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Garlic for all seasons
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Garlic or `Allium sativum' is believed to have medicinal properties
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NATURE CURE Garlic is regarded as an antiseptic
Apart from onion, garlic is the most widely used among cultivated Alliums, originated in the eastern Mediterranean region. The ancient Egyptians used it as part of the daily diet of labourers who constructed the pyramids of the Pharoahs. It has long been grown in India, China, Italy and America.
Garlic resembles onion except that it has flattened solid leaf-blades and produces composite or compound bulb consisting of several, small, densely crowded angular bulb-lets or `cloves' enclosed within the white or pinkish white `skin' of the parental bulb. Each clove is derived from an axillary bud of the younger foliage leaf and consists of a protective cylindrical sheath, a single thickened storage leaf and a small central bud. The leafless flowering stalk is smooth, round, solid and is at first coiled.
The young flower head is white, protected by a beaked papery spathe, which is soon shed. Garlic is propagated entirely from cloves and is planted in rows. Garlic bulbs develop entirely underground and the crop matures in about four to five months.
Garlic is generally regarded as a flavouring agent rather than as a vegetable.
It is used largely for flavouring soups, stews, pickles and salads. Dehydrated garlic in a pulverised or granular state is used in many countries. Garlic has a pharmaceutical value as an antiseptic and bactericide.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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