Amazing Uses for Garlic in Your Home & Garden

Do you know how to use garlic in your kitchen, garden and for good health? In this article I share garlic tips and some amazing uses for  this humble herb.

Garlic tips and uses in your kitchen, garden and for health

I’m an unashamed ‘Garlicoholic’ and if you love garlic as much as I do, you may be surprised at some of the incredibly useful ways you can use this ancient herb.

• In your kitchen – for its culinary properties;
• For health – and its medicinal benefits; plus
• In your garden – to help with pest and disease management!

Amazing Uses for Garlic in Your Home

1.  In Your Kitchen – 12 Garlic Tips

Garlic Tip #1: If you want to avoid ‘garlic breath’ eat a few leaves of any chlorophyll rich herb like fresh mint, parsley or basil afterwards.

Garlic Tip #2: When using garlic in recipes, 1 clove = 1 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic or ½ teaspoon minced fresh garlic.

Garlic Tip #3: The longer you cook garlic, the milder and sweeter the flavour.

Garlic Tip #4: There’s an easy way to release garlic skin without fiddly peeling. Lay a clove flat on a board, slice off the root and place under the blade of a wide knife. Press down hard over the top and the skin will pop off.

How to Mince Garlic – Tips to Crush, Chop & Dice Garlic Cloves

 

Garlic Tip #5: Adding garlic early in a recipe will result in a milder flavour than adding it towards the end.

Garlic Tip #6: In recipes, don’t be tempted to increase the quantity. Garlic can overpower other flavours, especially if it’s home grown.

Garlic Tip #7: Know how strong your garlic is. Until you’ve tried using it, I suggest less is more. You can always add, but can’t take away! Some varieties have a strong flavour while others are mild.

Garlic Tip #8: The finer you chop your garlic, the more intense the flavour. Minced = strong; sliced = milder; whole = mildest.

You can control how much flavour to add in the way you prepare your garlic.

 

Garlic Tip #9: If you don’t have any garlic, snipt off a few of the green shoots while it’s still growing in the garden and use as a substitute. You can also use other members of the onion family including garlic chives, chives, spring onions, shallots, leeks or onion tops.

How to make Garlic Puree

 

Garlic Tip #10: Use garlic leaves the same as you would chives. Snip into stir fries, salads and egg dishes.

To intensify sweetness, roast a whole clove in a covered container. Mash into potatoes and gravy (it’s to DIE for)!

 

Garlic Tip #11: Add garlic to oil or vinegar to flavour when adding to dishes or making a dressing. However, make fresh and refrigerate, use or freeze your garlic oil within 10 days to avoid the growth of harmful microorganisms.

Garlic Tip #12: Add garlic to flavour your meat – it also helps you digest it.

 

When cooking, avoid burning garlic as it becomes bitter.

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Easy Garlic Recipes

• Garlic and Herb Butter.  To 4 tblspns butter, add 1 minced clove garlic; 2 tspns chopped fresh (or dried) herbs and a sprinkle of salt. Mix well & spread on bread or pizza bases, melt on vegetables or toss through pasta.

 

Roll any excess into a log between kitchen wrap and freeze. Cut rounds and use as needed.

 

• Yummy Garlic Recipes. These include Baked Garlic and Eggplant Salad; Garlic Custard; Ayurvedic Garlic Curry; Garlic Prawns and many more.

 

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (You can reduce the butter to your taste)

2. Garlic Tips for Health Benefits

According to Isabell Shipard’s wonderful herb book:

“Garlic is … a powerful antibiotic … boosts immunity … has been dubbed the anti-cancer food … an anti-inflammatory … contains powerful antioxidants that help remove free radicals with their destructive habits and ageing effects on the body …”

When Hippocrates said over 2300 years ago “Let your food be your medicine” he no doubt had garlic in mind.

There is so much more to garlic. I thoroughly recommend you read ‘How Can I Use Herbs in My Daily Life?‘ to learn how to use garlic to boost your health and wellbeing.

• Garlic has been widely used for health benefits since Egyptian times. Scientific research continues to confirm its many applications for building immunity, anti-cancer properties, lowering cholesterol and too many more to mention. It is widely used as a natural alternative for many diseases with fewer side effects than drugs.  [See the References at the end of this post.]

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• Head or chest congestion. To make an inhalant, chop 2 garlic cloves and add to a small bowl with 2 cups boiling water and 1 tblspn apple cider vinegar. Stir vigorously for 10 seconds then cover your head with a towel and inhale the vapours over the bowl.

• Garlic Health Recipes – make a cold extract, tincture and juice.

The sulphur content of garlic acts as a strong disinfectant – rub a raw cut garlic clove on cuts as an antibacterial agent.

