Garlic refers to a vegetable from the onion family species that includes scallions, leeks, and chives. It originated from Asia thousands of years ago, but today, it’s consumed worldwide as medicine and cooking. Garlic has many tiny pieces called cloves that can be 5- 15 pieces in a single bulb.
There are two varieties of garlic, soft neck and hard neck, which make up 11 different garlic types. You can easily grow your garlic from your garden home as they require minimal maintenance and favorable to different climates.
So, can you eat the skin of garlic? Yes. It’s safe to eat the garlic skin as it has no difference from the inner layers. The skin is rich in antioxidants and vitamins that are good for your immunity. However, it depends on what you like. The skin is fibrous and papery that may feel distasteful to eat but can be fantastic to add to your sauces and soups.
Is Garlic Bad For You?
No. garlic is good for your overall health. You can use it for your many cooking recipes to add flavor and medicine to relieve flu symptoms. However, garlic can affect some people. Rubbing fresh garlic to your skin can cause irritation, itching, and swelling. Also, chewing raw garlic may cause bad breath, heartburn, gas, vomiting as it contains allicin.
Lastly, eating lots of fresh garlic can create bleeding risk and interfere with some medications like aspirin. Therefore, it is good to consult with your doctor if you have a scheduled surgery as it can prolong you’re bleeding and affect your blood pressure during the procedure.
What is the Nutritional Value of Garlic Skin?
Garlic is extremely nutritious. It contains a good amount of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, copper, and iron that you need.
One clove (3 grams) of raw garlic has the following:
- 2% of manganese
- 2% of vitamin B6
- 1% of vitamin C
- 1% of Selenium
- 0.06 grams of fiber
- 4.5 of calories
- 0.2 grams of proteins.
You can chop your garlic, crush or chew it. However, you use it; it’s healthy and will make your dishes delicious.
What are the Benefits of Garlic?
You may have heard of people using garlic as a home remedy in treating the common cold and flu. Yes, garlic is a herb and has a supplement that helps to reduce your flu and cold. You can chew 1-2 cloves to relieve mucus congestion or when you have an irritation in your throat. Garlic contains allicin, which helps keep your gut and digestive system healthy.
Eating 3-5 cloves of garlic can help lower your blood pressure. The antioxidants contents help to lower your systolic and diastolic blood pressure and also reduce your cholesterol levels. This protects you from heart attacks and diseases.
Eating garlic may help detoxify your body and help you to stay healthy. Toxins may cause you to experience headaches and fatigue. If you work in areas where you’re exposed to heavy metals like lead, you need to detoxify your body, and garlic is the perfect solution. It contains sulfur compounds that protect your body from damage from heavy metals.
Garlic is ideal if you’re trying to lose weight. It helps to suppress your appetite, keeps you full longer, burns your calories, and boosts your metabolism. Besides, garlic has adequate amounts of antioxidants that protect your body cells from aging and free radicals. In addition, garlic contains selenium, copper, vitamin C, and vitamin B6 to treat and reduce acne.
What are the benefits of garlic? Adding garlic to your diet will help prevent you from chronic diseases like heart attacks and blood pressure. It’s ideal for weight loss, treating acne, and a good home remedy for treating cold and flu. So, you can add garlic to your diet as they are affordable and available in your grocery shop and even supermarkets.
What Are the Ways That You Can Use Garlic?
Garlic is nutritious with or without the skin and also delicious when added in your cooking. You can mix garlic and honey, which can last for a few weeks. You can then use the mixture to marinate your fish, chicken, and vegetables. Adding garlic towards the end of your cooking will give a strong flavor than at the beginning.
You can also add garlic as a topping in your salads and smoothies. A garlic smoothie will relax you detoxify your body, and boost your immune system. You can crush your garlic and then use it in soups, sauces, or as a spread to be an alternative to butter or even cheese. Roasted garlic is also good in salads and for people who don’t like the strong smell of fresh garlic.
Finally, you can also boil your garlic, especially when you want to treat your flu.
However you decide to use your garlic its excellent for flavor and health benefits and mixes well with just everything: cereals, vegetables, and meat.
Final Thoughts
- Garlic is a vegetable from the onion family species. It has two main categories that make up other varieties; soft neck and hard neck. A single garlic bulb has 4 to 15 cloves or more.
- There are various health benefits of eating garlic. They contain antioxidants that are good for your skin and treating acne. They are used to treat cold helps to lower your blood pressure and prevent heart diseases. They are also ideal for weight loss as they help to suppress your appetite.
- Garlic is not bad for you. It’s good in meals and relieves symptoms of cold and flu. However, it can be allergic to a few people who may experience skin irritation, swelling, and itching.
- Chewing raw garlic can cause bad breath, and it also thin blood and increase the rate of bleeding.
- You can use garlic and honey in your salads and also marinate your vegetables and meat. You can blend into your smoothie, boil and roast them. Adding garlic to your diet is healthy, nutritious, and delicious.
- If you have not tried eating garlic before, maybe you should put t n your shopping list the next time you buy your groceries.