Garlic Garlic and garlic, the love/hate relationship

Allium sativum, that’s the botanical name if you didn’t know it. What can i say about garlic? It’s simply a very nasty plant. I’ve never found to this day a person who has told me that he loved the taste it leaves on the tongue, it’s stinky and robust. However, so many people are addicted to it (in the good sense). My father for example, he can’t sleep without eating four cloves, poor mom! The history of garlic started in the middle east region, I’ve read that the first people to have cultivated it were the ancient Egyptians, they used to consider it sacred and even gave it to the workers who have built the pyramids. It has also been considered a healthy supplement to the Greeks; they used to give it to their warriors before war. We can go on telling the story of garlic for a very long time, however, you can be sure of one thing, wherever it was eaten, it was placed a special position among the people. Garlic is truly a miracle if we consider it’s healing properties. Back in ancient Egypt, they used to treat people suffering from cancer with garlic, it has even been found in the tombs of pharaohs. It has a chemical compound called Allicin which may be responsible for its healing properties. Did you know that ancient people used to treat the common cold and even influenza with its extract? My grandmother used to do this to my mother when she had a cold, she would bring some cloves and crushes them with olive oil, then she would take my poor mom and make her eat that nasty porridge. My mom told me that she would be healthy and running within two days. I’ve done the same now with myself, whenever I have a cold or feel I would have one, I take four cloves and crush them with a knife, and then I would slice them into little pieces and mix them with olive oil. Trust me, I’ve tried to mash them; my friends made a lot of excuses not to see me. then I had the idea of swallowing it like a medication, which it is in my opinion, I put the mixture in a table spoon and swallow it with water. The effects are amazing. Garlic is, as most of you may already know, a fantastic seasoning or condiment on food. There are many recipes you can prepare using garlic, you can’t make one think with garlic: a sweet pie ;) My most favorite recopies are garlic bread and pasta prepared with a garlicky sauce.