Book Review – The Miracle of Garlic
This book had a lot of trivia and interesting information about garlic. Did you know that in Korea and China, the average consumption of garlic for one person is 8-12 cloves per day? In the United States, it only averages out to about 1/2 to 1 clove of garlic a day. Historically, garlic has been used not only as food but in other ways, too. The sticky oil of garlic has been used to attach gilding to frames and furniture. It has also been used in making industrial lubricants, sealants, and binders. Traditional Greek midwives hang it in a delivery room to ward off evil spirits, much like stories tell about how garlic protects against vampires, witches, and demons. Babies who breastfeed after their mother has consumed garlic will spend longer at the breast, likely because they enjoy the garlic-scented breastmilk.
The author also goes into quite a bit of detail about the different varietals of garlic plants, choosing a type to grow in your own garden, and how to go about successfully growing garlic plants at home. Planting garlic alongside roses help prevent fungal infection of the roses and growing garlic can act as a natural pesticide for slugs and snails in the garden.
Practical information is also included, with instructions for selecting garlic, how to properly store it, ways to preserve it, and how to cook with it. The book wouldn’t be complete without a comprehensive section about natural remedies that use garlic and how garlic’s bioactive compounds can help the body. I had no idea that rubbing acne with the cut surface of a garlic clove can reduce inflammation and the sulfurous compounds help kill acne bacteria. There are numerous conditions that the author claims can be treated with garlic. During World War II, garlic was called “Russian penicillin” because Red Army doctors were short on antibiotics and successfully used garlic to treat infections instead.
My favorite section of the book was the garlic recipes section. In particular, the walnut/garlic sauce, garlicky spiced nuts, and garlic fudge looked interesting. Yes, garlic fudge! According to the author, the sweetness of garlic actually makes a delicious fudge when combined with granulated sugar. I’m intrigued and will have to test this out.
If you are at all interested in the history of garlic, properties of garlic, or health conditions that can be treated with garlic, I’d encourage you to check out this book. It was definitely an interesting read.
I was given a free Kindle version of this book by the publisher in exchange for a review. My opinions are completely my own and I was not compensated in any other way.
Rochelle, I too absolutely love garlic and I have eaten the whole thing when heated up in the oven and rested in a small dollop of olive oil (something we did often when I lived in Rhode Island). Oooooh the bliss! I would eat it a lot more if it didn’t make me smell funny. I totally believe it is a great natural antibiotic. When my son was little and had an ear ache or even now, we will heat up 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil with a garlic clove. When the oil has cooled down to a nice safe warm temperature, we put the oil in his ears and close with a bit of cotton. My son has only had to take antibiotics once because of ear infection and after we did this that never happened again. Love the stuff. Thanks for sharing your review. I’m dropping by from Our Everyday Harvest’s weekend blog hop. Hope you can stop by.