Garlic: Don't freeze, please...

[Guest guest]

That's a good question...!

 

I think it just might. Freezing not only affects the water content of

things, it breaks down cell walls. Garlic's active principle, allicin,

is formed only when two different substances that reside

separately in the garlic clove are combined by mechanical

means. So...I think if the garlic were frozen they might combine

accidentally while in the freezer, and it's my impression that

allicin is not all that stable. So no, I would not freeze it.

 

I have a story to tell: About 17 years ago I dated an organic

chemist from Yugoslavia. He was a very brilliant man, and he

was also very altruistic. As you know folk and herbal medicine is

very much respected in Europe. He had become interested in

the beneficial effects of garlic, and he did experiments with it at

his own expense. He found that allicin, the active principle, was a

potent antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial agent, but that it was

destroyed by any form of processing besides cutting and

chewing, and absolutely inactivated by heat. I don't know if he

published his own data but of course subsequent studies were

done that corroborated these conclusions. So...I wouldn't freeze

or heat the garlic, and of course taking any kind of garlic pill, oil

or otherwise, is useless as far as having an antibiotic effect.

 

As far as " keeping " garlic, why freeze it? I keep mine in the fridge

and it keeps just fine. If I leave it out in the open it either dries out

or sprouts. I guess this is why you wanted to freeze it, but I don't

think it's the best idea in the world.

 

Fran

 

................................

 

-- In herbal remedies , Penny Vincent

<vincent5180> wrote:

> Does it hurt the medicinal quality of garlic to freeze it?

>

>

 

>

> Send Flowers for Valentine's Day

>