Anna Delany, adapted from www.Fruits&VeggiesMatter.gov
Native to central Asia, garlic is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world and has been grown for over 5000 years. It's been a topic of much folklore for many year and has been used for numerous things including embalming, warding off evil spirits, and curing everything from the common cold to tuberculosis and even broken bones!
Today, garlic is still promoted as a health food with medicinal properties. Although garlic is a nutritious food, many of the claims surrounding it are not backed up by research. But it's still very good for you.
Read on and find out more about garlic.
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Garlic is characterized by a strong flavor and smell, stemming from its sulfur compounds. There are approximately 300 varieties of garlic grown throughout the world. In the United States about 90 percent of the garlic crop is grown in California and comes in two types – “early” and “late”.
| American | White-skinned with a strong flavor. Early garlic is white or off-white in color and harvested in mid-summer. Late garlic is off-white on the outside. |
| Chileno | A reddish-colored, sharp tasting garlic grown in Mexico. |
| Elephant | Not a true garlic, but a relative of the leek; its flavor is very mild and it is characterized by larger heads. |
| Green | Young garlic before it starts forming cloves. Green garlic looks like a baby leek with a long green top and small white bulb. Its flavor is much more mild than that of mature garlic. |
| Italian | Mauve in color with a somewhat milder flavor. |
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