting for 74% of the total.
Properties
Fresh or crushed garlic yields the sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...
-containing compounds allicin
Allicin is an organosulfur compound obtained from garlic, a species in the family Alliaceae. It was first isolated and studied in the laboratory by Chester J. Cavallito and John Hays Bailey in 1944. When fresh garlic is chopped or crushed, th ...
, ajoene
Ajoene is an organosulfur compound found in garlic (''Allium sativum'') extracts. It is a colorless liquid that contains sulfoxide and disulfide functional groups. The name (and pronunciation) is derived from "ajo", the Spanish word for garlic. I ...
, diallyl polysulfides, vinyldithiin
Vinyldithiins, more precisely named 3-vinyl-4''H''-1,2-dithiin and 2-vinyl-4''H''-1,3-dithiin, are organosulfur phytochemicals formed in the breakdown of allicin from crushed garlic (''Allium sativum''). Vinyldithiins are Diels-Alder dimers of thi ...
s, and ''S''-allylcysteine
''S''-Allylcysteine (SAC) is an organosulfur compound that is a constituent of fresh garlic. It is a derivative of the amino acid cysteine in which an allyl group replaces the proton on sulfur. A number of related compounds are found in garlic, ...
; as well as enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...
s, saponin
Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...
s, flavonoid
Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word ''flavus'', meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans.
Chemically, flavonoids ...
s, and Maillard reaction
The Maillard reaction ( ; ) is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor. Seared steaks, fried dumplings, cookies and other kinds of biscuits, breads, toasted marshmallows, and m ...
products when cooked, which are not sulfur-containing compounds.
The phytochemicals responsible for the sharp flavor of garlic are produced when the plant's cells
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
Cell may also refer to:
Locations
* Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
are damaged. When a cell is broken by chopping, chewing, or crushing, enzymes stored in cell vacuole
A vacuole () is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal, and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic m ...
s trigger the breakdown of several sulfur-containing compounds stored in the cell fluids (cytosol
The cytosol, also known as cytoplasmic matrix or groundplasm, is one of the liquids found inside cells ( intracellular fluid (ICF)). It is separated into compartments by membranes. For example, the mitochondrial matrix separates the mitochondri ...
). The resultant compounds are responsible for the sharp or hot taste and strong smell of garlic. Some of the compounds are unstable and continue to react over time.[McGee, pp. 310–311]
Among alliums, garlic has by far the highest concentrations of initial reaction products, making garlic much more potent than onion, shallot, or leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...
s. Although many humans enjoy the taste of garlic, these compounds are believed to have evolved as a defensive mechanism, deterring animals such as birds, insects, and worms from eating the plant.
A large number of sulfur compounds contribute to the smell and taste of garlic. Allicin has been found to be the compound most responsible for the "hot" sensation of raw garlic. This chemical opens thermo-transient receptor potential
Transient receptor potential channels (TRP channels) are a group of ion channels located mostly on the plasma membrane of numerous animal cell types. Most of these are grouped into two broad groups: Group 1 includes TRPC ( "C" for canonical), TR ...
channels that are responsible for the burning sense of heat in foods. The process of cooking garlic removes allicin, thus mellowing its spiciness.[ Allicin, along with its decomposition products ]diallyl disulfide
Diallyl disulfide (DADS or 4,5-dithia-1,7-octadiene) is an organosulfur compound derived from garlic and a few other genus ''Allium'' plants. Along with diallyl trisulfide and diallyl tetrasulfide, it is one of the principal components of the dist ...
and diallyl trisulfide
Diallyl trisulfide (DATS), also known as Allitridin, is an organosulfur compound with the formula S(SCH2CH=CH2)2. It is one of several produced by the hydrolysis of allicin, including diallyl disulfide and diallyl tetrasulfide, DATS is one of th ...
, are major contributors to the characteristic odor of garlic, with other allicin-derived compounds, such as vinyldithiin
Vinyldithiins, more precisely named 3-vinyl-4''H''-1,2-dithiin and 2-vinyl-4''H''-1,3-dithiin, are organosulfur phytochemicals formed in the breakdown of allicin from crushed garlic (''Allium sativum''). Vinyldithiins are Diels-Alder dimers of thi ...
s and ajoene
Ajoene is an organosulfur compound found in garlic (''Allium sativum'') extracts. It is a colorless liquid that contains sulfoxide and disulfide functional groups. The name (and pronunciation) is derived from "ajo", the Spanish word for garlic. I ...
.[
Because of its strong odor, garlic is sometimes called the "stinking rose". When eaten in quantity, garlic may be strongly evident in the diner's sweat and ]garlic breath
Garlic breath is halitosis (bad breath) resulting from the consumption of garlic.
Causes
The major volatile compounds responsible for garlic breath are allyl methyl sulfide, allyl methyl disulfide, allyl mercaptan, diallyl disulfide, dimet ...
the following day. This is because garlic's strong-smelling sulfur compounds are metabolized, forming allyl methyl sulfide. Allyl methyl sulfide (AMS) cannot be digested and is passed into the blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...
