I love garlic bread… or what I really love is loads of salty butter and garlic melted into the bread. Now we’ve gone from having a healthy clove of garlic to not so healthy garlic bread! Hmmm sometimes we can’t win can we!!

Whole garlic contains a compound called alliin and when a clove is crushed this compound, with the help of an enzyme, turns into allicin – and it is this that gives garlic its health-promoting properties; including helping to boost the disease-fighting response of some types of white blood cells when they come across viruses, such as the those that cause the cold or flu.

In order to let the enzyme set to work on your garlic clove and benefit from the allicin…

you need to crush or cut the cloves and leave them for 5-10 minutes before using.

So before you start preparing everything else, chop your garlic first so it does ‘its thing’ whilst you chop or prep the rest of the ingredients.

The suggested amount to help with your cold is 3 cloves a day… so maybe eating one with each meal?

Not sure I like the idea of garlic in the morning even added to my omelette.

But I would be happy to use one at lunch time and two for dinner in a soup.

Other ideas:
Add crushed garlic to your meat or veg base for a lasagne or bolognaise.
Making your own sauces you can add garlic – a lovely tomato sauce?
I often make garlic scrambled eggs…a quick and easy meal especially if you add some spinach or eat it ona bed of spinach.

So what do use garlic in?