Herbal Studies

Garlic: the only spice you have, the only spice you need. It seasons everything. It seasons everything else. It protects against vampires. It's the perfect herb.

My mother adores garlic. She makes such liberal use of it that I grew up with the idea that you just add garlic to everything as a baseline of cooking. Are you stirring something? Might as well add some garlic to it. Chopping something? Eh, add some garlic to it. What are you making? Oh, it smells delicious, but you should consider adding garlic to it.

Garlic is an interesting little plant, though. It's been used around the household as far back as the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, and it has a number of documented health benefits that include boosting the immune system, guarding against Alzheimer's Disease and dementia, and warding a person against evil. Folklore gets a lot of mileage out of garlic. There is apparently a legend that tells us that when the Abrahamaic Ha-Satan left Eden, garlic grew in his footsteps. I can't verify this one way or another, but it does make for an interesting story.

Now that I've made myself hungry, I'm going to go cook something. Most likely with garlic.

#herbs