Garlic Day! April 19th

Roasted, sauteed, minced... anyway you do it, garlic tastes good. Some would say that we should replace the saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," with "A clove a day keeps the doctor away." That's right! A clove of garlic!

Naturalists use garlic for a wide variety of ailments including high cholesterol, colds, flu, coughs, bronchitis, fever, ringworm and intestinal worms, (all sorts of parasites don't like garlic it seems) and liver, gallbladder, and digestive problems. Crushing garlic releases allicin which has antibiotic properties. And in recent years, scientists have positive things to say about the effects of garlic on heart disease and cancer.

Some Garlic Folklore:

• European folklore gives garlic the ability to ward off the "evil eye".
  
• Dreaming that there is "garlic in the house" is supposedly lucky; to dream about eating garlic means you will discover secrets hidden in the earth. (Anyone want to go treasure hunting?)
• Anciently, garlic was linked to Mars, the fiery god of war, who is also associated with healthy blood. (Seems like they knew more than we think they knew.)
• Roman soldiers ate garlic to inspire them and give them courage... as well as other things.
• Egyptian slaves were fed garlic to keep them strong and free of illness.
• Vampires...
  

We can see, from this short list, that garlic has long been associated with health and life, but why would it develop the reputation that it could ward off vampires? Why not zombies and other undead creatures?

One theory is that garlic is a natural mosquito repellent. Because being bitten by a vampire could be just like being bitten by a great big mosquito... Mosquitoes suck blood, so do vampires. Garlic, though it is good for your cholesterol, perhaps doesn't make your blood taste so good.

So, go eat some garlic today! If you need a recipe check out this site. They even have a recipe for Garlic Ice Cream.