“And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlick, for we are to utter sweet breath” Bottom, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act IV, scene II
Originating somewhere in central Asia garlic, like many other members of its odiferous onion relations, must have been easily recognized and relished by primitive humans. Ever since, Allium sativum has been both celebrated and cursed for its pervasive effluvia.
In North America, perhaps only the pumpkin shares the same number of annual festivals. No one appears to know the origin of National Garlic Day, 19 April or why that particular date was chosen – most festivals run from July to September.
The ‘Stinking Rose’ has long embedded itself in use and lore. Mohammedan legend has it that when Satan was driven out of the Garden of Eden after the fall of man, garlic sprang up from the spot where he placed his left foot and onions where his right foot touched. Garlic features in recipes on Babylonian clay tablets dating from 1700-1600 B.C.
Greek historian Herodotus, viewing the Great Pyramid of Giza was told that 16,000 talents (960,000-pounds) of silver were spent on onions, radishes and garlic to feed the labourers who took 20 years to build it, which he duly recorded. Herodotus, however, was inclined to believe anything. Fellow countryman Hippocrates about 400 B.C. recognized the medicinal value. And around 100 A.D. another Greek, the physician. Dioscorides recommended it as a cure for hemorrhoids and as a diuretic.
Despised by upper class Romans, garlic was taken if not to heart then to stomach by their menials and military. Believed to encourage valour, garlic went with the legions as they waged war across Europe. Garlic was dedicated to Mars, god of war. If they needed further encouragement, Pliny the Elder recommended garlic with coriander and wine as an aphrodisiac.
Jewish prophet Ezra was apparently of the same mind. In the Talmud (500 A.D.) he directs garlic for husbands every Friday to fulfill their martial obligations. What their wives thought is unrecorded. “Eat not garlic or onions, lest they find out thy boorish origin by the smell,” Sancho Panza was warned by Don Quixote. In more modern times the distinctive smell as been attributed to the chemical diallyl disulfide.
Did this directly cause the city of Chicago to be so-named? It is a highly contentious point, despite the indefatigable Rebecca Rupp’s assertion that it resulted from a plentitude of wild garlic, Allium canadense, so known to the native peoples as Cicaga-Wunj, ‘Place of Wild Garlic.’ Elsewhere, academics instead have held it to mean shikako or “skunk place” and alternatively shikaakaw, “stinky onion.”
Left on its own, Allium sativum is a hardy perennial, producing several ‘cloves’ within a whitish skin. Although garlic can be raised from seed, individual cloves are commonly employed. Available in early spring, they require a sunny location in fertile, sandy soil. Plant eight-inches apart in rows a foot wide; weed control and irrigation are critical. It takes about six months before harvest. Two kinds are commonly grown. The hard stalk A. s. ssp. ophioscorodon has 6-11 cloves around a central solid stalk, while the soft stalk A. s. sativum produces a more impressive up to 24 cloves around a soft middle stem.
At least 60 medical uses claimed, some with possible scientific backing; originated in ancient Egypt as a sovereign remedy; antiseptic, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, colds, worms, ringworm, athlete’s foot, jock itch, enlarged prostate. However, since garlic is a potent blood thinner; persons on such pharmaceuticals should proceed with caution or eschew the ‘stinking rose’ altogether.
Garlic is, of course, famous in Balkan mythology for its ability to afford protection against the demonic forces of witches, warlocks and sorcerers in general. In literature, Bram Stoker was the first to use garlic as a repellent for vampires in his classic novel Dracula. This placed Romania as out for the Count, something the country gleefully embraces today for the lucrative attraction of tourists. Nevertheless the use of garlic to repel evil is known from as far away as China, Malaysia and the Philippines. Unlike northwestern Europe few from these far stretched locales suffers from alliumphobia, a fear of garlic along with onions and leeks.
In all eventualities though, it is a proven fact that no gardener who grew garlic has ever been attacked by a vampire.
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.
