The Stinking Rose

I’m reading a book about vampires. It’s not my usual fare but it caught my eye one day at the library and made its way home with me. Not having read much in this genre, I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, I wasn’t surprised when garlic was introduced in the first chapter.
The main character of the book grows garlic in his home, which has become a fortress against the vampires. He has to harvest, peel and chop lots of garlic to keep the fiends from invading his house and he can no longer stand the smell.
I couldn’t relate.
Garlic is a staple food in our house. We have a five foot long braid of it hanging by the fridge and we’ll be lucky if it lasts until next year’s crop is ready. It goes in almost everything we cook. Garlic adds delicious, savory, meaty flavors to food that would be sorely missed. I even like the smell of my fingers after chopping lots of cloves.
Ironically, the smell and bite of the “stinking rose” probably evolved to keep me away (or at least my distant ancestors and the bugs and birds around at that time). Garlic and its allium relatives (onion, leek, chive, and shallot to name a few) developed an amazing defense system. The plant takes up sulfur from the soil and stores it in its cell fluid. The cell walls contain enzymes that, when combined with the sulfur, produce sulfurous molecules with a bitter smell and taste. In an untouched state, there is no smell, but as soon as you chop, mash, chew or otherwise damage the cell wall and allow the sulfur and enzymes to mix, look out! Garlic is the king of producing these sulfurous compounds; it makes about a hundred times more than any of its cousins.
No one is sure when we overcame garlic’s defenses and started to enjoy both the smell and taste of these bitter compounds but it was at least as far back as the building of the pyramids. Since then, there are very few cultures who didn’t embrace this vegetable. Italy, Korea, China, and my kitchen would be lost without it. Aioli, kim chi, skordalia, bruschetta are a few dishes that wouldn’t exist without garlic.
Garlic’s versatility makes it indispensable. Depending on how you cook it, at what temperature and in what medium, you’ll get different flavor compounds. Slow cooking over low heat in butter will give you sweet, almost caramel flavors. Blanching will take away the hotness and leave you with just a hint of pungency and a bit of a nutty note. Cook it on high heat in oil and you’ll keep those bitter flavors and most of the bite.
The variety of garlic also affects the taste. It’s hard to find more than one kind of garlic in the grocery store (and those have been bred for long storage and high yield, not for flavor) but during the summer, you can collect garlic from different farmers and see which varieties you enjoy the most.
Both soft neck and hard neck varieties grow in this area. It’s good to know what type you’re getting. Hard neck garlic doesn’t store well but they have big juicy flavorful cloves and produce garlic scapes (my favorite early summer treat from the market). Soft necks will last all winter and can be braided into beautiful plaits that hang on your wall and give you easy access to locally grown garlic even as the snow falls.
Garlic not only tastes good but may be good for you. Research is being done on garlic’s effect on cholesterol and blood sugar, and on its antibiotic and antifungal properties. Someone even did a study that found adding fresh garlic to mouthwash had an antimicrobial effect; it just didn’t do much for the participants’ breath.
And it is the fear of bad breath that keeps some people from eating this noble bulb. It is not an ungrounded fear since eating garlic can give you a bad case of halitosis. Eating salad, parsley, or an apple after indulging can help with the immediate bad breath. However, as garlic passes through your digestive system, another sulfurous compound is produced that is then expelled from the body through sweat, saliva, dandruff and even earwax. My cure for this is to hang out with other garlic eaters. They’ll never notice.
As I was writing this article, I kept getting phantom whiffs of garlic. It seemed that just writing about it was enough to invoke its delectable smell in my brain. It was making me hungry and I began fantasizing about roasting garlic (my most favorite way to cook garlic) for dinner. When I got up from my desk and went to the kitchen, I realized it wasn’t a fantasy but the emanations from the loaf of garlic parmesan bread sitting on the counter. I made some toast and started peeling cloves for dinner.

Vicki Reich gave into garlic breath years ago and only occasionally gives in and has a mint. It’s a rare night when garlic is not consumed at her house in Sagle, ID and it’s even rarer that she gets a cold. She can be reached at wordomouth@yahoo.com.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Serves 4

2 heads garlic, split into cloves and peeled
5 T olive oil
2 T+ 3 T butter, divided
1 t sugar
4 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut into quarters, peeling is optional
¾ c milk, warmed
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In an oven-proof pan, melt oil, 2 T butter and sugar. Add garlic and toss to coat. Place pan in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until garlic is soft as lightly browned. Set aside.
Meanwhile place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until a fork pierces them easily, about 25 minutes.
When the potatoes are done, drain them and return them to the pot. Add the garlic and any juices in the pan and mash the potatoes and garlic thoroughly. Turn the heat on very low and add the butter. Slowly stir in the milk. Mix well until creamy and the butter is melted. Serve immediately.