Garlic ‐ a panacea for health and good taste?

Garlic (Allium sativum L) is becoming increasingly popular as an important component in the culinary vocabulary of the cooks in this country. Humans are known to have consumed garlic for many millennia as a cure for a wide variety of different conditions. Its volatile components are reputed to have antithrombotic, antimicrobial, free radical scavenger activity associated with them. Its mythical medicinal properties are now being studied scientifically and some of the claims have been proven to be correct. Ten years ago garlic would have been difficult to obtain except in the speciality health shops or ethnic supermarkets: now it is freely available everywhere.