SNOW MOUNTAIN GARLIC

Nature has provided Kashmiri Garlic with a hard shell to keep the bud’s therapeutic value intact. One must crack open this shell in order to obtain the protected garlic bud.

“Garlic is a bulbous plant, the growth of which is similar to that of the onion (Allium cepa). The garlic bulb is a compound and consists of several small white or purplish bulbs, known as ‘cloves’ or ‘kernels’, enclosed in a whitish or purplish membranous bag. It is propagated by planting the cloves.” .

There are basic differences between the garlic plant and the onion. In garlic, the foliage leaf-bases never store food as do those of the onion.. The sole food storage organizes of the garlic bulb are the auxiliary buds or cloves of the foliage leaves. At maturity, the main stem of a garlic bulb and the roots and leaves attached to it die. Only the cloves remain to grow another season. The garlic clove consists of two mature leaves and a vegetative bid. The outer-most protective leaf forms a sheath around the whole clove, and has a surface layer of tough fibers. This sheath becomes thin, dry and dead at maturity. Within the protective leaf is a single storage leaf, a thickened sheath that accounts for almost the entire bulk of the clove. Within, and at the base of this storage leaf, are several very small leaves that form the bud of the next year’s growth.

Garlic clones are extremely variable and many strikingly distinct ones are in cultivation. None are currently know to produce seed. If very small clovers are planted, or if growing conditions are poor, a single small solid clove usually called a “round” is produced. If one of these is planted under favorable conditions, it results in the usual composite bulb.

A distinctive feature of garlic is it odor. Organic sulphur compounds are responsible. These compounds also provide potent antibacterial properties. Allicin is the antibacterial substance of garlic and has the typical odor of fresh garlic.

Garlic is a natural product containing Potassium, Phosphorous, some of the B Group Vitamins, Vitamin C & protein. Garlic has been used for centuries as a natural blood cleanser & detoxifier. The Soviets called it “Russian Penicillin” -whereas in most other countries, it has been ignored for years. Many medical authorities feel that it reduces high blood pressure by neutralizing the poisons in the intestines or by acting as a vasodilator. Tests done by the University of Vienna found that 40% of their hypertensive patients had substantially lower blood pressure after they were given garlic.