Garlic is one of the most essential ingredients in cooking, worldwide. It is related to the
onion, shallot and leek. Garlic has a powerful pungent flavor when raw and a unique strong flavour and aroma. It leaves a bad breath when eaten, raw or cooked but despite this fact, garlic is an essential ingredient in
Asian, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Italian, French, Meditteranean, Arabic and many more cuisines. It can be eaten raw, boiled, roasted, fried, baked or even grilled. A lot of recipes using garlic require for the latter to be fried in
olive oil or
butter alone, or in combination with other herbs and spices, so as to give its strong flavour and aroma to the dish. In Chinese cuisine, a lot of dishes have fried garlic,
ginger and chili peppers as a starting base for the remaining dish. Garlic bread, garlic
butter, garlic mayonaise, garlic flavoured oil or chili sauce are a few of the uses of this great ingredient.
Besides its usefullness in cooking, garlic has proven to have beneficial effects for the health such as preventing and fighting common cold, lowering cholesterol and much more.
Garlic can be found worldwide, fresh, dried (in the form of flakes or powder), or even in 'liquid' form. To get the most taste and aroma out of garlic though, use fresh garlic.