What is garlic? It seems that it would be superfluous to talk about it. Any housewife knows the spicy and tasty properties of this plant. Garlic is a great seasoning. When added in moderation, it gives a unique taste to many meat, fish and vegetable dishes. However, not everyone likes its smell.
Garlic is known to be an ancient spice; its homeland is Central Asia. From there, with wandering tribes, it got to China and the Middle East, and then migrated to Ancient Egypt, where it was well appreciated – it was grown there in large quantities. The ancient Greeks and Romans brought garlic from Egypt to Southern Europe, and from there the wide distribution of this spice began in all countries of the world. Today, garlic is a common vegetable crop everywhere, including in Russia and Ukraine. Many varieties and forms of cultured garlic are known.
Garden garlic is a perennial bulbous herbaceous plant. It has a bulb with spindly roots, an irregular ovoid shape, consisting of smaller sessile bulbs covered with a general white, grayish or pinkish-purple shell. The stem of garlic is tall — 30-90 (up to 100) cm. The peduncle — a flower arrow — sometimes exceeds these dimensions, often twisted into a ring at the top. The leaves are linear, flat, bright green or covered with a bluish coating. They grow from the bulb and cover the peduncle with their sheaths, approximately to the middle of its height. The flowers are regular, bisexual, gathered in a rounded umbrella-like inflorescence. Inflorescences are simple, with greenish, whitish or pinkish leaves. Most of the flowers turn into small brood bulbs as they ripen. Garlic blooms in June-July. The fruit is a box.
Edible (spicy-flavored) and widely used medicinal plant. Garlic bulbs are used for medicinal purposes.
Bulbs of the plant contain alliin glycoside and many sulfur-containing organic compounds. They also include essential oil (up to 0.4%), phytosterols, vitamins C (15-20 mg%), B1 (0.08 mg%), B 2 (0.08 mg%), B 6 (0 .6 mg%), PP (nicotinic acid) (up to 1.2 mg%), organic acids, carbohydrates, polysaccharide inulin and traces of fatty oil. In addition, bulbs contain a rich set of micro- and macroelements. Garlic also contains phytoncides — volatile bactericidal substances that, together with the essential oil, determine many medicinal properties of the plant.
In scientific medicine, garlic products are used to treat atherosclerosis, hypertension, colitis, and pulmonary tuberculosis. Garlic is effective against typhoid, paratyphoid, dysenteric amoeba, cholera vibrio, inhibits streptococcal and staphylococcal infections. The plant is prescribed (on the basis of popular experience and scientifically developed recommendations) for flu, sore throat, inflammation of the lungs. Mashed garlic is used to treat poorly healing wounds and runny nose. Dry extract of plant bulbs in a complex with animal bile, nettle extract and activated charcoal is included in the product “Alohol”, which is taken for chronic gastritis, cholangitis, cholecystitis and habitual constipation – 2 tablets 3 times a day before meals.
Garlic preparations stimulate the appetite, show protistocidal (harmful effect on protozoa) and anthelmintic (used to fight tapeworms and roundworms).
Any plant products are contraindicated in kidney diseases.
In traditional medicine, not only fresh garlic is used, but also its tincture is used for stomach diseases, runny nose, helminthiasis, purulent wounds and ulcers, and bronchial asthma. The plant is an extremely effective anti-scurvy agent – the Northern Pomors knew this and, going on long voyages, often associated with wintering, necessarily included garlic in their diet. Folks use garlic for edema of the limbs, dropsy, and enlarged spleen. Ointment from the bulbs of the plant (on lard) and fresh juice help remove warts and calluses. Regular use of garlic reduces the likelihood of getting dental caries and cancer. Phytoncidal properties of the plant help with inflammation of the middle ear. Green leaves and chopped bulbs in the diet are useful for patients with diabetes.
Young green leaves are used for food – to prepare spicy spring salads, garlic bulbs are eaten, adding them to taste in various dishes. Bulbs and young flower shoots are marinated, fermented, dried, added to pickles, marinades, pickles, various spicy dressings and sauces.
Tincture of bulbs. 5 medium bulbs of garlic are crushed and poured with 0.5 l of 40% alcohol or vodka. Insist for 7-8 days in a dark, warm place. Take 0.5 teaspoon 3 times a day.