Garlic Is Indeed A Tuber, But Should It Be In A Tube?

Garlic in a tube? As little as a year ago you never would have convinced me to cook with this Gourmet Garden Garlic Spice Blend.

Now, y’all, I love to cook with garlic (and I love eating garlic even better). I get that from my Daddy’s side of the family. My Mamaw claimed that garlic would “clean out your system.” I’m not quite sure what she meant by that, but I’m all for eating something that is “medicinal” and tastes delicious at the same time.

In folk medicine, garlic has been praised for all kinds of cures for centuries. It supposedly could cure the common cold … or even the plague, so if you are worried about swine flu, I suspect you should eat a lot of garlic. Some folks said it would cure acne (and I’ll tell you that no one in my family ever had it). Modern researchers have discovered that garlic has benefits as a natural anti-inflammatory, anti=fungal, anti=viral, anti-oxidant. Eating it will lower your cholesterol, aid blood circulation, and even help repel mosquitoes!

Garlic seems to be “against” everything. Why, as you well know from watching television all these years, garlic is also anti-vampiral! I guess you have to wear garlic around your neck to keep the vampires away, but that would also drive away all humans. It’s probably better to eat it, instead. Garlic breath is a pretty good repellent, too. It’s how I keep the first row of the kindergarten audiences at bay.

I’ve always enjoyed cooking with fresh garlic (sometimes grown in my own garden), and mincing the cloves with the garlic mincer that belonged to my Mamaw. Using it brings back memories of the delicious meals she once cooked, and of that delightful woman. However, garlic makes my hands stink for days after.

[Note: You now have an urge to tell me of a sure fire way to get rid of the garlic smell, don't you? Go ahead and share, but I can't use anything that is astringent on my dry hands. Just spelling the word "astringent" makes my hands start to crack. CrrrrrrACK! See there?]

Although I had seen that tube of garlic in the Kroger produce section, I never fell for it until a few days ago. The craving for a pot roast that was flavored with garlic was upon me, but I was also feeling lazy. I just wanted to be able to cook something with no fuss. I already use Gourmet Garden’s Ginger to make stir fries for my husband (and have found it to be delicious), so I decided that I would give the garlic a whirl.

I marinated my roast in olive oil, the garlic blend, and a bit of cracked pepper before I cooked it. OH. MY. THUNDER! I took one bite of that roast and started moaning like Meg Ryan’s character when she was sitting in Katz’s deli in the movie When Harry Met Sally. My husband said, “I’ll have what she’s having!” He moaned, too and we were not faking it!

Maybe y’all have found another garlic blend that is good? Nobody is paying me for this, so I’m not sold on that brand. I am sold on enjoying the taste of garlic without having the smell on my hands, though. And, since no one else is going to do the cooking around here, I’ll keep a tube of garlic in the refrigerator.

Related posts:

1. Devilishly Delicious Eggs
2. Only The Good Friday: Mmm MMM Good Tomato Soup
3. Feeling My Oats
4. An Ode to the “Nectar of the Gods”
5. Don’t Tell My Husband!

Tagged as: cooking, cooking simplified, humor