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Garlic as a second language

“Three nickels will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat.” ~ Old New York saying.

Have you ever been curious as to why garlic smells like this? Well, wonder no more. Read on about this abundant and versatile member of the lilac family and find out how he came to be on everyone’s breath everywhere you’d think to look.

If the movements of the body denote its own language and a picture is worth a thousand words, how many smells make up a sentence? It depends on the sentence, you could say. Well, that’s true. “Jack and Jill went up the hill” is not the same to our nostrils as: “The garlic in Grandma’s carbonara made it to the dining room, making our mouths water.” “Smells by any other name are still smells,” as one of my neighbors said, who was never without her gas mask. Certainly, within the animal kingdom, odors comprise their own form of communication. My argument is that so does garlic; Because no matter what country one calls home and no matter what language one’s mother tongue is, the cuisine of nearly every culture recognizes and uses garlic in one form or another. In that sense, it’s a second language to everyone who crosses its wonderfully smelly path.

A man named Arthur Baer once said that there is no such thing as a little garlic. Whether this is due to his magical cooking power or because there can never be enough protection against vampires hanging around the house is a matter of opinion. The superstition of garlic as a deterrent against evil and vampires is deeply rooted in Balkan folklore. The vampire legend is based in part on an actual homicidal maniac; Vlad Tepes Dracula, whose name means devil in Romanian. In the 15th century, he ruled Walaachia, which is now part of Romania, as Vlad II and was affectionately known to his closest friends and enemies as Vlad the Impaler. (He didn’t have many of either when he ended his reign due to his bloodthirsty predilections). Bram Stoker and later Hollywood idealized the vampire, transforming him into a tragic, erotic and lonely figure, seeking enchanting maidens to free him from his curse and join him in an eternal game of chess within the chambers of his dark and drafty world. Transylvania air castle.

The word vampire comes from the Slavic word obyri or obiri, which evolved into the Bulgarian word vampir. Some say that the Greek word, nosphorosos, meaning plague-bearer, which evolved into the Old Slavonic word nosferatu, is synonymous with vampire. In our culture words are often exchanged. Many of the early myths grouped together vampires, witches, and werewolves. It was thought that a vampire could turn into a wolf. This was when the bat form was not available and Bela Lugosi was working on another movie. The vampire would enter the house of the unwary and drink the blood of his children. To protect themselves, common people would spread salt or seeds around their doors and hang garlic cloves from their windows. The vampire was thought to be a compulsive accountant and would have to know exactly how many grains of salt or seeds there were before he could enter the house. (This can also be seen as the beginning of OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which will be the subject of another article, coming to your local theaters soon.)

Warding off vampires along the misty forests of Transylvania probably isn’t one of your biggest concerns about garlic right now. (But then again, who knows?) Garlic has its own history and its own language. Although it is not known for sure when it was discovered, it was probably first dispersed by nomads on the steppes of central Asia several thousand years ago. Already in the eighth century a. C., garlic grew in the garden of Babylon. Chinese scholars spoke of it as early as 3000 B.C. C. and there is also a reference in the Shih Ching (the book of songs), a collection of ballads said to have been written by Confucius himself. Garlic was so prized in ceremonies and rituals that lambs offered for sacrifice in China were seasoned with it to make them more pleasing to the gods.

Garlic was part of the Sumerian diet in the Middle East more than 5,000 years ago. By AD 1000, it was being cultivated throughout the known world and was universally recognized as a valuable plant. It was introduced to France by Godefroy de Bouillon, not the inventor of the bouillon cube, but the leader of the First Crusade, who when he returned to France in 1099, was declared King of Jerusalem. Many cultures elevated garlic beyond a dietary staple and suggested it served medicinal and spiritual purposes. In ancient Greece, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used it to treat infections, wounds, and intestinal disorders. The Roman legionnaires attributed their courage and endurance to garlic and took it with them when they conquered the world, thus spreading its use and cultivation as bad rumors far and wide.

Ancient Egyptians worshiped garlic as a god, and its name was often invoked in oaths. (It is not known if the sworn first rinsed their mouths out of respect for the nostrils of the gods). During the era of the great pharaohs of Egypt, according to ancient papyri, garlic served as food, medicine and offering. It was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun and within the funerary complex at Saqqara, as well as in inscriptions on the Giza pyramid. Garlic was so valuable that 15 pounds could buy a healthy slave. It is also written that the workers who built the pyramids were given garlic (as well as onions and radishes) every day to help increase their vitality. It was so important to their diets that it led to work stoppages when workers were deprived of their allotted ration. According to Charmidas, unfaithful Egyptian husbands relied on garlic’s unique “scented” properties to hide evidence of infidelity. They would chew a clove or two on the way home from visiting their lovers so that her entire body would be impregnated with the scent, ensuring that a jealous wife could not detect another woman’s perfume.

