Black garlic is all over the internet. Here’s what you need to know about it

We’ve all heard about garlic but may not have come across black garlic as yet! Well, after you get to know its health benefits, you might want to include it in your diet.

With all those health benefits, black garlic is the herb that you need to include in your diet! Image Courtesy: Shutterstock

Team Health Shots Updated: 10 May 2021, 12:18 pm IST

Garlic is one of the most common herbs used in cooking across the globe. But how many of you have come across black garlic? As bizarre as it sounds, it holds a plethora of health benefits that make it an almost necessary addition to our diet.

Black garlic is essentially your normal garlic that has been fermented at a high temperature under intense humidity. The fermentation process turns garlic cloves dark and gives them a sweet taste. It also alters their consistency to chewy and jelly-like.

According to the Journal of Food and Drug Analysis, compared with its fresh counterpart, black garlic does not release a strong offensive flavor owing to the reduced content of allicin.

So, what can black garlic do for your health?
Garlic is considered to be healthy because of its anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities.

Black garlic has some extremely positive effects on memory and nerve system. Further, it improves your cognitive impairment and helps prevent neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity. Moreover, it is also helpful when it comes to keeping your liver healthy.

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The level of S-allyl cysteine (SAC) in black garlic is higher as compared to its fresh counterpart. This helps you stay protected against oxidative stress and inflammation.

We’re not the only ones saying that black garlic is the healthy herb you need, science backs us up. As per a study published in IntechOpen, exercising and consuming black garlic can help decrease visceral fat, epididymal fat, and liver weight.

There are some very concrete, long-term benefits for your health if you include black garlic in your diet on a regular basis. Here are some of them:

1. It improves heart function
Black garlic improves blood circulation, cardiac function, and reduces heart failure diagnoses. As per a review published in Frontiers in Physiology, researchers have found that black garlic may also protect you against diabetes.

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Black garlic contains about five times more polyphenols as compared to its counterpart, fresh garlic, which makes it more effective at protecting your heart from free radical damage.

2. It sharpens your brain
High antioxidant levels in black garlic may help improve brain health and keep your memory sharp. Antioxidants reduce free radical damage and oxidative stress that may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

The anti-inflammatory properties of the herb may protect against cognitive decline.

3. It can prevent cancer
Black garlic may help reduce the growth of colon cancer cells and leukemia cells. The antioxidant compounds in the herb make them one of the best cancer-fighting foods.

As per a study published in the journal Biomedical Reports, aged black garlic extract may be effective in the prevention and treatment of colon cancer in humans.

How to make black garlic at home?
One can make black garlic at home without much hassle. All you need to do is to keep fresh garlic at a temperature of 60 degrees celsius for about two to three weeks.

Add a few bulbs of garlic in a rice cooker and set the temperature option to warm. After two days, open it to let excess moisture release. Move the garlic around with the help of a spoon or ladle.

After letting it sit unattended for a couple of weeks, you will see each bulb starts getting peeled by itself. The garlic cloves turn completely black.

Once ready, it can be used in salads and delicacies while allowing people to reap the health benefits of black garlic!