The point of this blog is to share growing and cooking wisdom. So putting a dumb old pickle at the top doesn’t make sense. All the pickle does is take up flavor and act as the deliverer of that flavor. Garlic on the other hand is the complete opposite on so many levels and for so many reasons.

People eat garlic raw, as a topping, a complex ingredient, and even use the scapes and leaves in salads and other dishes. Garlic is as complex an ingredient as there is. Plus, it’s SO good for you. There is evidence that fresh garlic paste can kill E. coli and antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella enteritidis. The active ingredient, allicin, is responsible for the scent of the herb and for its healing properties. Make sure to understand that sometimes researchers come up with these claims based on Petri dish experiments, and results in the human body may differ. Still, these are some of the reasons garlic stuck out to me as one of the best foods on the planet.

Allicin degrades quickly, so uses in medicine are minimal, and age garlic is great in dishes as “black garlic” a type of fermented garlic paste or dried ingredient. Crushed and eaten fresh is best in most people’s minds, chefs and everyday consumers alike. More information on its healing powers can be found on the National Institute of Health’s Garlic page. But of course, my favorite use is in pickles. And if you didn’t know that, shame on me! Now you know me.

The best spice book in the world called The Spice Companion says garlic can be paired with Aleppo (a spicy pepper), basil, fennel, ginger, and thyme. Please note that the above link is an affiliate link, though not active anymore. I’ve grown as a cook through the use of my copy, and I wanted to pass on the success to my readers. Now I’d like to try adding fennel into garlic pickles in place of dill! This will be an adventure.

What are you putting garlic in? My second favorite use is freshly chopped in spaghetti sauce.

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