. It is carried to the lungs and the skin, where it is excreted. Since digestion takes several hours, and release of AMS several hours more, the effect of eating garlic may be present for a long time.[
The well-known phenomenon of "garlic breath" is allegedly alleviated by eating fresh ]parsley
Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...
. The herb is, therefore, included in many garlic recipes, such as ''pistou
Pistou ( Provençal: ''pisto'' (classical) or ''pistou'' (Mistralian), ), or pistou sauce, is a Provençal cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil. It is somewhat similar to the Ligurian sauce pesto, although it lacks ...
'', ''persillade
Persillade () is a sauce or seasoning mixture of parsley (french: persil) chopped together with seasonings including garlic, herbs, oil, and vinegar.
In its simplest form, just parsley and garlic, it is a common ingredient in many dishes, part ...
'', and the garlic butter spread used in garlic bread
Garlic bread (also called garlic toast) consists of bread (usually a baguette or sour dough like a ciabatta), topped with garlic and olive oil or butter and may include additional herbs, such as oregano or chives. It is then either grilled un ...
.
Abundant sulfur compounds in garlic are also responsible for turning garlic green or blue during pickling and cooking. Under these conditions (''i.e.'', acidity, heat) the sulfur-containing compound alliin
Alliin is a sulfoxide that is a natural constituent of fresh garlic. It is a derivative of the amino acid cysteine. When fresh garlic is chopped or crushed, the enzyme alliinase converts alliin into allicin, which is responsible for the aroma ...
reacts with common amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...
s to make pyrrole
Pyrrole is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound, a five-membered ring with the formula C4 H4 NH. It is a colorless volatile liquid that darkens readily upon exposure to air. Substituted derivatives are also called pyrroles, e.g., ''N''-meth ...
s, clusters of carbon-nitrogen rings. These rings can be linked together into polypyrrole
Polypyrrole (PPy) is an organic polymer obtained by oxidative polymerization of pyrrole. It is a solid with the formula H(C4H2NH)nH. It is an intrinsically conducting polymer, used in electronics, optical, biological and medical fields.
History ...
molecules. Ring structures absorb particular wavelengths of light and thus appear colored. The two-pyrrole molecule looks red, the three-pyrrole molecule looks blue, and the four-pyrrole molecule looks green (like chlorophyll
Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...
, a tetrapyrrole). Like chlorophyll, the pyrrole pigments are safe to eat. Upon cutting, similar to a color change in onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...
caused by reactions of amino acids with sulfur compounds, garlic can turn green.
Because of sulfur compounds circulating in blood, consumed garlic may act as a mosquito repellent, but there is no evidence garlic is effective for this purpose.
File:Allium sativum 003.JPG, Bulbs (top-setting, grown in lieu of flowers)
File:Garlic plate no 6 bv73c1191 bk128b698 crop.jpeg, Garlic, from ''The Book of Health'', 1898, by Henry Munson Lyman
File:Alliin Structural Formula V.1.svg, Alliin
Alliin is a sulfoxide that is a natural constituent of fresh garlic. It is a derivative of the amino acid cysteine. When fresh garlic is chopped or crushed, the enzyme alliinase converts alliin into allicin, which is responsible for the aroma ...
, a sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...
-containing compound found in garlic.
History
Culinary history
Numerous cuneiform records show that garlic has been cultivated in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
for at least 4,000 years. The use of garlic in China and Egypt also dates back thousands of years. Well-preserved garlic was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
(c. 1325 BC). It was consumed by ancient Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
soldiers, sailors, and rural classes (Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
, ''Eclogues'' ii. 11), and, according to Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
('' Natural History'' xix. 32), by the African peasantry. Garlic was placed by the ancient Greeks on the piles of stones at crossroads, as a supper for Hecate
Hecate or Hekate, , ; grc-dor, Ἑκάτᾱ, Hekátā, ; la, Hecatē or . is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicte ...
(Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...
, ''Characters, The Superstitious Man'').
Garlic was rare in traditional English cuisine
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but also shares much with wider British cuisine, partly through the importation of ingredients and ideas ...
(though it is said to have been grown in England before 1548) but has been a common ingredient in Mediterranean Europe. Translations of the Assize of Weights and Measures
Weights and measures acts are acts of the British Parliament determining the regulation of weights and measures. It also refers to similar royal and parliamentary acts of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland and the medieval Welsh states. T ...
, an English statute generally dated to the 13th century, indicate a passage as dealing with standardized units of garlic production, sale, and taxation—the hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of 15 ropes
A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly ...
of 15 heads each—but the Latin version of the text may refer to herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
rather than garlic.[. & & ]
Folk medicine
Garlic has been used for traditional medicine in diverse cultures such as in Egypt, Japan, China, Rome, and Greece. In his '' Natural History'', Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
gave a list of conditions in which garlic was considered beneficial (''N.H.'' xx. 23). Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
, writing in the second century, eulogized garlic as the "rustic's theriac" (cure-all) (see F. Adams' ''Paulus Aegineta'', p. 99). Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
, in ''The Canon of Medicine
''The Canon of Medicine'' ( ar, القانون في الطب, italic=yes ''al-Qānūn fī al-Ṭibb''; fa, قانون در طب, italic=yes, ''Qanun-e dâr Tâb'') is an encyclopedia of medicine in five books compiled by Persian physician-phi ...
