Garlic: More than just for warding off Dracula

We have all heard the stories and legends of how garlic was widely used in the dark ages to ward off vampires and even the plague. But, have you ever wondered why? I sure did! I did not really understand why that might be true until a school trip to Thailand caused me to have my epiphany (as well as having teachers explain it) as to why garlic was used and not some other herb. We were given garlic pills one day on our way up to farm lands. The reason was because they would ward off any mosquitos from trying to suck out blood. The pill would make our blood smell undesirable to the mosquitos therefore they would leave us alone and fly off to find some sweet blood. It hit me that that was why garlic was used to ward off vampires! But what about the plague? How did that work? After all viruses don't really have sensory organs to detect smells. I did not learn the reason until much later, in fact I learned it quite recently!
          Garlic is a natural anti-septic and a great cleaner for your blood, hence they would use it during the black plague to keep their blood clean, much like how we wash our hands a lot when we are sick. However the best and most important reason why garlic is so good for not just warding off mosquitos and keeping the black plague at bay is that it is GREAT for your heart. Studies have shown that garlic helps to lower cholesterol and helps in reducing chances of heart disease, heart attacks as well as strokes. So with February being American Heart Month we are giving you a weeks worth of garlic oriented recipes that can be used year round! We hope you enjoy them!
Now here is a picture of us cutting up some garlic!