Columns

Sniffing out the secrets of garlic

TBO.com
Published: September 14, 2012

According to an old New York Yiddish saying, "A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat."

Ancient Egyptians worshipped it and Confucius is said to have written ballads about it. Even a well-known, wise Muslim prophet — you know, he who's name or image must not be besmirched by us infidels — supposedly once informed his followers: "Whoever has eaten garlic should not approach the mosque."

This prudent warning could have also applied to my parents' house, back when I was around 17. I took an early fancy to cooking, and one day surprised the family with a garlic-crusted lamb roast for supper.

They were surprised, alright. Not versed in garlic terminology, I didn't know the difference between a clove and a bulb of garlic. Let me tell you, a meal prepared with five bulbs of garlic probably permeates all the way to Mecca.

So why does garlic stink?

Plants that produce strong odors often use them as a defense mechanism against predators, although clearly in garlic's case, it hasn't worked too well to thwart the attention of garlic-loving humans.

On a microscopic level, inside the cells of garlic is a substance called alliin while outside the cells is an enzyme called alliinase. Separately, neither has a strong odor.

When a garlic glove is damaged — i.e., mercilessly mashed by hungry, drooling cooks — the cell walls rupture and the two chemicals combine to form another substance, allicin, which is responsible for the characteristic odor of garlic. It's kind of like mixing matter and anti-matter to yield a nasal nuclear blast.

And therein lies the cook's secret to using garlic. The more the garlic clove is mashed, the more allicin will be released, imparting a stronger flavor to the food.

Garlic odor is so permeating that the mere act of chopping it, even if you don't actually eat it, can cause it to be absorbed by the skin and released in your breath for days after.

Alas, there is little one can do to prevent 'garlic breath' after consumption, although chewing on fresh parsley is said to briefly help. Though somewhat restrictive to the garlic consumer's respiration, duct tape might prove an effective barrier, too.

Over the centuries, many claims have also been made about garlic's health benefits, but few have been proven conclusively. And it's even been claimed that garlic can keep mosquitoes at bay.

This should be easy to test: place 10 garlic bulbs in a blender, cover your body with the resulting garlic extract, then lay in your backyard at dusk for an hour or so. Let us know how that works for you. You'll either repel the mosquitoes or attract the local Hazmat unit.