 

“The medicinal value of garlic is no longer an ancient Chinese secret.” – Professor David Mirelman, Weizmann Institute of Science

• Garlic Tea Immune Enhancer A well-known immune system strengthener, garlic shines as an antibacterial and antiviral herb for fighting colds, coughs and the flu. Drinking fresh garlic tea sweetened with a little raw honey is one of the best ways to take advantage of garlic’s healing properties to heal what ails you. To make: Peel 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic and lightly crush them with the side of a wide knife blade. Add them to 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes. Strain the garlic and allow the tea to cool to mouth temperature. Add raw honey, a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Drink as much as needed.

Garlic Health Benefits

 3.  Garlic Tips for Your Garden

For any pest or disease problem in the garden, I look at the source of the problem and work with nature to avoid it. A quick fix spray remedy, even if it IS organic, is just a bandaid on why the problem is there in the first place. There are consequences for every action and whilst recipes and sprays abound in books and the internet, it’s wise to understand what you are dealing with first.

I’ve only ever had to use an organic spray very sparingly on a few occasions in my garden. Only as a last resort strategy to avoid losing a crop. For the most part, I’ve found if I build healthy soil, I don’t have major pest or disease issues.

Companion Planting

The primary way I use garlic in my garden is as a beneficial companion plant. There are a few exceptions including peas and beans. Interplanting it with other crops can be a useful pest management strategy. Garlic leaves and bulbs have a strong aroma and can help deter both air and soil-borne pests including leaf eaters, spider mites and fruit flies.

I’ve found garlic is most effective when the leaves are more developed. This is my gorgeous garlic on the right and luscious leeks on the left!

Protect your Crops

The smell of garlic and other allium family members can help confuse pests. These include carrot flies and white cabbage butterflies by masking the smell of host plants. This is where the mummies want to lay their eggs for their little darlings to hatch out and eat. So, interplant your carrots and brassica crops between garlic, leeks, onions or chives to use this strategy. Interplant with raspberry canes for protection from grubs.

Plant Garlic around Trees

Try planting garlic around the base of peach and nectarine trees to reduce curly leaf infection. Plant garlic around roses to improve fragrance and growth. Planted around trees, garlic can deter borers, mites and weevils and is a much safer alternative to harmful chemicals.

The active ingredients in garlic include complex organic sulphides. Garlic’s antimicrobial properties means it can be effective against a range of pests and diseases particularly as a fungicide.

Its strong scent and flavour make it unpalatable (to insects and some animals) and a natural short-term repellent.

Possum Repellent Garlic Spray

This garlic spray works on smell and taste to help deter possums. Add 2 tablespoons freshly crushed garlic to 1 litre of hot water (or add 2 tablespoons freshly crushed hot chilli). Allow to stand overnight. Strain. Spray on foliage. Remember sprays are best used in the cool of the day to avoid burning your plants and will only last a few days.

Use Garlic to Treat Powdery Mildew

Garlic contains high levels of sulphur, an effective fungicide. A few crushed cloves in water (and strained) can be used to make a homemade spray. For effective control, timing is important. Spray at the first sign of powdery mildew and repeat every week or two until it is under control.

Some squash and melon varieties may be sensitive to garlic so an alternative is to spray upper leaves and undersides weekly with a solution of baking soda (1 tspn baking soda + a few drops liquid soap in about 1 litre of water). Test a few leaves first. Baking soda increases the leaf surface pH – an environment powdery mildew spores won’t grow on.

Caution: Garlic spray can be used as a general purpose insecticide and fungicide. However, be aware it kills your friendly little beneficial insects as well as plant pests and diseases. So use carefully! Please consider other options you have before using any spray even if it is organic.

Chicken Health

Adding finely chopped garlic to your little ladies’ food and water monthly (during the full moon cycle) is a good natural worm preventative. It also stimulates digestive organs, treats intestinal infections and bacteria Garlic is a wonderful disinfectant, alleviates catarrh and benefits the liver and gall bladder. Your chooks will thank you!

Prevent Poultry Parasites: Add garlic to chook food to prevent and control parasite infestations.

References & Resources:

• Medicinal Properties of Garlic
• Garlic Proven 100 Times More Effective than Antibiotics, Working in a Fraction of the Time
• Garlic More Effective than Antibiotics against Food Poisoning Bacteria
• Herbal & Plant Based Tooth Ache Remedies
• Home Remedies for Garlic
• Garlic Health Benefits Against Cancer & Other Diseases
• Garlic Ingredient Delivers Death to Cancer Cells

If you missed Part 1 – 5 Step Guide to Growing Gorgeous Garlic, then check it out – you’ll learn just how easy it is to grow this flavoursome, medicinal and versatile herb. You might also enjoy Guide to Growing Spring Onions – both indoors and out! This article is for information purposes only. Please do your own research and consult a health care practitioner.

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© Copyright Anne Gibson, The Micro Gardener 2016. https://themicrogardener.com. All rights reserved.