'' (1025), recommended garlic for the treatment of arthritis
Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
, snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
and insect bites, parasites
Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...
, chronic cough
Chronic cough is long-term coughing, sometimes defined as more than several weeks or months. The term can be used to describe the different causes related to coughing, the three main ones being upper airway cough syndrome, asthma and gastroesopha ...
, and as an antibiotic
An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...
. Alexander Neckam
Alexander Neckam (8 September 115731 March 1217) was an English magnetician, poet, theologian, and writer. He was an abbot of Cirencester Abbey from 1213 until his death.
Early life
Born on 8 September 1157 in St Albans, Alexander shared his b ...
, a writer of the 12th century (see Wright's edition of his works, p. 473, 1863), discussed it as a palliative
Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...
for the heat of the sun in field labor. In the 17th century, Thomas Sydenham
Thomas Sydenham (10 September 1624 – 29 December 1689) was an English physician. He was the author of ''Observationes Medicae'' which became a standard textbook of medicine for two centuries so that he became known as 'The English Hippocrate ...
valued it as an application in confluent smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
, and William Cullen
William Cullen FRS FRSE FRCPE FPSG (; 15 April 17105 February 1790) was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and professor at the Edinburgh Medical School. Cullen was a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment: He was Dav ...
's ''Materia Medica'' of 1789 found some dropsies cured by it alone.
Uses
Culinary uses
Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavor as a seasoning or condiment.
The garlic plant's bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs dur ...
is the most commonly used part of the plant. With the exception of the single clove types, garlic bulbs are normally divided into numerous fleshy sections called cloves. Garlic cloves are used for consumption (raw or cooked) or for medicinal purposes. They have a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking. The distinctive aroma is mainly due to organosulfur
Organosulfur compounds are organic compounds that contain sulfur. They are often associated with foul odors, but many of the sweetest compounds known are organosulfur derivatives, e.g., saccharin. Nature abounds with organosulfur compounds—sulfur ...
compounds including allicin
Allicin is an organosulfur compound obtained from garlic, a species in the family Alliaceae. It was first isolated and studied in the laboratory by Chester J. Cavallito and John Hays Bailey in 1944. When fresh garlic is chopped or crushed, th ...
present in fresh garlic cloves and ajoene
Ajoene is an organosulfur compound found in garlic (''Allium sativum'') extracts. It is a colorless liquid that contains sulfoxide and disulfide functional groups. The name (and pronunciation) is derived from "ajo", the Spanish word for garlic. I ...
which forms when they are crushed or chopped. A further metabolite allyl methyl sulfide is responsible for garlic breath.
Other parts of the garlic plant are also edible. The leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
and flowers
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
(bulbil
A bulbil (also referred to as bulbel, bulblet, and/or pup) is a small, young plant that is reproduced vegetatively from axillary buds on the parent plant's stem or in place of a flower on an inflorescence. These young plants are clones of the pa ...
s) on the head (spathe
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
) are sometimes eaten. They are milder in flavor than the bulbs, and are most often consumed while immature and still tender. Immature garlic is sometimes pulled, rather like a scallion, and sold as "green garlic". When green garlic is allowed to grow past the "scallion" stage, but not permitted to fully mature, it may produce a garlic "round", a bulb like a boiling onion, but not separated into cloves like a mature bulb.
Green garlic imparts a garlic flavor and aroma in food, minus the spiciness. Green garlic is often chopped and stir-fried
Stir frying () is a cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and t ...
or cooked in soup
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...
or hot pot
Hot pot or hotpot (), also known as soup-food or steamboat, is a cooking method that originated in China. A heat source on the dining table keeps a pot of soup stock simmering, and a variety of Chinese foodstuffs and ingredients are served b ...
in Southeast Asian (i.e. Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
, Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
, Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, Lao, Cambodian
Cambodian usually refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Cambodia
** Cambodian people (or Khmer people)
** Cambodian language (or Khmer language)
** For citizens and nationals of Cambodia, see Demographics of Cambodia
** Fo ...
, Singaporean
Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, India ...
), and Chinese cookery, and is very abundant and low-priced. Additionally, the immature flower stalks (scapes
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatta ...
) of the hardneck and elephant types are sometimes marketed for uses similar to asparagus
Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable.
It was once classified in ...
in stir-fries.
Inedible or rarely eaten parts of the garlic plant include the "skin" covering each clove and root cluster. The papery, protective layers of "skin" over various parts of the plant are generally discarded during preparation for most culinary uses, though in Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
immature whole heads are sometimes prepared with the tender skins intact. The root cluster attached to the basal plate of the bulb is the only part not typically considered palatable in any form.
An alternative is to cut the top off the bulb, coat the cloves by dribbling olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...
