Trivia # 21 : Garlic

• Garlic is a herb which is also a natural antibiotic and a blood cleanser that boosts the immune system. It also helps in keeping the body warm. 
•  Garlic was an ingredient in mixtures used to attach gold leaf to early works of art.
• Garlic and onions are among the oldest cultivated food plants. Their culinary, medicinal and religious use dates back more than 6000 years.
• Garlic is pictured on ancient Egyptian tombs from 3,000 B.C. and is mentioned in the Old Testament, by Herodotus, Aristophanes, Virgil and Dioscorides. It is said to have grown in the left footprints of Satan when he left the Garden of Eden.
• Garlic bulbs were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen more than 3,000 years ago; they were part of the diet of the Hebrew slaves who built the pyramids and, for the ancient Chinese, garlic was a guard against plagues.
• Garlic has medicinal qualities: It contains chemicals that fight everything from viruses and bacteria to cancer and bad cholesterol and it boosts the immune system. During both world wars it was nicknamed Russian penicillin for how garlic poultices were used in dressing wounds and treating infections, especially gangrene.
• People write books about garlic. The latest is excellent: The Complete Book of Garlic (Timber Press, Aug. 2008), provides a complete look at garlic, an essential element in cuisines around the world. Worldwide, garlic cultivation occupies more than two million acres of farmland, an area that has more than doubled since 1970. The book covers everything you ever wanted to know about garlic, from its natural history and its history of garlic in cultivation, the nuances of cuisine and culture, therapeutic benefits, plant structure, how to grow garlic, cure and store it, taxonomy, pests and diseases and chemistry.