Garlic is a very healthy and rich tuber of properties that we should eat more often. But how is it better to consume it and cook it to take advantage of all the benefits it can offer our body?

Known for its taste and its pungent odor and able to flavor different dishes, garlic is generally an ingredient that you love or hate. If it is used in the kitchen as a flavoring it is quite indifferent to the way in which it is consumed and added to the preparations. On the other hand, if you also want to consume it for your health using its properties that make it a real natural drug with antibacterial power, fluidifying for the blood, hypocholesterolemic and antihypertensive.

Here’s how to eat garlic and enjoy the maximum of its benefits:

1. Eat it raw

Cooked garlic loses most of its properties because the high temperatures break down the most important active ingredient contained in the bulb: allicin. To best enjoy the benefits it offers, it is therefore advisable to always eat it (or as much as possible) raw. Do not even worry about the problem of the breath. There are some tricks to eat it raw and do not compromise our breathing too much.

2. Finely chopped

It is not enough to eat it raw, garlic should always be finely chopped or well chewed as the allicin is released more once the bulb is cut. The best thing would be to chop it, wait 10-15 minutes and only then consume it.

3. Cooked garlic

If the raw garlic is not for you but you can instead eat it cooked within the various recipes know that, to better preserve the properties, you can first cut or crush, let it rest for 10 minutes (but some say to reach up to 45 minutes) so that you sprinkle all the allicin and only after cooking it. In this way, the precious active ingredient should become not only more bioavailable but also a little more resistant to heat (try, however, to cook it as little as possible at low temperatures, avoiding frying and frying).

4. Consume it on an empty stomach

The ideal, for those who succeed, would be to consume raw garlic, previously minced and taken on an empty stomach, therefore fasting. Excellent health benefits can be found by consuming garlic every morning as soon as you wake up (a natural remedy only suitable for the most intrepid!).

5. Remove the soul

It may be useful to deprive the garlic of its soul, or the innermost area, in case it is difficult to digest. This is indeed the most “heavy” part of the tuber that some people can bother discouraging to use the whole food.

6. Fresh and organic garlic

An old garlic does not guarantee the presence of the same active ingredients as fresh garlic (have you ever thought of planting it in the garden or on the balcony?). Choose it then always of biological origin.

7. The right amount of garlic

Every day you should consume 2 cloves of garlic of medium size. Minor quantities are not sufficient to ensure the health benefits.

8. Infusion of ginger and garlic and garlic paste

Two original and healthy ways to consume garlic are to make an infusion using this tuber in combination with ginger or make garlic a paste to use wherever you prefer.