(or other oil-based seasoning) over them, and roast
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization ...
them in an oven. Garlic softens and can be extracted from the cloves by squeezing the (root) end of the bulb, or individually by squeezing one end of the clove. In Korea, heads of garlic are heated over the course of several weeks; the resulting product, called black garlic
Black garlic is a type of aged garlic that is colored deep brownish-black. The process is of East Asian origin. It is made by placing garlic (''Allium sativum'') in a warm, moist, controlled environment over the course of several weeks, a pro ...
, is sweet and syrupy, and is exported to the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.
Garlic may be applied to different kinds of bread, usually in a medium of butter or oil, to create a variety of classic dishes, such as garlic bread
Garlic bread (also called garlic toast) consists of bread (usually a baguette or sour dough like a ciabatta), topped with garlic and olive oil or butter and may include additional herbs, such as oregano or chives. It is then either grilled un ...
, garlic toast
Texas toast is a toasted bread that is typically made from sliced bread that has been sliced at double the usual thickness of packaged bread. Texas toast is prepared by spreading butter on both sides of the bread and broiling or grilling it until ...
, bruschetta
Bruschetta (, , ) is an antipasto (starter dish) from Italy consisting of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil and salt. Variations may include toppings of tomato, vegetables, beans, cured meat, or cheese. In Italy, brusche ...
, crostini
Crostini (meaning "little crusts" in Italian; singular ''crostino'') are an Italian appetizer consisting of small slices of grilled or toasted bread and toppings. The toppings may include a variety of different cheeses, meats, vegetables and c ...
, and canapé
A canapé () is a type of hors d'oeuvre, a small, prepared, and often decorative food, consisting of a small piece of bread (sometimes toasted) wrapped or topped with some savoury food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite.
Name
Th ...
. The flavor varies in intensity and aroma with the different cooking methods. It is often paired with onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...
, tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
, or ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
.
Immature scapes are tender and edible. They are also known as "garlic spears", "stems", or "tops". Scapes generally have a milder taste than the cloves. They are often used in stir frying or braised like asparagus.[ Garlic leaves are a popular vegetable in many parts of Asia. The leaves are cut, cleaned, and then stir-fried with eggs, meat, or vegetables.
]Garlic powder
Garlic powder is a spice that is derived from Dehydrated food, dehydrated garlic and used in cooking for flavour enhancement. The process of making garlic powder includes drying and dehydrating the vegetable, then powdering it through machinery o ...
is made from dehydrated garlic and can be used as a substitute for fresh garlic, though the taste is not quite the same. Garlic salt
Garlic salt is a seasoned salt made of a mixture of dried, ground garlic and table salt with an anti-caking agent (e.g. calcium silicate). In its most basic form it is made by combining 3 parts salt and 1 part dried garlic powder
Garlic powder i ...
combines garlic powder with table salt.
Regions
Garlic is a fundamental component in many or most dishes of various regions, including eastern Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, northern Africa, southern Europe
Southern Europe is the southern regions of Europe, region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countrie ...
, and parts of Latin America. Latin American seasonings, particularly, use garlic in sofrito
(Spanish, ), (Catalan), (Italian, ), or (Portuguese, ) is a basic preparation in Mediterranean, Latin American, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese cooking. It typically consists of aromatic ingredients cut into small pieces and sautéed or ...
s and mofongo
Mofongo () is a Puerto Rican dish with plantains as its main ingredient. Plantains are picked green, cut into pieces and typically fried but can be boiled or roasted, then mashed with salt, garlic, broth, and olive oil in a wooden pilón (mortar ...
s.
Oils can be flavored with garlic cloves. These infused oils are used to season all categories of vegetables
Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...
, meats, breads, and pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...
. Garlic, along with fish sauce
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, P ...
, chopped fresh chilis, lime juice
A lime (from French ''lime'', from Arabic ''līma'', from Persian ''līmū'', "lemon") is a citrus fruit, which is typically round, green in color, in diameter, and contains acidic juice vesicles.
There are several species of citrus trees ...
, sugar, and water, is a basic essential item in dipping fish sauce, a highly used dipping sauce condiment used in Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
. In East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, chili oil
Chili oil is a condiment made from vegetable oil that has been infused with chili peppers. Different types of oil and hot peppers are used, and other components may also be included. It is commonly used in Chinese cuisine, Southeast Asian cuisi ...
with garlic is a popular dipping sauce
A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chi ...
, especially for meat and seafood. Tuong ot toi Viet Nam (Vietnam chili garlic sauce) is a highly popular condiment and dip across North America and Asia.
In some cuisines, the young bulbs are pickled for three to six weeks in a mixture of sugar, salt, and spices. In eastern Europe, the shoots are pickled and eaten as an appetizer. Laba garlic
Laba, Łaba, or LABA may refer to:
Places
*Laba River, in Russia
*Bolshaya Laba River, in Russia
*Wadi Laba River, in Eritrea
*Laba Forest, protected forest in Burkina Faso
*Laba Township, in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Yunnan, China
People ...
