Photograph courtesy of Cookie Curci-Wright
Potent Pies: Mom and grandma making pizza with plenty of garlic. Grandma was always busy in the kitchen whipping up another garlic recipe.
Remember When
From heartache to hunger, my grandma had the cure
Grandma could heal just about everything with a little garlic
By Cookie Curci-Wright
According to the dictionary, garlic is simply "a plant related to the onion; strong in flavor." But to my Grandma and her family the flavor and benefits of the garlic bulb are much, much more.
Most backyard gardeners are well aware of this bulbous perennial's reputation and its many attributes. They also know this fragrant plant has one of our garden's prettiest blooms. A relative of the lily, its huge ball-like blossoms are fused with hundreds of tiny lavender blooms that--like their bulbs--are rich in sugar and almost as pungent. With little attention, this aromatic bulb returns year after year.
Ancient Romans believed strongly in the power and value of garlic, attributing more than 60 different medical cures to its benefits. They believed eating of garlic made workers strong and soldiers brave.
Medieval ladies believed in the power of garlic so much that they ate it to make the skin more beautiful and smooth. Through the ages, people have used garlic to treat toothaches, sore throats and earaches, and even to ward off snakes, witches and vampires.
After years of watching my Italian grandma grow and harvest her garlic cloves, I'm not surprised to learn that garlic was held in such high esteem by the citizens of ancient Rome. I grew up in a family that used garlic both as a seasoning and as a medicinal cure for just about everything.
I remember an old recipe grandma concocted for us every time we had a bad cough or cold. An onion was sliced into a pot of water a large spoonful of sugar and honey measured into the pot, and--here's the important part--a handful of garlic thrown in.
It was boiled on the stove until it formed a syrup. It took some doing to convince me to swallow this stuff, especially during the flu season when Grandma insisted on giving us a big spoonful of this mixture before we left for school in the morning.
We didn't catch cold that year, possibly because our breath was so strong no one dared get close enough to pass on a germ. But we all stayed hardy and healthy.
(Hint: parsley is a good remedy for garlic breath. Also, rubbing your fingertips over stainless steel or rubbing fresh coffee between your fingertips will help remove garlic's lingering odor.)
The founders of modern medicine, Hippocrates and Galen, spoke highly of garlic's attributes, but it's only recently that modern medicine is rediscovering the curative powers of this plant. Researchers are finding that garlic contains allyl, an antibacterial agent that seems to affect harmful bacteria. Because of its curative powers, many people use garlic to treat the cold virus, diarrhea and poor blood clotting and to lower blood pressure.
As a kid, walking home from school, I could detect the aroma of garlic coming from Grandma's bubbling saucepan halfway down the street. And when I opened the kitchen door, the overwhelming aroma surrounded me like a warm hug. There are a lot of things that link me to my past, but few rekindle memories as quickly as the smell of garlic sizzling in a frying pan. To this day, whenever I smell the aroma of freshly diced garlic, I'm reminded of grandma and her warm, cozy kitchen. It was there that her wonderful recipes all began with the dicing of her fresh garden garlic.
Garlic's aromas and flavors are almost medicinal to me, satisfying both my biological and psychological needs. It never mattered what time of day or night I visited my grandma's house, she'd fly to the stove, pour olive oil in a pan, toss in a couple of garlic gloves and the preparation of a favorite dish was under way.
I remember how I'd sit for hours with grandma in her warm kitchen, eating and talking, and pouring out life's little trials and tribulations to her. Grandma's cooking served as a cure for everything from my hunger to heartache.
Here are a few of her secrets:
Grandma's Garden Remedies
SAGE GARGLE: To soothe a sore throat, grandma steeped three or four dried sage leaves in a cup of hot water for about 10 minutes. While the tea is still warm, use as a gargle to treat canker sores add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon to the tea. A 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water also makes an excellent throat gargle.
BASIL TEA: Grandma brewed a soothing beneficial tea from her basil leaves. Like Hippocrates, she believed sage and chamomile were among the universal remedies. To relax a nervous stomach, grandma added a teaspoon of dried basil leaves to a cup of boiling water and stepped for 10 minutes to extract all the flavor. It worked like magic on my childhood bellyaches.
GRANDMA'S COUGH REMEDY: To treat a persistent nighttime cough, grandma set two cups of water on to boil and added two lemons, sliced, 1/2 teaspoon of dried ginger or mint, and two tablespoons each of honey and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, When the ingredients have melded into a thick syrup add an ounce of your favorite brandy or liqueur.
GRANDMA'S BREATH FRESHENER: Grandma loved to use parsley in her cooking and as a garnish on her dishes. But as a breath freshener it was her favorite: Bring two cups of water to a boil, add three sprigs of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Strain and use as a mouth wash.
GRANDMA'S WINE GARGLE: Grandma often employed the benefits of papa's homemade red wine to good use as a medicinal cure. It was administered in moderation as a remedy for arthritis , to purify the blood, cure anemia, alleviate stomach cramps, menstrual discomforts, and to prevent infection. During World War II, when cases of trench mouth and whooping cough had reached epidemic proportions in the United States, grandma insisted we gargle with the rich red wine as a preventive mouthwash. It must have worked, none of us ever contracted either disease. We did, however, develop a liking, in later years, for Chianti, cabernet sauvignon and merlot.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
