Beneficial Use of Garlic

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The health benefits of garlic include thinning the blood which helps reduce blood clots, lowering blood pressure, helping reduce cholesterol, helps relieve arthritis,and is a potent natural antibiotic. It is best used raw, but for it to maintain these properties raw or in cooking, you should take certain measures.

First, when used, let it stand for a few minutes before incorporating it with other ingredients. This allows more of the sulphur compounds to be released. It is especially good when used crushed.

Baking or boiling up to about three minutes keeps the healthy benefits, but microwaving destroys them almost immediately.

Add the garlic to dishes at the last few minutes of the cooking cycle, if possible, thus preserving the healthy benefits.

Alliin is a compound in garlic which, when garlic is crushed or cut, combines with another compound, alliinase, to form allicin which has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. Several garlic varieties are higher in alliin than others and are desirable not only for this property in eating but also in the pharmaceutical industry. (Printanor, especially, and Siberian are varieties high in alliin.)