, prepared by soaking garlic in vinegar
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...
, is a type of pickled garlic served with dumpling
Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fi ...
s in northern China to celebrate the Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
.[
Garlic is essential in Middle Eastern and Arabic cooking, with its presence in many food items. In Levantine countries such as ]Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, garlic is traditionally crushed together with olive oil, and occasionally salt, to create a Middle Eastern garlic sauce called Toum
Salsat toum or toumya (Arabic pronunciation of 'garlic') is a garlic sauce common to the Levant. Similar to the Provençal aioli, there are many variations, a common one containing garlic, salt, olive oil or vegetable oil, and lemon juice, tra ...
(تُوم; meaning "garlic" in Arabic). While not exclusively served with meats, toum is commonly paired with chicken or other meat dishes such as shawarma
Shawarma (; ar, شاورما) is a popular Middle Eastern dish that originated in the Ottoman Empire, consisting of meat cut into thin slices, stacked in a cone-like shape, and roasted on a slowly-turning vertical rotisserie or spit. Traditiona ...
. Garlic is also a key component in some hummus
Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made fr ...
varieties, an Arabic dip composed of chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and salt.
Lightly smoked garlic is used in British and other European cuisine. It is particularly prized for stuffing poultry and game, and in soups and stews.
Emulsifying garlic with olive oil produces '' aioli''. Garlic, oil, and a chunky base produce ''skordalia
Skordalia or skordhalia or skorthalia (Greek: σκορδαλιά , also called αλιάδα, aliada/aliatha), is a thick purée in Greek cuisine made of garlic in a base of potatoes, walnuts, almonds or liquid-soaked stale bread mixed with o ...
''. Blending garlic, almond
The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...
, oil, and soaked bread produces ''ajoblanco
Ajoblanco (sometimes written ajo blanco) is a popular Spanish cold soup typical from Granada and Málaga (Andalusia). This dish is made of bread, crushed almonds, garlic, water, olive oil, salt and sometimes vinegar. It is usually served with gr ...
''. ''Tzatziki
Tzatziki ( el, τζατζίκι), also known as tarator or cacık (), is a dip, soup, or sauce found in the cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It is made of salted strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic ...
'', yogurt mixed with garlic and salt, is a common sauce in Eastern Mediterranean cuisines.
Storage
Domestically, garlic is stored warm bove 18 °C (64 °F)and dry to keep it dormant (to inhibit sprouting). It is traditionally hung; softneck varieties are often braided in strands called plaits or ''grappes''. Peeled cloves may be stored in wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
or vinegar
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...
in the refrigerator. Commercially, garlic is stored at 0 °C (32 °F), in a dry, low-humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity depe ...
environment. Garlic will keep longer if the tops remain attached.
Garlic is often kept in oil to produce flavored oil; however, the practice requires measures to be taken to prevent the garlic from spoiling which may include rancidity and growth of ''Clostridium botulinum
''Clostridium botulinum'' is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming, motile bacterium with the ability to produce the neurotoxin botulinum.
The botulinum toxin can cause botulism, a severe flaccid paralytic disease in humans an ...
''. Acidification with a mild solution of vinegar minimizes bacterial growth. Refrigeration does not assure the safety of garlic kept in oil, requiring use within one month to avoid bacterial spoilage. Garlic is also dried at low temperatures, to preserve the enzymatic activity and sold and kept as garlic granules, and can be rehydrated to reactivate it.
Stored garlic can be affected by ''Penicillium
''Penicillium'' () is a genus of ascomycetous fungi that is part of the mycobiome of many species and is of major importance in the natural environment, in food spoilage, and in food and drug production.
Some members of the genus produce pe ...
'' decay known as "blue mold" (or "green mold" in some locales), especially in high humidity. Infection may first appear as soft or water-soaked spots, followed by white patches (of mycelium
Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrate (biology), substrates. A typical single ...
) which turn blue or green with sporulation
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
. As sporulation and germination
Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...
are delayed at low temperature, and at −4 deg. C are inhibited entirely, in refrigerated cloves one may only see the white mycellium during early stages. '' Penicillium hirsutum'' and '' Penicillium allii'' are two of the predominant species identified in blue mold.
Medical research
Cardiovascular
As of 2016, clinical research
Clinical research is a branch of healthcare science that determines the safety and effectiveness ( efficacy) of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatm ...
found that consuming garlic produces only a small reduction in blood pressure
Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure" r ...
(4 mmHg), and there is no clear long-term effect on hypertension
Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...
, cardiovascular morbidity
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
or mortality
Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality.
Mortality may also refer to:
* Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...
. A 2016 meta-analysis
A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...
indicated there was no effect of garlic consumption on blood levels of lipoprotein(a)
Lipoprotein(a) is a low-density lipoprotein variant containing a protein called apolipoprotein(a). Genetic and epidemiological studies have identified lipoprotein(a) as a risk factor for atherosclerosis and related diseases, such as coronary heart ...
, a biomarker
In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, ...
of atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis in which the wall of the artery develops abnormalities, called lesions. These lesions may lead to narrowing due to the buildup of atheroma, atheromatous plaque. At onset there are usu ...
