Rest Cut Garlic Before Cooking

A simple and very effective way to boost your health!

Like many cooks, you likely peel then chop, mince or crush your garlic and cook it right away. By doing this you are missing out on a very healthy nutritional benefit.

Go ahead and peel, chop, mince or crush your garlic, but before you put it in your pan, let it rest for 10-15 minutes. This allows the health promoting component ‘allicin’ in the cut garlic to activate.

Fresh garlic contains an amino acid protein called ‘alliin’. When the garlic clove is chopped, minced or crushed, a heat sensitive enzyme, ‘alliinase’, is released. Cooking cut garlic before alliinase is released stops the nutritional magic from happening. Together alliin + alliinase form allicin, which is an antioxidant, an antibiotic and has been found to reduce inflammation. Studies have shown that allicin can help promote a healthy heart by lowering bad cholesterol and the antioxidants in garlic may help protect against dementia.

As you can see, it’s a good habit to get into – cut the garlic called for in your recipe and let it sit 10 minutes before using it in your cooking. After the 10 minutes, the allicin is formed and will maintain its nutritional benefits when heated as you cook. You can also cut garlic, let it sit, then put it in olive oil (if your recipe calls for oil) and let it sit longer to infuse the healthy oil with the garlic essence. Such a simple and very effective way to boost your health!