In the kitchen, especially in Mediterranean countries, garlic is one of the plants with virtues recognized for millennia . Garlic (Allium sativum) contains, in addition to essential oil, trace elements and mineral salts, vitamins A, B1, B2, PP and C. It is a powerful natural bactericide, expectorant, antiseptic and excellent hypotensive. It stimulates the heart, facilitates blood circulation and purification and is also a powerful wormer.

It has been ascertained that the fresh garlic juice exerts an antiseptic action that fights numerous pathogenic germs. In this regard, this property proved extremely useful during the First World War, when the doctors of the British, French and Russian armies treated the wounds of the soldiers with garlic juice, while during the Second World War it was particularly used by doctors of the Red Army, and for this reason it was called "the Russian penicillin".

In Sicily garlic was used pesto with oil and vinegar placing it on the navel to heal from the intestinal worms. Also in Sicily, it was also used to treat the disease called purpu (octopus of the eyes) with the following spell: one touched the head of the purpu with a clove of garlic with which three crosses were made reciting prayers to Saint Lucia. In Sicily a particular variety of garlic is also grown, the red garlic of Nubia, very rich in allicin. But no one loved garlic as the Egyptians did.

Discover the properties and use of the homeopathic remedy Allium Sativum

The value they attributed to him was in fact such that less than seven kilograms were enough to buy a young slave. It is even said that during the construction of a pyramid, having lost this precious plant, the slaves would have given birth to the first "strike" never documented, convinced as they were that it increased physical endurance.

Among Greeks and Romans it was the usual food of athletes and soldiers, since it was believed to develop strength and aggression. But it was especially during the Middle Ages that popular superstition gave garlic the virtue of protecting from the evil eye, from the bite of vampires and from those diseases caused by evil spirits (ie mental disorders).