Garlic is great for your health, but how you eat it matters.

Garlic is one of the indispensable foods on the dining table. It is rich in trace elements such as iron and selenium, as well as beneficial components like organic sulfides. It can kill bacteria, lower cholesterol in the body, inhibit cancer, and prevent the occurrence of diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. Besides these, there are a few more things you must know about garlic. While garlic has great health benefits, the way you eat it matters.

Mashing it for health benefits

Garlic contains active substances like alliin and alliinase. When crushed, these substances come into contact with each other, forming allicin, which has health benefits. Therefore, it's best to mash garlic into a paste and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before eating, which is beneficial for the formation of allicin.

Golden Fragant Garlic

Raw garlic is more effective for sterilization

During the heating process, the content of organic sulfides, which have antibacterial effects, gradually decreases. The higher the temperature, the faster the decrease. Therefore, cooked garlic does not sterilize as effectively. Using garlic in cold salads or mixing mashed garlic with a little vinegar and sesame oil for dumplings are very healthy ways to consume it.

Add a little sugar when stir-frying to protect allicin

When using garlic to season a hot wok, the oil temperature should not be too high, and the cooking time should not be too long. After crushing the garlic, add it to the pan. If you have a sweet tooth, you can add a little sugar, as sugar has a protective effect on allicin, reducing its destruction by high heat.

Purple-skinned garlic is more antibacterial than white-skinned

Garlic can be classified by its skin color, such as white-skinned, purple-skinned, and black-skinned, with white and purple being the most common. Compared to white-skinned garlic, purple-skinned garlic has a spicier taste, a higher content of the active component allicin, and a more significant antibacterial effect.

Single-clove garlic is more anti-cancer

A single-clove garlic is actually a garlic bulb that, due to insufficient nutrition and poor development, fails to form multiple cloves. It has a unique spicy flavor and certain medicinal value, with a higher anti-cancer effect than regular multi-clove garlic.

Vinegar Garlic

Store in a dark place

Newly harvested garlic has a higher water content. After buying it, you should spread it out to dry before storing it, and do not keep it in a plastic bag. Garlic is best stored in a ventilated, dry, and dark place, which can inhibit its sprouting. When storing, the outer skin should also be kept intact, and peeled as needed.

Daily raw consumption should not exceed 2-3 cloves

Allicin can be irritating to the stomach. Eating too much raw garlic can easily cause acute gastritis, and long-term excessive consumption can also lead to eye discomfort. For people with poor gastrointestinal function, it's best not to exceed one clove per day. For those with good gastrointestinal health, 2-3 cloves per day is ideal. Patients with liver disease, non-bacterial diarrhea, eye diseases, stomach ailments, duodenal issues, or cerebral hemorrhage should avoid eating garlic.