Garlic, known by its Latin name, Allium sativum, may very well be one of Mother Nature’s greatest gifts to men (and women, of course). It is a powerful natural antibiotic. It reduces blood pressure in hypertension and is useful for lowering “bad cholesterol”. An advantage of using garlic for its antibiotic properties is that it does not destroy the body’s natural intestinal bacteria. It is excellent for use in colds and infections. Garlic oil is often used to treat earaches and ear infections, especially in infants and children. During World War I, garlic was used as a wound dressing and as an antiseptic. It has also been shown to be an effective treatment for fungal infections such as athlete’s foot. The active ingredient in garlic, allicin, is destroyed when heated and is only released from the clove when it is crushed or crushed. Thus, for most treatments the garlic needs to be crushed or raw. (Stay away. This means you!)

Garlic also has other uses. Bare cloves placed in a room are said to prevent disease. The entire light bulb is hung in new homes to dispel negativity and evil spirits. A nail placed under the pillow of sleeping children is said to protect them. Dreaming of eating garlic means that you will discover secrets. (Perhaps now you will find out who the mother of your baby really is!) In the Bible, the Hebrews mention that garlic was used to increase and maintain virility. Early travelers through the Rocky Mountains inserted garlic into the nostrils of their horses and mules to prevent them from collapsing from lack of oxygen. Explorers in the mountains of South America chewed wild garlic to relieve altitude sickness. Native American tribes treated many ailments with wild garlic, though they were helpless against the forces of Manifest Destiny and the eventual demise of their garlic birthright.

For culinary purposes, a general rule to remember regarding the potency of garlic is: the smaller you cut it, the stronger the flavor. One finely chopped or pressed raw clove releases more flavor than a dozen cooked whole cloves. Finely chopping and/or pressing a clove exposes more surfaces to the air, causing a chemical reaction that produces that strong aroma. When cloves are cooked or baked whole, the flavor mellows into a sweet, almost nutty flavor that is a surprisingly pleasant addition to desserts such as ice cream or brownies. Whole, undrilled cloves have hardly any aroma, while raw garlic has the strongest flavor. When sauteing, be very careful not to burn it. If you do, the taste will turn intensely bitter and you’ll have to start over.

And now the theme that we have all been waiting with great (or at least a little bad) breath. Why does garlic smell like this? When cells are ruptured by cutting or pressing, they release an enzyme called alinaise that chemically changes the inherent aline into allicin, a sulfur-containing molecule, resulting in that spicy mainstay found in kitchens around the world. If you’re a garlic lover, it’s wise to surround yourself with others who also enjoy it, or try chewing parsley to get rid of garlic breath. (As far as I know, there is no cure for parsley breath!) It is said that to remove the odor from your hands after peeling or mincing garlic, simply wash your hands and then rub them under a chrome faucet. (I don’t know. That’s what they say.)

There are many different types of garlic (Allium). Although only the cultivated variety is used for medicinal purposes, all other species have similar properties to a greater or lesser degree. Crow Garlic is widely distributed and quite common, but the bulbs are very small and the work of digging them out is great. It is frequently found in pastures and affects the taste of milk when eaten by cows. Ranson garlic grows in the forest and has a very pungent taste and smell. It also has small bulbs, which makes it impractical. However, it is quite a beautiful plant with broad leaves that resemble lily-of-the-valley and star-shaped flowers that are dazzling white. Field garlic is a rather rare plant. Both this and Crow Garlic are often used as potherbs or for flavoring. There are some Allium species grown in the garden, whose flowers are even sweet-smelling, but they are exceptions and even these have the smell of garlic in their leaves and roots.

All in all, I’d say the garlic was a pretty good deal. I even like the smell and am considering marketing it as a perfume. (I had the same idea about manure for horse lovers. That didn’t work out but…) In his own way, Bela Lugosi lives inside the soul of every dish prepared with garlic; not as a vampire, but as a dinner guest who avoids daylight and mirrors and knows good food when he sees it. If you come across him among the misty ghosts of Hollywood celluloid, say hi, because I’m a fan. But just in case, he does try some of the Vampire Away Garlic Sauce provided by The Snack food Association and included at the end of this article. It’s creepy and frighteningly good with regular or grooved fries for all who dare to eat it. Put in some extra teeth just in case. After all, you never know who you might run into in the Hollywood of your mind.

Vampire-Away Garlic Sauce

1/2 cup skim milk

1 cup low-fat cottage cheese

2 small garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon onion salt

Addresses:

Go to the nearest cemetery after midnight on a cold October night. Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. Then wait and see what happens. If nothing works, go home and enjoy your dip because it worked!

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