Garlic

Appears in
Soup: A Way of Life
Soup

By Barbara Kafka

Published 1998

  • About
Not everybody loves garlic as much as I do. In fact, there are those who would prefer the vampire to the garlic. I at least have health information on my side. Garlic helps clear the arteries and acts as a fungicide and a mild antibiotic. For those who fear the odor, I can aver that several sprigs of parsley, chewed, and a Marc de Bourgogne, drunk, after indulging should set all right.

There are many different kinds of garlic. To understand the full spectrum, search out books by Chester Aaron, the American guru of garlic. In America, we mostly find large white heads from Gilroy, California. I prefer the smaller reddish purple heads I get in the South of France or from organic growers here. It is impossible to tell without nibbling a little bit exactly how hot or sweet a given crop of a given variety of garlic will be. Crops vary, depending on the amount of sun and rain the year has had. Use your judgment. Garlic that cooks for a long time has a mellow, somewhat sweet flavor. Raw garlic is sharper. Hence, some recipes add garlic twice.