Garlic, scientifically known as Allium sativum, is a vegetable native to Asia and belongs to the same family as onions, the lilies. This vegetable is an essential ingredient in the Mediterranean diet and one of the healthiest foods.

It has been used as a condiment since ancient times. There is evidence that the Egyptians consumed it some 6,000 years ago. Furthermore, its culinary and medicinal properties were praised by the Greeks.

Similarly, it is known that medieval monks chewed garlic cloves to protect themselves from the plague; and that during the two great world wars, due to the shortage of antibiotics, garlic was used to prevent wounds from becoming infected.

Garlic’s fame stems from the fact that it is an excellent natural alternative to the use of drugs; thanks to the presence of antioxidants rich in sulfur compounds, such as alliin.

This substance, which I mentioned earlier, is odorless, but upon contact with oxygen in the air, it transforms into allicin, which is responsible for its characteristic and pungent smell. Similarly, allicin is converted into other sulfur compounds that possess therapeutic properties.