Vol. 17: #15 • Garlic

Garlic is a member of the lily family and is related to onions, leeks, scallions, and chives. According to the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service, Americans annually consume about two pounds of garlic per person, with most of it contained in the flavoring of prepared foods. This is still far below the average of folks of various Asian nations, where they eat an average of eight cloves per day, or 40 to 50 pounds per year. U.S. consumption is steadily rising however, at the rate of about ten percent per year.

• There are over 300 varieties of garlic grown worldwide. Garlic is unable to propagate through seeds and can only spread by having their individual cloves planted. It only grows well where the spring and fall seasons are wet but summers are dry. When properly tended, an acre will yield about 15,000 pounds of garlic cloves.

• China is by far the largest producer of garlic, accounting for over 77 percent of world output, with India and South Korea following second and third respectively. Egypt and Russia are fourth and fifth in order, with the United States ranking sixth.

• Of the 800 million pounds of garlic grown in the U.S. each year, 75 percent comes from California alone. The U.S. imports another 100 million pounds from other countries.

• The major portion of the garlic produced in America is ground and processed for use as seasoning in hundreds of prepared products including ketchup, mustard, sausage, soups, pickles, and even pet food. Some of it is made into powders for salts, health tablets and oils. Less than 15 percent of the total output is sold raw on retail produce shelves.

GARLIC THROUGH HISTORY

• Garlic and onions are among the oldest cultivated plants, with its history as a domesticated food plant dating back more than 7,000 years. The garlic we are familiar with is native to Siberia. Siberians valued it so highly that they paid their taxes in garlic bulbs until the middle of the 1700s: Every man owed 15 bulbs, every woman ten, and every child five.

Garlic cloves.

• At the time the pyramids were being built, 15 pounds of garlic could pay for the labor of a healthy male slave.

• The ancient Egyptians believed that onions, garlic, and radishes would give them magical medicinal powers that were needed for the strenuous labor required of them. When the supply of garlic ran out, the laborers went on strike.

• Built in 3750 B.C. and discovered in 1911, the tomb at El Mahasna, Egypt, contained replicas of garlic bulbs carefully carved out of clay. They were placed there presumably to ward off evil spirits or give the deceased strength to find his way to his eternal home.

• King Tut reigned about 2,000 years afterward, and when his tomb was opened archaeologists found six perfectly preserved garlic bulbs placed beside him.

Archaeologists examine King Tut's remains.

• An Egyptian medical book written on papyrus called the Codex Ebers dating to about 1550 B.C. lists over 800 therapeutic formulas, with a large number of them listing garlic as the base.

• The Old Testament book of Numbers mentions that while wandering through the desert, the Israelites complained to Moses that they greatly missed the meats, fish and garlic that they once enjoyed while held captive in Egypt.

• Five of Shakespeare’s plays mention garlic, mostly in a disdainful way: “And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath” (from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”).

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• In 1368, King Alphonso of Castile, a small Spanish kingdom, assembled a new Order of Knights in his court. Among his strict edicts, he instituted the new rule that if any of the men were to consume any portion of garlic they were not allowed into his presence for one full month thereafter.

• In Medieval times, people often walked around with garlic in their pocket in order to ward off the plague (it didn’t work).

• It is said that in the French court of King Louis XIV, the chef would chew a clove of raw garlic and then breathe on the King’s salad in order to impart the essence of the flavorful herb without causing the king the embarrassment of having garlic breath.

GARLIC ALA GILROY

• Gilroy, California purports itself as being the garlic capital of the world. With some 14,000 acres of garlic under cultivation within a 90-mile radius, they are well justified in making that claim, with their huge crops yielding over 150 million pounds of garlic annually. Famed celebrity Will Rogers said of Gilroy that it was “the only town in America where you can marinate a steak by just hanging it out on the clothesline.” The town motto is ‘Eat, Drink and Stink!’

Gilroy, California's welcome sign.

• In 1979, this town of about 30,000 people capitalized on this by holding their first ever Gilroy Garlic Festival. Some 25,000 people came to sample all sorts of garlic dishes. Today, more than 130,000 people arrive to consume five tons of fresh garlic over the course of the three-day festival. They elect a garlic queen, a garlic-breath kissing contest, dancing to live music, pose for pictures with the mayor costumed as the world’s largest garlic bulb, and hold a cooking contest with competing recipes, all containing large amounts of you-know-what.

• Gilroy also has boasting rights as home to the 6,000 acre Christopher Ranch, the largest producer of garlic in the nation. This multigenerational family-owned and comm-ercially operated farm employs over 1,000 workers for growing, processing, packaging and shipping their garlic products worldwide.

THE STINKING ROSE

• There’s a restaurant in San Francisco dedicated to garlic called The Stinking Rose. “It’s chic to reek,” they say, proudly proclaiming that they “season the garlic with food.” You can start your meal with a martini served with a sliver of garlic stuffed in the olive instead of a pimento, and end your meal with garlic-flavored ice cream. Or, if garlic extremes don't please your palate, you can order from the “Vampire Fare” menu, sans seasoning. The chefs go through about 1,000 pounds of garlic per week. The restaurant is so popular that they’ve opened a branch in L.A.

HEFTY HALITOSIS

• Afraid of offensive garlic breath? Some people claim that yeast tablets swallowed with the meal will help prevent that problem. Chewing caraway seeds or parsley is also said to help.

It pays to be self-aware! We strongly encourage a self administered breath-test, to see what others experience when talking with you after a garlic enhanced meal.

• Studies have shown sipping milk at the same time as consuming garlic can help neutralize bad breath. Mixing garlic with milk in the mouth before swallowing reduces the odor better than drinking the milk afterward. Plain water, mushrooms and basil may also help, but the mix of fat and water found in milk is the most effective.

• Garlic breath actually arises from the lungs and not from the mouth.

• To get the garlicy odor off your fingers, rub with salt and lemon juice. 

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