.
Because garlic might reduce platelet aggregation
Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby ini ...
, people taking anticoagulant
Anticoagulants, commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, where the ...
medication are cautioned about consuming garlic.
Cancer
A 2016 meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies
A cohort study is a particular form of longitudinal study that samples a cohort (a group of people who share a defining characteristic, typically those who experienced a common event in a selected period, such as birth or graduation), performing ...
found a moderate inverse association between garlic intake and some cancers of the upper digestive tract
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans a ...
. Another meta-analysis found decreased rates of stomach cancer
Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...
associated with garlic intake, but cited confounding factors as limitations for interpreting these studies. Further meta-analyses found similar results on the incidence of stomach cancer by consuming allium
''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, Davi ...
vegetables including garlic. A 2014 meta-analysis of observational
Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data (information), data via the use of scienti ...
epidemiological
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
studies found that garlic consumption was associated with a lower risk of stomach cancer in Korean people.
A 2016 meta-analysis found no effect of garlic on colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...
. A 2014 meta-analysis found garlic supplements or allium vegetables to have no effect on colorectal cancers.
A 2013 meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies found limited evidence for an association between higher garlic consumption and reduced risk of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
, but the studies were suspected as having publication bias
In published academic research, publication bias occurs when the outcome of an experiment or research study biases the decision to publish or otherwise distribute it. Publishing only results that show a significant finding disturbs the balance o ...
.
Common cold
A 2014 review found insufficient evidence to determine the effects of garlic in preventing or treating the common cold
The common cold or the cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract that primarily affects the respiratory mucosa of the nose, throat, sinuses, and larynx. Signs and symptoms may appear fewer than two days after exposu ...
. Other reviews concluded a similar absence of high-quality evidence for garlic having a significant effect on the common cold.
Other uses
The sticky juice within the bulb cloves is used as an adhesive
Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation.
The use of adhesives offers certain advant ...
in mending glass and porcelain. An environmentally benign garlic-derived polysulfide product is approved for use in the European Union (under Annex 1 of 91/414) and the UK as a nematicide
A nematicide is a type of chemical pesticide used to kill plant-parasitic nematodes. Nematicides have tended to be broad-spectrum toxicants possessing high volatility or other properties promoting migration through the soil. Aldicarb (Temik), a ca ...
and insecticide
Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to b ...
, including for use in the control of cabbage root fly
''Delia radicum'', known variously as the cabbage fly, cabbage root fly, root fly or turnip fly, is a pest of crops. The larvae of the cabbage root fly are sometimes known as the cabbage maggot or root maggot. The adult flies are about 1 c ...
and red mite
''Dermanyssus gallinae'' (also known as the red mite) is a haematophagous ectoparasite of poultry. It has been implicated as a vector of several major pathogenic diseases. Despite its common names, it has a wide range of hosts including sever ...
in poultry. Garlic has antioxidant
Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricant ...
and anti-inflammatory
Anti-inflammatory is the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation or swelling. Anti-inflammatory drugs, also called anti-inflammatories, make up about half of analgesics. These drugs remedy pain by reducing inflammation as o ...
properties, which give it great therapeutic potential against a number of diseases.
Adverse effects and toxicology
Garlic is known to cause bad breath (halitosis
Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is a symptom in which a noticeably unpleasant breath odour is present. It can result in anxiety among those affected. It is also associated with depression and symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder.
Th ...
) and body odor, described as a pungent garlicky smell to sweat.[ This is caused by allyl methyl sulfide (AMS). AMS is a volatile liquid which is absorbed into the blood during the metabolism of garlic-derived sulfur compounds; from the blood it travels to the lungs][ (and from there to the mouth, causing bad breath; see ]garlic breath
Garlic breath is halitosis (bad breath) resulting from the consumption of garlic.
Causes
The major volatile compounds responsible for garlic breath are allyl methyl sulfide, allyl methyl disulfide, allyl mercaptan, diallyl disulfide, dimet ...
) and skin, where it is exuded through skin pores. Washing the skin with soap is only a partial and imperfect solution to the smell. Studies have shown sipping milk at the same time as consuming garlic can significantly neutralize bad breath. Mixing garlic with milk in the mouth before swallowing reduced the odor better than drinking milk afterward. Plain water, mushrooms, and basil may also reduce the odor; the mix of fat and water found in milk, however, was the most effective.
The green, dry "folds" in the center of the garlic clove are especially pungent
Pungency () refers to the taste of food commonly referred to as spiciness, hotness or heat, found in foods such as chili peppers. Highly pungent tastes may be experienced as unpleasant. The term piquancy () is sometimes applied to foods with a l ...
. The sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...
compound allicin
Allicin is an organosulfur compound obtained from garlic, a species in the family Alliaceae. It was first isolated and studied in the laboratory by Chester J. Cavallito and John Hays Bailey in 1944. When fresh garlic is chopped or crushed, th ...
