Garlic: Tasty, Versatile, and Healthy!

Garlic is the go-to ingredient you can add to pretty much any savoury dish to make it better. Bread? Bring on the garlic! Stir-fry? You best be mincin’ it in! Hummus, without garlic? Unheard of! Garlic is the best friend of many cooks across the globe, with the exception of maybe Transylvania… the land of Dracula, home of the vampires! ?‍♂️

Garlic is a powerhouse ingredient and used in almost every culture’s cuisine. In addition, every culture uses it differently, and we love exploring the versatility of garlic in our dishes.

We use garlic in a variety of dishes in our Lebanese culture, one being Toum: a bold, creamy garlic sauce. It’s made with four simple ingredients: garlic, oil, lemon juice, and salt. Simply delicious, toum inspired the flavours and ingredients in our ultra-savoury and creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing and Marinade.

Although it’s used mainly as a herb or spice, garlic is a vegetable… and everyone knows vegetables are healthy! Garlic is one of the pillars of the Mediterranean diet, which has been praised for centuries as one of the healthiest diets in the world. 

When garlic is crushed for use in a dish, to make garlic paste, or to use in a salad dressing, all of its powerful nutrients are released. These chemicals and nutrients have known antioxidant and antibacterial properties, boost immunity, and help manage high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes. They’ve even been shown to protect against common chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer. 

However, to get those garlicky benefits, you need to know how to prepare it! Researchers have found that cooking garlic for even a few minutes can reduce the health-benefiting compounds, especially when cooked in whole cloves. Crushing or chopping garlic can help preserve many of these compounds when cooking. Another tip to maximize those health benefits is leaving the crushed garlic to sit at room temperature for a minimum of 10 minutes before cooking with it. This allows time for the chemicals in garlic to react with oxygen to activate the antioxidant properties.

With garlic, what’s not to love? If you’re a garlic fanatic like us, then you might already know how to add the delicious ingredient to almost any dish. If not, look no further! We’ve got all the inspiration you need: 

Create a dip or spread: Garlic is a major player in many delicious spreads, we’re looking at you Hummus and Toum ?. A garlic spread can be as simple as mixing minced garlic with butter to make a garlic butter. Or, blending garlic cloves with olive oil to make a delicious and healthy paste that can be added to almost any dish, or spread on some pita bread. 

Spice things up: Garlic is a fundamental flavour in many curries and stir frys. It also makes for the perfect seasoning on a variety of vegetables, rice, chicken, potatoes, and so much more. Take it from us, we’ve arguably created the most delicious Garlic & Herb Pita Chips!

Make the tastiest dressing: Make your own salad dressing with fresh minced garlic. Or if you’re pressed for time, try our delicious Lemon Garlic Dressing, made with simple, quality ingredients you’d find in your own pantry.

Hopefully this post hasn’t made you too hungry. Get your garlic ready – it’s time to go all-in on the flavour! Another bonus to wearing face masks is that nobody can really smell your breath right now… 😉