Simple Garlic Facts and Remidies 

As the Israelites wandered in the desert after their exodus from Egypt, they longed for their meals with garlic: "Think of the fish we use to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic." (Numbers 11:5) Garlic was a major commody of international trade, like we buy and sell wheat and soybean.

Hippocrates, father of modern medicine, used garlic and opium as common healers for infections and pain killing during primitive surgical amputations.

Why did we reject a time-tested healing agent? In 1870, the medical journal Practitioner listed garlic as "a quaint and absurd medicament, now obselete among physicians." As of the First World Congress on Garlic, held in Washington, DC in 1990, garlic has been promoted to a first class, scientifically supported healing herb. Modern medicine is now beginning to re-visit the many herbal preparations that allowed humanity to survive many years without the use of prescription drugs.

During the Black Plague of the 14th century in which 75 million people died throughout Europe, folks who ate and wore garlic were less likely to become infected. And garlic does have an amazing cleansing ability. It gets rid of fleas on pets, worms from children's guts, bacteria from the blood, fat out of the body, toxins from the liver and generally purges bad things out of the good.

Once garlic reached England it found great disfavor. Royalty considered garlic a peasant's vegetable that quickly allowed people to smell the difference between paupers and princes.

Throughout all these highs and lows, garlic went about its healing ways, unaffected by the pompous scorn of royalty and scientists. Throughout World Wars I and II, many combat physicians lacking sulfa drugs or antibiotics would praise the effectiveness of dressing wounds and treating infections with garlic. Garlic eventually became affectionately known as Russian or Greek "penicillin."

There are somewhere between 30 and 300 different strains of garlic grown around the world, from the intense heat of the Sahara desert, to the rain soaked tropics, to the wind-swept northern prairies. Few plants are as tenacious and adaptable as garlic.

One of the reasons for garlic's extraordinary popularity throughout human history is that it will grow almost anywhere, almost anytime of the year, in almost any soil, with very little tending, and will defend surrounding plants from insects.

What can garlic do for us?

Aphrodisiac ~ Pound garlic with fresh coriander and add to wine.

Blood Sugar Regulation ~ Attention hypoglycemics and diabetics: garlic may be able to improve your current condition. In animal studies done at the United States Department of Agriculture, researchers found that garlic helped the liver to pull sugar out of the blood and encouraged the pancreas to make more insulin. The effect was to bring blood sugar to an ideal level. This benefit alone could contribute to much of garlic's possible anti-aging effect.

Bugs For Your Garden ~ Take 3 ounces of chopped garlic and let soak in 2 teaspoons of mineral oil for 24 hours. Then slowly add a pint of water in which 1/4 ounce of dish soap has been dissolved, stir well. Strain liquid through fine gauze and store in china or glass container to prevent a reaction with metals. Use it in a dilution of one part solution to 20 parts of water to begin with, then one to 100 thereafter. Apply to plants as spray. 

Detoxification ~ The 20th century has brought us many advances through technology, we are also drowning in our irresponsible dumping of our high tech waste products. Toxic burden in the air, food and water supply may be contributing to our immune disorders, including cancer, AIDS, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, and more. The unique sulfur bearing amino acid in garlic seem to be able to cage heavy metals, like mercury and lead, and carry them out of the body in a process called "chelation." Something in garlic seems to supercharge the liver to produce more of the vital enzyme, glutathione-S-transferase, for general detoxification of various chemicals.

Fights Infections and Cancer ~ By stimulation the immune system to get more active at killing cancer cells and by helping the body to eliminate built u toxins, garlic may be able to help us in our failing efforts in the "war on cancer." Scientists find that garlic is deadly to invading bacteria, virus, or tumor cells, but is harmless to normal healthy body cells, offering the hope of the truly selective toxin against cancer that is being sought worldwide. Your body's army of 20 trillion immune cells give up their lives to kill invaders and dispose of garbage throughout your body. When the immune system is overwhelmed, infections, cancer, and premature aging are the result. Garlic may stimulate various components of the immune system into greater production and activity, including macrophages (big eaters), and Natural Killer cells, which are the Rambos in your personal war on cancer.

Garlic had been shown to be effective in treating bacterial infections both gram negative and positive), yeast infections (including Candida Albicans), and intestinal parasites of all sorts. Paraphaseing a famous TV commercial: "Don't leave home without it!"

Immune System ~ In lab studies it helps with bacterial and fungal infections, lice and ticks, and worms. Four Thieves' Vinegar is supposedly what the thieves drank to prevent them from getting the Black Plague. It is both antiseptic and very aromatic. take 1/4 ounce each of calamus root, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, lavender, mint, rosemary, rue, sage, and woodworm, and 2 minced heads of garlic. Add 2 pints of cider vinegar. Cover and keep warm for five days. Strain and add 1/4 ounce of powdered camphor before bottling.

Inhalant ~ Take 3 or 4 cloves of minced or crushed garlic and a teaspoon of appl cider vinegar. Add 1 pint of boiling water and inhale the fumes. For nasal congestion.

Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease ~ It's possible that by lowering the amounts of fat in the blood and reducing the body's own production of cholesterol in the liver, garlic should be the first choice for every cardiologist around the world. The french paradox is a puzzle in which the French people eat more fat, smoke more, and get little exercise, yet have about half the incidence of heart disease compared to Americans. Some experts attribute this puzzle to the French passion for red wine, which certainly has its merits. Other experts give more credit to the high amounts of garlic consumed by the French in saving them from an otherwise dismal fate of heart disease.