, produced by crushing or chewing fresh garlic,[ produces other sulfur compounds: ]ajoene
Ajoene is an organosulfur compound found in garlic (''Allium sativum'') extracts. It is a colorless liquid that contains sulfoxide and disulfide functional groups. The name (and pronunciation) is derived from "ajo", the Spanish word for garlic. I ...
, allyl polysulfides, and vinyldithiin
Vinyldithiins, more precisely named 3-vinyl-4''H''-1,2-dithiin and 2-vinyl-4''H''-1,3-dithiin, are organosulfur phytochemicals formed in the breakdown of allicin from crushed garlic (''Allium sativum''). Vinyldithiins are Diels-Alder dimers of thi ...
s.[ Aged garlic lacks allicin, but may have some activity due to the presence of S-allylcysteine.
Some people suffer from ]allergies
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...
to garlic and other species of ''Allium
''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, D ...
''.[ Symptoms can include irritable bowel, ]diarrhea
Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...
, mouth and throat ulcerations, nausea
Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the ...
, breathing difficulties, and, in rare cases, anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis is a serious, potentially fatal allergic reaction and medical emergency that is rapid in onset and requires immediate medical attention regardless of use of emergency medication on site. It typically causes more than one of the follow ...
.[ Garlic-sensitive people show positive tests to ]diallyl disulfide
Diallyl disulfide (DADS or 4,5-dithia-1,7-octadiene) is an organosulfur compound derived from garlic and a few other genus ''Allium'' plants. Along with diallyl trisulfide and diallyl tetrasulfide, it is one of the principal components of the dist ...
, allylpropyldisulfide, allylmercaptan, and allicin, all of which are present in garlic. People who suffer from garlic allergies are often sensitive to many other plants, including onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...
s, chives
Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and ...
, leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...
s, shallot
The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...
s, garden lilies, ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
, and banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
s.
Several reports of serious burns resulting from garlic being applied topical
A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large range of classes ...
ly for various purposes, including naturopathic uses and acne
Acne, also known as ''acne vulgaris'', is a long-term Cutaneous condition, skin condition that occurs when Keratinocyte, dead skin cells and Sebum, oil from the skin clog hair follicles. Typical features of the condition include comedo, black ...
treatment, indicate care must be taken for these uses, usually testing a small area of skin using a low concentration of garlic. On the basis of numerous reports of such burns, including burns to children, topical use of raw garlic, as well as insertion of raw garlic into body cavities, is discouraged.[ In particular, topical application of raw garlic to young children is not advisable.
The side effects of long-term garlic supplementation are largely unknown.][ Possible side effects include gastrointestinal discomfort, sweating, dizziness, allergic reactions, bleeding, and menstrual irregularities.]
Some breastfeeding mothers have found, after consuming garlic, that their babies can be slow to feed, and have noted a garlic odor coming from them.
If higher-than-recommended doses of garlic are taken with anticoagulant
Anticoagulants, commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, where the ...
medications, this can lead to a higher risk of bleeding. Garlic may interact with warfarin
Warfarin, sold under the brand name Coumadin among others, is a medication that is used as an anticoagulant (blood thinner). It is commonly used to prevent blood clots such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and to prevent strok ...
,[ ]saquinavir
Saquinavir (SQV), sold under the brand names Invirase and Fortovase, is an antiretroviral drug used together with other medications to treat or prevent HIV/AIDS. Typically it is used with ritonavir or lopinavir/ritonavir to increase its effect ...
, antihypertensives
Antihypertensives are a class of drugs that are used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). Antihypertensive therapy seeks to prevent the complications of high blood pressure, such as stroke and myocardial infarction. Evidence suggests that r ...
, calcium channel blockers
Calcium channel blockers (CCB), calcium channel antagonists or calcium antagonists are a group of medications that disrupt the movement of calcium () through calcium channels. Calcium channel blockers are used as antihypertensive drugs, i.e., as ...
, the quinolone family of antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin
Ciprofloxacin is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic used to treat a number of bacterial infections. This includes bone and joint infections, intra abdominal infections, certain types of infectious diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, skin infec ...
, and hypoglycemic
Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar, is a fall in blood sugar to levels below normal, typically below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L). Whipple's triad is used to properly identify hypoglycemic episodes. It is defined as blood glucose belo ...
drugs, as well as other medications. The American Veterinary Medical Association
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), founded in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 99,500 veterinarians in the US.
The AVMA provides information resources, continuing education opportunities, publicatio ...
does not recommend feeding garlic to your pets.
Spiritual and religious uses
Garlic is present in the folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
of many cultures. In Europe, many cultures have used garlic for protection or white magic
White magic has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for selfless purposes. Practitioners of white magic have been given titles such as wise men or women, healers, white witches or wizards. Many of these people claim ...
, perhaps owing to its reputation in folk medicine
Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
.[ Central European folk beliefs considered garlic a powerful ward against ]demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...
s, werewolves
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...
, and vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
s. To ward off vampires, garlic could be worn, hung in windows, or rubbed on chimneys and keyholes.
