Garlic!?!?

[joshtaylor]

Ok, I've been doing a little research on natural medicines. I found a website espousing the amazing qualities of raw garlic. Lower cholesterol, a cancer fighter. And supposedly a very very strong natural anti-biotic. That said, I'm a 27 year old semi city boy. And a bachelor. I couldn't cook to save my life! A lot of fast food and frozen dinners. But here lately, after getting into the whole preparedness thing and reading sites like this, I've been thinking about more alternative means and being self sufficient. This was what led me to the garlic. I have a can of garlic salt in my pantry, and love it. No one ever told me raw garlic would burn the hell out of my mouth though! Went to walmart today, bought a few "heads" of garlic and got home. I read on one website that a half a clove a day will give you the benefits you need. So, since it was my first time, I said screw it...i'll toss a whole clove in my mouth. At first there was the strong and expected garlic taste. What wasn't expected was the extreme burning for the next 15 minutes!!!! Do people really do this every day? Is my newly acquired habit really worth it? Or can I get the same effects from a pill form of garlic?

[Anon001]

LOL.. Josh... it's better to put the garlic in food... I put garlic in most everything I cook.... It's good with chicken, mashed or fried potatoes, lots of foods. Are you in an apartment, rent a house, own a house, etc? The reason I ask is that you can take that garlic, split the cloves out. Plant the cloved with the pointed end up. Cover with enough dirt to make the top of the clove about 1/2 inch below the soil. Plant them about 4" apart. Each one of those cloves should sprout giving you many garlic plants. Not only can you harvest the cloves, but you can use the green tops as well.... like garlic chives, cooked in foods or used as garnishment, or add to a salad, etc. If you live in an apartment, set up a planter box or pots and plant them in.

Raw garlic can burn. LOL....... Also, you can buy an inexpensive garlic press at WalMart. You take a clove, skin it, put it in the press, and squeeze. It "mashes" the garlic as it squeezes it out small holes. Then add that to your food as you are cooking to season it. Adjust the amount to your liking. Or if you use frozen dinners, just mix it in after you've heated those delicious meals.. LOL

If you can't cook, get a good cookbook and just follow the directions on some of the eaiser recipes.

I, too, am a bachelor but I love to cook and bake.

Good luck,
Paul

[bookwormom]

garlic press is a good idea josh. I got mine at IKEA 15 years ago. of course you get more of the medicinal effect if you eat the garlic raw. you can crush or squeaze it, also crush it with a fork and mince it fine, then mix it with some butter and put it on some bread. It won't burn as much and is a taste treat. toast the bread first if you like, and you can add some finely chopped parsley to it, too.

[mtwildflower]

I love garlic. My fav is roasting it in the oven with olive oil and then mashing it up with more oilive oil and a bit of wine vinegar and salt on crackers or crusty bread.

Once I roasted three big heads of garlic, to have as an appetizer for a family dinner. Well, I got busy and forgot about it and after my guests left, I found it, still in the oven I had turned off hours before.

So, I took it out of the oven, squeezed the cloves out of their skins, mashed them and at them with crackers myself. I ate all three heads. Oh man it was soooooo good!

The next day, my then five year old was bit in the face by our dog ( which was no longer our dog after that) and I had to take her to the ER to have the bite stitched up. *The nurse was visibly trying to keep her distance from me, and I thought my breath must be really garlicky...so I tried not to exhale in her direction and even still she seemed to lean away from me, but I didn't think much of it.

Then after wards we went home and while standing next to my husband he exclaimed, "My GOD!!!! You REEK!!!!

After that, I kind of sequestered myself for a few days and didn't go anywhere away from my house.

About a week later, I was gathering laundry and I picked up a towel I had used after a shower shortly after the ER visit. I thought the cat had peed in it...several times.....it was THAT bad. I was horrified to realize it wasn't cat pee....it was me.

Never never never will I get that greedy again, LOL.

[DM]

That's pretty funny mt flower!!

My uncle (now passed away) use to eat a double handfull of raw garlic EVERY day! lol You could smell him too... ha ha ha

DM

[Grizzy]

Hey there :)
When you make sammiches...slice the garlic and load that pupppy up! I can't tell you how many times I've done this for folks (not telling them it's in there) and they just loved the sammich and got some extra goodness inna process...

*note.. Nibble'n on Sweet Green Bell Pepper heps with the bref thingie ;D

~Grizzy~

[joshtaylor]

Woops. I started this post a while back and then flat out forgot about it. Thank you all for your input. I've since given up on the raw garlic experiment! I love the powdered stuff and use it in half of what I cook. Plus, I'll slice up some garlic and use it when I cook, too. A half clove of raw garlic by itself was just a little too much for me.

[DM]

With garlic so easy to grow,

http://www.fototime.com/7EA8467C524F03E/standard.jpg

And i don't think you get the "goodness" out of powdered garlic that you get out of raw, i think i'd figure out a way to use it raw, or at least cooked less.

DM

[AlchemyAcres]

Woops. I started this post a while back and then flat out forgot about it. Thank you all for your input. I've since given up on the raw garlic experiment! I love the powdered stuff and use it in half of what I cook. Plus, I'll slice up some garlic and use it when I cook, too. A half clove of raw garlic by itself was just a little too much for me.


I eat it raw garlic nearly every day.

Usually sliced paper thin and tossed in a salad.
If there's a threat that the thin garlic slices will overpower, I rise then and toss them in the salad spinner with other ingredients.

Fresh Raw Garlic Gazpacho is great!

Bloody Mary's or Virgin Mary's are great with a little fresh garlic.

Green Garlic, immature garlic that's used like a scallion, is also great!
Awesome in potato or Macaroni salad, or any other recipe as a replacement or addition to regular scallions.

Just some ideas........


~Martin