Preparing Garlic to Maximize Benefits
Garlic can be a powerful super food, but it needs a little forethought in order to get all of its wonderful benefits. Allicin is a compound in garlic that has been shown to be incredibly potent in the health world. Allicin is responsible for many of the cardiovascular, anti-cancer, and anti-bacterial benefits associated with garlic. However, allicin only forms when the sulfoxide alliin and its enzyme alliiase come into contact. While both substances are naturally occurring within garlic, we must break the barriers between the two in order to maximize their potential and form allicin. We do this by slicing, crushing, mincing or chewing raw garlic. Once alliin and alliiase are released, they must be given time to combine and form allicin. Therefore, once you crush/mince/slice garlic, you must give it a 10 minute rest before exposing it to high heat or acid. This also means that you should never cook a garlic clove whole, because by doing so, you do not allow allicin to ever form. Luckily, if you crush garlic and then cook it after giving it a 10 minute rest, the majority of the health benefits are maintained at this point!
So to conclude, to maximize the health benefits of garlic, always crush or mince your garlic first, and then allow it to rest for 10 minutes before proceeding with any cooking. Or eat it raw! Enjoy keeping those vampires at bay!
Source:
Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health
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Great article! Very informative! I’d like to add one more tip: heating garlic at high temperatures can destroy allicin, so I’d recommend throwing in the crushed/minced/chopped garlic towards the end of cooking a dish!