In the foundation myth of the ancient Korean kingdom of Gojoseon
Gojoseon () also called Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Pen ...
, eating nothing but 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of Korean mugwort for 100 days let a bear be transformed into a woman.
In celebration of Nowruz
Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...
(Persian calendar New Year), garlic is one of the essential items in a Haft-sin
Haftsin ( fa, هفتسین) is an arrangement of seven symbolic items whose names start with the letter "س" (pronounced as "seen"), the 15th letter in the Persian alphabet; "haft" (هفت) is Persian for "seven". It is traditionally displaye ...
("seven things beginning with 'S'") table, a traditional New Year's display: the name for garlic in Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
is سیر (''seer''), which begins with "س" (''sin'', pronounced "seen") the Perso-Arabic
The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran ( Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian) since the 7th cen ...
letter corresponding to "S".
In Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, it is recommended not to eat raw garlic prior to going to the mosque. This is based on several hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
.
Nutrition
In the typical serving size of 1–3 cloves (3–9 grams), garlic provides no significant nutritional value, with the content of all essential nutrients
A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excre ...
below 10% of the Daily Value
The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products in the U.S. and Canada is the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of health ...
(DV) (table). When expressed per 100 grams, garlic contains several nutrients in rich amounts (20% or more of the DV), including vitamins B6 and C, and the dietary mineral
In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element required as an essential nutrient by organisms to perform functions necessary for life. However, the four major structural elements in the human body by weight (oxygen, hydrogen, carbon ...
s manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...
and phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
. Per 100 gram serving, garlic is also a moderate source (10–19% DV) of certain B vitamins, including thiamin
Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin, an essential micronutrient, that cannot be made in the body. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosphorylated forms of thia ...
and pantothenic acid
Pantothenic acid, also called vitamin B5 is a water-soluble B vitamin and therefore an essential nutrient. All animals require pantothenic acid in order to synthesize coenzyme A (CoA) – essential for fatty acid metabolism – as well as to, i ...
, as well as the dietary minerals calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...
, iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
, and zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
(table).
The composition of raw garlic is 59% water, 33% carbohydrates
In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may ...
, 6% protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
, 2% dietary fiber
Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by the ...
, and less than 1% fat
In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers spec ...
.[
]
Gallery
File:All Garlic Ail Ajo.jpg, Chopped garlic
File:Knoblauch Bluete 3.JPG, Garlic plant
File:Korea-Goheunggun-Garlic harvest 4196-06.JPG, Harvested garlic left to dry
File:A garlic clove and its head.jpg, A garlic bulb
File:Blended garlic confit.jpg, Blended garlic confit
Confit (, ) (from the French word '' confire'', literally "to preserve") is any type of food that is cooked slowly over a long period as a method of preservation.
Confit, as a cooking term, describes when food is cooked in grease, oil, or sugar ...
See also
*''Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
''Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers'' is a 1980 documentary film about garlic directed by Les Blank. In 2004, the film was selected for preservation in the United States’ National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, h ...
''. Directed by Les Blank
Les Blank (November 27, 1935 – April 7, 2013) was an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians.
Life and career
Leslie Harrod Blank Jr. was born November 27, 1935 in Tampa, Florida. He atten ...
.
*Garlic oil
Garlic oil is the volatile oil derived from garlic. It is usually prepared using steam distillation and can also be produced via distillation using ether. It is used in cooking and as a seasoning, a nutritional supplement, and also as an insectic ...
*Garlic powder
Garlic powder is a spice that is derived from Dehydrated food, dehydrated garlic and used in cooking for flavour enhancement. The process of making garlic powder includes drying and dehydrating the vegetable, then powdering it through machinery o ...
*Garlic salt
Garlic salt is a seasoned salt made of a mixture of dried, ground garlic and table salt with an anti-caking agent (e.g. calcium silicate). In its most basic form it is made by combining 3 parts salt and 1 part dried garlic powder
Garlic powder i ...
*Garlic sauce
Garlic sauce is a sauce prepared using garlic as a primary ingredient. It is typically a pungent sauce, with the depth of garlic flavor determined by the amount of garlic used. The garlic is typically crushed or finely diced. Simple garlic sauce ...
*Herbalism
Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern reme ...
*International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants
The ''International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (ICNCP), is a guide to the rules and regulations for naming cultigens, plants whose origin or selection is primarily due to intentional human activity. It is also known as Cultivate ...
*List of garlic dishes
This is a list of garlic dishes, comprising dishes and foods that use garlic as a main ingredient. Garlic is a species in the onion genus, ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and '' Chinese onion''. Garlic i ...
*List of garlic festivals
A garlic festival is a food festival focused on garlic. Examples include:
United States
*Gilroy Garlic Festival, an annual food festival in Gilroy, California
*Hudson Valley Garlic Festival, in Saugerties, New York
*Connecticut Garlic and Har ...
* Pyruvate scale
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
General and cited references
*
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Allium
Belizean cuisine
Italian cuisine
Objects believed to protect from evil
Plants described in 1753
Romani cuisine
Root vegetables
Spices