Garlic.

Garlic

Perennial herbaceous plant of the lily family, up to 50 cm high. The stem is straight, hollow. The leaves are linear, flat.

The bulb is complex, covered with several white or purple films, and consists of “cloves”, also covered with films. The flowers are off-white, form umbrella-shaped inflorescences, often developing small bulbs instead of flowers. The plant has a specific smell.

Garlic is grown everywhere. It is especially widespread in the European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the Far East.

Propagated by “teeth”, which are planted in two- to five-line ribbons with a distance of 50 cm, between lines - 20 cm, between cloves. The line is 10 cm. Bulbs in the middle zone ripen in the second half of summer. Garlic does not require heat, but when planted before winter, it must take root before the onset of cold weather.

Since ancient times, garlic has been used as a vegetable. In early spring, it is eaten with bread, added to salads, sauces and marinades, and served with first and second courses. It acquires its best taste when crushed or finely chopped.

It is placed in the dish at the end of cooking, without allowing it to boil. Garlic improves the taste of meat, especially lamb, poultry, rabbit, mayonnaise, and potato dishes; it is used in sausage production and the canning industry; it is necessary for pickling cucumbers and mushrooms; it is used as a spice. In cosmetics it is used to strengthen hair.

In garden plots, garlic can be used to disinfect seeds, combat diseases of vegetable crops, and destroy a variety of pests - bugs, flies, flea beetles, weevils, etc.

Garlic bulbs serve as medicinal raw materials. They are collected when the leaves wither. They are dried in dry weather on ridges or under a canopy and the roots are cut off. Store at 3°C.

Garlic was described as a medicinal plant in the 1st century. n. e. Di-oscoride. In ancient times it was used to treat dyspepsia, exhaustion and stomach colic. Garlic is a powerful embodiment of the idea that a plant can be a source of food and medicine.

The bulb and leaves contain the glycoside alliin, carbohydrates, phytosterols, essential and fatty oils, inulin, vitamins C, B6 D, PP, organic acids, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese and zinc, as well as cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, bromine and lithium.

The plant's strong phytoncidal activity is associated with alliin, which is converted into allicin under the influence of the enzyme allinase.

Garlic preparations have a diuretic, diaphoretic, antiseptic (phytoncidal) and analgesic effect. They increase the body's resistance to infectious and colds, are active against the influenza virus, relieve fatigue after heavy physical exertion, reduce blood pressure, improve heart function, and stimulate digestion.

Garlic moderately reduces blood sugar, is indicated for chronic lead poisoning, and is a reliable remedy for expelling roundworms (roundworms, pinworms).

Garlic preparations are prescribed for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, intestinal atony and excessive formation of gases, putrefactive processes in the gastrointestinal tract, chronic and purulent bronchitis, hypertension, colitis and enterocolitis, for the treatment of purulent and long-lasting wounds and ulcers.

In folk herbal medicine, garlic is used for migraines, insomnia, to remove warts, for urolithiasis, calluses, insect bites, to strengthen hair, for baldness, runny nose, cough and whooping cough.

It is useful to mix garlic with honey and take 1 teaspoon for colds and bronchitis or in the form of inhalations.

The simplest and most common way to take garlic is to consume 1-3 peeled cloves during dinner, washed down with sour milk.

To prepare the tincture, you need to clean