Roasted garlic cloves aren’t just a flavoring agent. Garlic is one of the first recorded plants actually used as a medicine. Ancient Egyptians regularly took advantage of garlic as a flavoring in dishes and for an array of health issues. Whole preserved cloves were even found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. While this pungent bulb is native to central Asia, it has over 7,000 years of history in various cultures spanning the globe. The Romans, Greeks, Japanese and even the Native Americans all valued garlic as a potent medicinal (1).
A Brief History Of Garlic
What is truly amazing about this aromatic herb, however, is that ancient civilizations all over the world, that had no contact with one another, each came to the same conclusions about garlic’s bountiful and powerful healing properties.
A staple in the Mediterranean, garlic was also widely used in Africa, India, Asia and most of Europe for centuries. During the mid-1300s, the English included garlic in their medicine chests, for everything from a toothache and constipation to dropsy (edema) and even the plague (2).
Today, we know that the active ingredient in garlic, which is actually related to the lily (allium family), (3) is allicin, an organosulfur compound. Interestingly, fresh garlic does not emit its powerful aroma unless it is crushed or chopped.
Allicin is actually nature’s way of defending garlic from attacks by pests that may try to eat the plant (4). When “attacked,” an enzyme in garlic called alliinase converts alliin into allicin, which is responsible for fresh garlic’s powerful aroma (5).
Garlic For Heart Health
While garlic has a very long list of health benefits, one of the more increasingly studied is its powerful protective properties for your heart and cardiovascular system. Researchers first became interested in garlic to prevent cardiovascular disease after they discovered that people living near the Mediterranean, where garlic is a household staple, have much lower death rates from cardiovascular disease than in other countries (6).
It is widely known that the Mediterranean diet is linked to lower disease rates, especially cardiovascular issues. It is no coincidence that these people eat high amounts of garlic among other foods and make other healthy lifestyle choices (7).
According to the Linus Pauling Institute, the organosulfur compounds in garlic help to prevent cardiovascular disease through their proven anti-clotting agents that essentially inhibit platelet aggregation that can play a key role in lowering the risk of heart disease (8).
Garlic also helps reduce cholesterol levels, regulate blood pressure, and stimulate blood circulation, all of which help to prevent heart attacks and stroke (9, 10).
Roasted Garlic Cloves Health Benefits
Researchers also believe the organosulfur compounds in garlic may be protective against cancer.
Some studies show garlic is effective for preventing pancreatic, colon, rectal, esophagus, pancreas, stomach, breast, prostate, bladder, brain, and lung cancers, as well as multiple myeloma. (11, 12, 13).
According to Web MD, garlic is also a wonderful treatment for “enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia; BPH), cystic fibrosis, diabetes, osteoarthritis, hayfever (allergic rhinitis), traveler’s diarrhea, high blood pressure late in pregnancy (pre-eclampsia), yeast infection, flu, and swine flu.” (14)
And because of the high antioxidant content in garlic, it is widely used to prevent and treat the common cold. Its powerful antibacterial and anti-fungal properties make it a potent treatment for infections, which was why it was widely used on the battlefield for wounded soldiers. You can also use garlic topically as a tick and mosquito repellant for both you and your pets. One study even shows that taking 1200 mg/d garlic capsules internally for 8 weeks can reduce the risk of tick bites by as much as 21 percent (15).
Other uses for garlic include using garlic oil for earaches. This pungent remedy helps to relieve inflammation and kill bacteria (16). Some people, according to Web MD, use garlic successfully to treat “chronic fatigue, syndrome, menstrual disorders, abnormal cholesterol levels caused by HIV drugs, hepatitis, shortness of breath related to liver disease, stomach ulcers caused by H. pylori infection, exercise performance, exercise-induced muscle soreness, a condition that causes lumps in the breast tissue called fibrocystic breast disease, a skin condition called scleroderma, and lead toxicity.”
Garlic is also highly effective for general illnesses like the common cold, headaches, stomach aches, sinus congestion, fever, sore throats, as well as shortness of breath, asthma and bronchitis.
One-Day Healing
But the best part of garlic’s powerful healing properties is that they can apparently start working within, just 24 hours! Experts suggest eating 6 roasted garlic cloves daily for some pretty powerful healing effects.
Here’s what you can expect:
Hour 1: Your stomach slowly digests the garlic, which starts to feed your body.
Hours 2-4: The pungent garlic begins to destroy cancer cells and prevent free radical damage.
Hours 4-6: Your metabolism begins to speed up and the garlic helps to pull excess fluids and fat from your body.
Hours 6-7: Garlic’s powerful antibacterial properties destroy any harmful bacteria in your body.
Hours 6-10: The bountiful nutrients in garlic reach your cells, where they provide oxidant effects.
Hours 10-24: Your body starts to undergo a deep cleansing and detoxing, which leads to:
- Strengthened immunity (17)
- Improved bone strength (18)
- Lower blood pressure
- Increased cellular longevity
- Improved energy
- Regulated cholesterol levels
- Cardio-protection for your entire cardiovascular system
- Reduced levels of heavy metals—garlic can also prevent further heavy metal contamination (19)
- Improved athletic performance and endurance (20)
- Increased sexual libido and sperm count (21)
Once you see improvements, don’t stop eating this amazing herb. Make garlic a daily medicinal food for life. It will keep you healthy, strong, rejuvenated and full of energy. Garlic is truly nature’s most potent healing food on the planet.
How To Roast Garlic Cloves
Roasting garlic cloves in an oven is easy and rewarding.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Peel and discard the papery skin of outer layers of the bulb. Make sure to leave the skins of the individual cloves of garlic.
- Use a sharp knife to remove the first 1/4 to a 1/2 inch from the top of cloves.
- Place the garlic heads in a muffin pan, cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and rub it into the cloves. Cover the bulb with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until soft.
- Let the garlic cool and remove the skin from around each clove.
How to store roasted garlic? Simple, just freeze them in an ice cube tray or store in the refrigerator covered in oil in a container with a lid for up to a week.