Some studies suggest that garlic works on several levels to prevent and reverse heart disease: 1) By slowing the liver's own production of cholesterol. 2) By mobilizing fat stoed throughout the body into the bloodstream so the fat can be burned for energy or excreted.

Reduce and Stablize Blood Pressure ~ One of those sulfured amino acids in garlic may be effective at preventing angiotensin 1 from being converted into angiotensin 2, would provide you with the benefit of lowering blood pressure. If you have low blood pressure, garlic may help to bring it up to normal, doing what no drug can do; bringing your body into optimal functioning regardless of what the problem is. One study looking at 20 patients with high blood fats, four weeks of garlic therpy provided an average of 10% drop across the board in 1) blood fats, 2) blood pressure, 3) fibrinogen, or clotting activity.

Tea and Gargle ~ Brew 2 tablespoons of dried sage and 4 or 5 minced or crushed cloves of garlic in 2 pints of boiling water. Cover and let stand until lukewarm. Take 1 small teacupful four or five times a day and gargle every half hour. For tonsillitis and to reduce mucus.

Weight Loss ~ Some studies have shown that adding the combination of garlic and vinegar together as part of a reduced fat diet, may double weight loss...as compared to dieters results on a low fat diet alone. The report states that the garlic can be added to a salad, soup, stew, or meal, and the vinegar used on salads or mixed with juice or honey. The garlic may also be used in capsule or tablet form.

                                         External Remedies

Garlic in Oil ~ Mince or crush 8 ounces of garlic and put in a wide jar. Add enough olive oil to cover the garlic. Close jar lid tightly and shake a few times a day. Stand it in a warm place for three days, then strain through a cloth. Keep the mixture cool. For earaches, put a few drops, warmed, in the ear on some cotton wool. For aches, pains and minor skin disorders, rub on, heating may help ease the pain. You can also ad essential oils such as eucalyptus, cypress, or myrrh to the oil. 

Hemorrhoid Suppository ~ Scrape a clove to produce juice, insert it into the rectum, and leave ovenight. Repeat as needed.

Heal Your Garden ~ Garlic will help protect your plants as well as you pets. An insecticide: Soak 30 minced cloves of garlic in 2 teaspoons mineral oil for 24 hours. Dissolve 1/4 ounces of an oil base soap in one pint of water and add it to the garlic, stirring thoroughly. Strain and store the liquid in a glass or ceremic container. Use it as a spray on your plants at a dilution between 1 part in 20 and 1 part in 100 of water.

Insect Repellent ~ Take 1 cup of sunflower of sesame seed oil. 1/2 cup fresh feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) or tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) flowers, or 1 tablespoon of the dried flowers, and 8 cloves of minced garlic. Simmer the oil and blossoms for 15 minutes, cool and add the garlic. Bottle the mixture and keep it for five days, shaking two or three times a day, then strain. It can also be used as a remedy for bites.

Poultice ~ To apply garlic to a small area, first put petroleum jelly on the skin around it to prevent blistering. Put a small amount of minced garlic on a piece of gauze and tape it in place with adhesive tape. Leave on for 15 to 30 minutes. It may help athlete's foot, abscesses, boils, and other skin infections.

                                           Garlic Recipes

Blue Ribbon Garlic ~ 1 head of garlic, 1 Tbs. olive oil, Spike seasoning.

Break up the garlic head. Do not peel. Place in glass cup, Sprinkle seasoning and oil over the cloves. Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 45-55 seconds. Peel cloves. Taste like spring potatoes. Delicious!

Garlic Spagetti ~ Put spagetti in boiling salted water. When spagetti is half cooked, add 3 or 4 cloves of sliced, fried garlic, and 4 Tbs. olive oil, with salt and pepper. Finish cooking spagetti. Drain and cover with grated cheese.

Roasted Garlic ~ 10- 12 large garlic cloves, peeled, 2 Tbs. butter, 2 Tsp. olive oil, salt to taste, pinch of white pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat the butter and olive oil in an oven proof casserole dish over  medium heat. Add peeled cloves, side by side, making sure they are well coated. Bake 20 minutes, basting from time to time. Add salt and pepper. Serve as an appetizer with toast or as a vegetable side dish.

If your breath is too strong from eating garlic, chew some sprigs of parsley, mint caraway, fenugreek seeds, or take a long bath in very warm water to help the garlic oils evaporate.

Garlic Storage and Preservation ~ Store at room temperature. Before storing, spread newspapers out of the sunlight in a well ventilated place to cure for two to three weeks or until skins are papery. Store in a cool, dry well ventilated place such as an attic or unheated roon in well ventilated containers like mesh bags. Storage life is five to eight months.

Dried Garlic ~ Dry only fresh, firm garlic cloves with no bruises. Cut in half lengthwise. No pretreatment is necessary. Dry at 140 degrees F for two hours, then at 130 degrees until dry. Garlic is dry when it is crisp.

To make garlic salt from dried garlic, powder dried garlic in a blender until fine. Add 4 parts salt to 1 part garlic powder and blend only a second or two. Blending too much and garlic will be too fine and will cake.

Freezing Garlic ~ Garlic can be froze in any three ways: 1) Grind or chop the garlic, wrap it tightly and freeze. To use, just grate or break off the amount you need. 2) Freeze garlic unpeeled and just remove cloves as you need them. 3) Peel the cloves and puree them with oil in a blender or food processor, using 2 parts oil to 1 part garlic. The puree will stay soft enough in the freezer to scrape out parts to use in sauteing.