Surprising Facts and Benefits of Garlic You Probably Didn’t Know

Benefits of garlic you probably didn’t know.

By Ria Majumdar

Friday, October 27, 2017, 12:22

You either love it or you hate it. But you cannot be in between. Such is our interaction with garlic.

But did you know that garlic is not actually a herb?

Or that cooking it completely eliminates all of its healthy properties?

Well, that's exactly what we are going to tackle in today's article.

What is fact and what is fiction? Read on to get the scoop on the star of today's episode ‪- the one and only, garlic!

Fact #1: Garlic is a vegetable.

You read that right!

Garlic is not a herb, but a vegetable in the family of onions, leeks, and shallots. And like the potato, it grows underground. In fact, you can even grow it at home by planting the bulbs you buy at the local grocery store in a pot of soil.

Fact #2: It was used as a medicine in World War I and II.

Humans have used garlic as a medicinal plant for thousands of years. In fact, it was so popular before the advent of antibiotics that it was widely used during World War I and II to prevent gangrene in wounded soldiers.

Fact #3: Cooked garlic has no properties.

When you cook garlic above 60 degrees C, you destroy the medicinal compounds within the cloves that help you boost your immunity, reduce inflammation, and regulate blood pressure.

And while we wouldn't recommend you to eat raw garlic cloves (since that causes bad breath), you should consider adding them near the end of your cooking so that these medicinal compounds are spared the high heat.

Fact #4: Eating an apple can get rid of garlic breath.

This trick works only when you eat apple slices along with your garlic dish or consume the fruit soon after your meal. But if you miss this golden period, you can still get rid of your garlic breath with lettuce or mint leaves.

Fact #5: Garlic breath lasts for a whole day.

Once digested, the odor-producing compounds in garlic end up in your blood and lungs, which is the reason why your sweat, saliva, and breath smells like garlic that entire day!

Fact #6: Rubbing raw garlic on your face gets rid of acne.

It will burn like someone set your face on fire. But rubbing raw garlic on your face is a quick way to get rid of acne as it kills all the bacteria that causes the problem in the first place.

Fact #7: Raw garlic + athlete’s foot = Dead foot fungus!

If you are suffering from athlete's foot (which is a kind of fungal infection of the foot), you should crush some raw garlic cloves and rub them over your sores and rashes. This is a surefire way to get rid of this infection.

Fact #8: Garlic oil is good for aching joints.

Next time the elders in your family complain of aching joints, just grab some garlic oil and ask them to rub it over the afflicted area. It's a great way of easing the inflammation and pain.

Fact #9: Storing garlic in the refrigerator is better than storing it outside.

Keeping garlic in the pantry box of your fridge helps the cloves grow green shoots faster. That is a great sign because when you allow garlic to age, the medicinal compounds inside it matures as well, which makes it better than younger cloves for consumption!