Good Morning Chiangmai News Magazine

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GARLIC: GIFT FROM THE GODS?

Garlic, chilli and coriander are the heart, soul and spirit of the Thai kitchen, says Pip, our new mystery food writer. Last month it was chillis. Take a deep breath now, it's garlic time!

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"Since garlic hath powers to save from death, bear with it though it makes unsavoury breath". Robert of Normandy, 1100 AD.

Garlic originated from Central Asia and today grows wild in only 4 areas. It almost certainly grew wild over a much larger region centuries ago and may have occurred from China to India to Egypt to the Ukraine. Other plants referred to as ''wild garlic'' are invariably other species of the garlic genus (Allium), not garlic itself (Allium sativum).

The central Asian home of garlic is midway along the world's greatest migration route. This East-West path along the greatest of the Earth's continents became the silk and spice route in the middle ages. Travellers along it collected garlic to eat, for its medicinal use and to grow elsewhere. Thus - wide distribution of garlic from the earliest times! Garlic's close relatives include lilies and plants, including Crocus sativus from which we get the expensive spice Saffron and even the orchids, including examples such as Vanilla planifolia, the source of vanilla.

Lots of variety

There are over 600 different cultivated varieties of garlic in 5 distinct groups: 3 hard-neck varieties called Purple Stripe, Porcelain and Rocambole and 2 soft-neck varieties, Artichoke and Silver-skin. Purple Stripe garlic are usually vividly striped with purplish vertical stripes decorating the bulb wrappers, hence their name. In between the purple stripes, their bulb wrappers are usually white and quite thick. Some sub-varieties are even heavily splotched with purple. Colouration is affected by growing conditions, particularly weather. Sometimes they are very strongly coloured and at other times more white than purple. They tend to be strong in flavour, though some are milder, and store fairly well.

Porcelain garlic are the most beautiful garlic and sometimes seem too beautiful to eat. Their bulb wrappers tend to be very thick, luxuriant and parchment-like and tightly cover their few but large cloves. The outer bulb wrappers are often very white with a small amount of purple striping under the wrappers. Most cloves are large and fat (4-8 per bulb).

Porcelains are strong-tasting garlic and store well if grown well. Clove covers tend to be longish and a golden brown colour with distinctive vertical, purplish streaks.

Rocambole tend to have thinner bulb wrappers than Ophios and lots of purple striping and splotches. They are not as white as other Ophios and have a brownish cast to them. What they lack in beauty, they are said to make up for in taste. In the spring they send up a scape (an erect leafless flower stalk growing directly from the ground) that forms a complete double loop. They usually have 6 to 8 cloves arranged in circular fashion about a central scape and have few or no smaller internal cloves. They do not grow well in the tropics, needing cold winters and cool springs.

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Amongst the soft-necked garlic, the Artichoke is among the easiest to grow and are the most popular in America and parts of Europe. Artichoke garlic have lots of cloves, usually somewhere between 12 and20, with lots of smaller internal cloves. They are generally very large, store well and have a wide range of flavours, some being very mild and pleasant while others have greater depth of flavour. The Asiatic group of artichoke garlic have a little more colour to the bulb wrappers than the main group, which are usually very white. The Turban group of artichoke garlic tend to be the most colourful, have fewer cloves per bulb, do not store as well as the other Artichokes and have a stronger flavour.

Silver-skin garlic are usually sold in braids. Silver-skins are the longest storing of all garlic and have a soft pliable neck that lends itself to braiding. Fairly hot and strong!

The Creole group of silver-skins are a.unique and truly beautiful group. They are utterly unlike the other silver-skins in appearance and clove configuration as well as colour. They are one of the easiest garlic to eat raw owing to a flavour that is full but almost devoid of heat. They retain their taste well when cooked. They have 8 to 12 cloves per bulb arranged in a circular configuration. Both the bulb wrappers and the clove covers are a beautiful rose colour and are easily grown here in the tropics.

CLOVYN ICE CREAM!

.jpg One or 2 cloves in it, as a matter of fact, and the name of the Bangkok hotelier who makes garlic ice cream as a hobby is Frank Clovyn! GM of the Landmark Hotel, Frank comes from Belgium, a nation just as enthusiastic about garlic as France.

"I must admit that the thought of garlic ice cream doesn't exactly thrill anyone" he says. "But if you're concerned about the strength, cut the clove in half before you mince it and remove the kernel - you'll be alright!"

You CAN try this at home!

Take 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of gelatine, quarter cup cold water, 2 cups milk, 1 cup sugar or three-quarters cup honey), 1/8th teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1-2 cloves garlic minced very finely, 2 cups whipping cream.

