The sweet kiss of garlic

Includes a link to three recipes for desserts using garlic.

Hi, I hope you are doing well. Welcome to another post in It's Food O' Clock where I share my fascination with food and cooking. This post is all about garlic and includes a link to three recipes for desserts using garlic. Yes, garlic dessert! Remember to hit like, leave a comment, share, and if you haven't done so…

Some foods are considered timeless. If you ask your average citizen about its origin, they would say it's been around "forever.” These are the kind of food that, in many cases, people started using as a cure for ailments, a dietary supplement, or an energy booster before their gastronomical exploit. Such is the story of garlic, which is probably the first known medicine.

Originating somewhere in Middle Asia, it is believed that the Sumerians introduced garlic to China between 2600 and 2100 BC.

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

Throughout history, garlic has been used to deal with many ailments and conditions. Its medicinal uses are found in ancient scriptures from the Sumerians to China, the Romans, and India. It is still used as medicine nowadays. In a paper titled Revealing the Therapeutic Uses of Garlic and its Potential for Drug Discovery, the author notes the following:

“Garlic, which is utilized as a spice and flavoring ingredient, is found to have fundamental nutritional components. Carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals, water, and vitamins are all found in abundance in this plant. The plant also has a high medicinal value and is used to cure a variety of human diseases. It has anti-inflammatory, rheumatological, ulcer inhibiting, anticholinergic, analgesic, antimicrobial, antistress, antidiabetes, anticancer, liver protection, anthelmintics, antioxidants, antifungal, and wound healing properties, as well as properties that help with asthma, arthritis, chronic fever, tuberculosis, runny nose, malaria, leprosy, skin discoloration, and itching, indigestion, colic, enlarged spleen, hemorrhoids, fistula, bone fracture, gout, urinary tract disease, diabetes, kidney stones, anemia, jaundice, epilepsy, cataract, and night blindness.”

Besides medical qualities and culinary diversity, garlic has properties that exist between reality and mythology. For occupations that require working in tall grass, workers tie up garlic bulbs or apply garlic paste to their shoes and clothes to repel snakes, much like they “used it” in the past to repel vampires. People hang up garlic around their houses for the same reasons.

In medieval Europe, garlic was believed to have an effect on our humor states. In her article The History of Garlic: From Medicine to Marinara, Sarah Lohman shared:

“Humors were thought to be qualities of the body that affected on your health and personality. Garlic, which was thought be “hot and dry,” shouldn’t be consumed by someone who was quick to anger, but might succeed in pepping up a person who was too emotionally restrained. According to food historian Cathy Kaufman, a medieval feast might have a staggering amount of different dishes, all laid on the table at one time, so that different personality types could construct a meal that fit their humors.”

In The Language of Food¹, Theresa S. Dietz writes about garlic’s symbolism, stating that it means courage, getting well, and strength. She also provides a list of its ‘possible powers’:

• Anti-theft

• Aphrodisiac

• Attracts love

• Exorcism

• Fire element

• Healing

• Lust

• Mars

• Masculine energy

• Protection

• Sun

• Unrequited love

I can see how garlic’s properties have gone beyond their medicinal and culinary reach. Such a delicious and powerful ingredient has impacted tremendously, influencing art, culture, and social boundaries. But my interest pertains to the palate. I am fascinated by its versatility and applicability to all kinds of tastes, especially sweets.

Garlic ice cream cone (AI generated)

A sweet taste of garlic

It is hard to think of garlic as something sweet due to its pungent smell and bitter taste. But garlic is so powerful that it can satisfy every corner of our tongue.

Properly used, garlic can sweeten a bitter day.

In the municipality of Lares, Puerto Rico located in the central-western mountains of the Island, there is an ice cream place called Heladería Lares. For over fifty years this place has been making ice cream out of fruits and vegetables. Years ago, I tried a spoonful of their garlic ice cream. I thought it would have a horrendous flavor, but I was wrong, it was majestic. Fast forward more than two decades, I think of garlic as a key ingredient for most meals I cook, and I often visit that sweet and cooling memory in that historic town. I look forward to exploring interesting desserts and sweet pastries with garlic.

But it is not just me who likes sweet garlic treats. In Toronto, Canada they celebrate the Toronto Garlic Festival. During this event, people enjoy garlic in many forms including desserts. Some sweet treats enjoyed during this fascinating celebration include garlic chocolate brownies, garlic almond crunch, and even truffles (infused with coffee, black garlic, and passion fruit). If you are into garlic like me and are looking for a cool Canadian experience, I'd say this festival is a must. It is already on my bucket list.

Link to recipes

On the event’s website, they share recipes for Garlic Bread Pudding, Garlic Ice Cream, and Garlic Chocolate Chip Cookies. Excellent recipes to experiment with.

Closer to home, in the town of Delray, Florida people gather every year to celebrate the “Best Stinkin’ Party in South Florida”, officially known as Garlic Fest. Here people wear garlic costumes and walk down their Garlic Infused Gourmet Alley, a trip through “over 100 garlic-laced items”. This includes ice cream. This one is only a few hours’ drive from Orlando so I will start planning my visit.

There are garlic festivals all over the world. This demonstrates the significance of such a delicacy. Without factual or scientific knowledge or culinary jargon, our ancestors knew garlic was a wonderful ally in medicine, food, and spirituality. It is so much so that it has been ingrained into our global culinary DNA, and passed on through festivals, rituals, art, religion, food, recipes, stories, poems, and science.

Photo by Jeff Frenette on Unsplash

Garlicky facts

Belonging to the Onion Family, garlic comes with its peculiar defenses. It is all about the smell and the taste. In the book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen², Harold McGee explains how these defenses work:

“Onions and their relatives, as we all know from experience, are mild-mannered until we cut into them, at which point they immediately become quite odiferous and may even make our eyes water. The defensive advantage such a property has for the plant is obvious. Garlic was the first of these vegetables to be investigated thoroughly. Its tissue contains an odorless precursor, derived from the common sulfur-containing amino acid cysteine, which is stable in normal conditions. When we disrupt the tissue's cells, this compound is brought into contact with an enzyme that converts it into molecules of ammonia, pyruvic acid, and a mildly garlicky but unstable compound. This in turn breaks down into diallyl disulfide, the major and powerful constituent of garlic odor.”

Fun Fact

The belief that garlic repelled vampires (the mythical creatures of our stories) comes from an actual desease (Porphyria), combined with lack of scientific knowledge and religion. This disease is a combination of disorders that causes pale skin, shrinking gums (making teeth look bigger), sensitivity to light, and an aversion to garlic (which worsens the symptoms). You can safely unhang the garlic bulbs around your home now, unless you have snakes around.

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

No matter how stinky and bitter it is, most humans love garlic. According to Fact.MR, in its report on the garlic market, garlic sales are projected to reach $35.85 billion by the end of 2033. This report also shares how the focus on health and fitness, the growing popularity of veganism, and the demand for herbal and traditional medicine around the world have caused garlic consumption to increase. This in turn has boosted research and development on the use of garlic.

There are two types of garlic, Allium Sativum (Softneck) and A. longicuspis (Hardneck), and each has its own varieties.

I am excited to start experimenting with garlic’s sweet side. Suddenly, smoky roasted garlic ice cream or waffles drizzled with roasted garlic-infused honey come to mind. What about you? Would you taste the sweet kiss of garlic? Leave a comment!

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1. Dietz, S. T. (2022). The Complete Language of Food: A Definitive and Illustrated History. Rage Kindelsperger.

2. McGee, H. (1984). On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.