Soak the gelatine in cold water.

Bring the milk, sugar and salt to the boil.

Dissolve the gelatine in the hot mixture, cool, then add the lemon juice and garlic.

Chill the mixture until slushy.

Whip the cream until thick but not stiff and fold into the mixture!

Freeze in a mould or foil-covered tray.

This ice cream goes well with a berry topping.

(Photo and recipe courtesy of The Landmark, Bangkok).

Old cloves

The humble garlic bulb has been a close companion, food and medicine for man since time immemorial: it is mentioned in the Jewish Torah and the holy Koran, where the Prophet Mohammed extolled it's properties as a medicine and antidote to snakebite and scorpion's sting. The Bible mentions garlic after Moses led the Jews from Egypt.

Even further back, Egyptian and Indian cultures referred to garlic 5,000 years ago and there is clear evidence of its use by the Babylonians 4,500 years ago and by the Chinese 2,000 years ago. Cloves have been found in Egyptian burial sites, including the tomb of Tutankhamen and in the sacred underground temple of the bulls at Saqqara. Garlic was fed to the workers who built the pyramids! Non native English speakers will find it 'interesting' that the plural for garlic is the same word, like fish and sheep. You can refer to species of garlic, heads of garlic and cloves of garlic but not to 'garlics'.

In cooking

Only a few societies in the world do not eat garlic. Some Northern Europeans (Dep. Ed.: with the notable exception of Finland) are not keen because of the infamous "garlic breath" and associated body odour. Indian Ayurvedic medicine recommends garlic be avoided by people who need to stay cool and the Jain and Saatvic vegetarian diets preclude garlic because of the heat producing qualities. Jains do not eat any root vegetables because the act of collecting them may harm living beings in the soil.

Otherwise, garlic has been accepted into almost every cuisine on earth. Usage in recipes varies from certain dishes where you simply rub the plate with a clove to dishes with garlic as the main ingredient.

In Thai cuisine, it is a basic ingredient in many dishes from the famous yam spicy and sour salads through curry pastes and the nam prik sauces to the crispy golden fried garlic in oil used to top the ubiquitous bowls of noodles or rice soap. I knew one Thai restaurateur who, when asked which of his 200-plus dishes did not contain garlic, pointed out only the rice and ice cream! He had not then read our first page!

As a medicine

Sir Alexander Fleming credited garlic with almost the same anti-bacterial properties as the penicillin he discovered! Indeed, in a laboratory, the fumes from a cut clove of garlic can kill bacteria up to 20 centimetres away!!

Garlic is very effective as a blood thinning agent, at least as good as aspirin. It reduces blood cholesterol and the blood clotting precursor fibrinogen. In one study it was found that consumption of 3 grams of fresh garlic per day over a 20-week period reduced cholesterol by 20%. It also reduces blood pressure and helps to clear the chest in the case of colds or flu. It has been used successfully in dysentery, typhoid, cholera and other forms of bacterial food poisoning, and is a safe and effective anti-worming agent. It is effective against H. Pylori, a precursor to various cancers. Studies conducted in China showed that populations with a large amount of garlic in their diet had a very low incidence of these cancers. Garlic also reduces irregularity and iseffective in the treatment of colic and flatulence.

In the mouth, garlic disinfects 'thrush', dental and throat infections and tonsillitis. It inhibits malignant cell growth, but for some, the most interesting property might well be as a treatment for impotence! An enzyme called Nitric Oxide Synthase is primarily responsible for the mechanism of erection. Studies have recently shown that garlic in certain forms can stimulate the production of NOS, particularly in individuals who have low levels of this enzyme.

There are, however a few adverse effects of garlic. It is famed for it's strong odour which may pervade the breath and skin and many consider it to be somewhat antisocial. (An unhelpful side effect if it has cured your impotence!). It can also prolong bleeding and blood clotting time.

Lastly, garlic may interfere with some AIDS therapy. According to a recent study, healthy people who took both garlic and saquinavir had a 5 l % lower blood saquinavir level than those who didn't take garlic, a drop that could cause treatment failure in HIV-infected patients.

NB: I must end this month with another warning following last month's feature on chillies. The hottest varieties can cause scarring, ulcers or burn holes in the gullet. They can blister skin and cause blindness if they are applied to the eye and excruciating pain if applied to other mucous membranes. Pure capsaicinoids are poisons, which can be fatal if consumed in even small quantities. Chemist Lloyd Matheson of the University of Iowa, the only known person to have inhaled capsaicin accidentally and survived, said: "You wish you were dead if you inhale it!"

PIP