So, it’s our job to do everything we can to protect ourselves and our loved ones from these annoying conditions.
People on the Internet are going crazy over a soup which can help fight off flu, colds, and even norovirus. It’s made of over fifty garlic cloves and a few other natural ingredients.
Garlic is said to be one of the most powerful natural ingredients when it comes to preventing and fighting viruses, thanks to its chemical compound called allicin.
One 2012 study from Washington State University claims that a compound found in garlic is a hundred times more powerful than two popular antibiotics when it comes to fighting intestinal illnesses.
The alliin in garlic turns into allicin when you crush the cloves. Researchers believe that this compound helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels, at the same time lowering the risk of blood clots.
This vegetable can help prevent hardening of the arteries, known as atherosclerosis. The compounds it contains can help destroy viruses and bacteria that cause colds, flu, and earaches. Other benefits of garlic include alleviating diarrhea and other digestive ailments.
People know it as an effective natural immune booster thanks to its antifungal and antibacterial properties, says the dietitian and spokeswoman for the BDA (British Dietetic Association), Helen Bond.
Although it’s still unclear what the best way to consume garlic is in order to get the maximum benefits, people are trying out different ways to include it in their diet.
According to the Cochrane Database, consuming more of this vegetable during winter can cut the duration of the symptoms of a cold for around a day.
Still, more research is needed to confirm this finding, but the big pharmaceutical companies are not quite interested in running expensive trials to confirm the power of garlic.
Still, no one can deny the numerous benefits of garlic, especially when it’s the cold and flu season. Here’s the recipe of the garlic soup that takes the Internet by storm.
How to Make Garlic Soup
Serves four
Ingredients
- 26 unpeeled and 26 peeled garlic cloves
- ½ a teaspoon cayenne powder
- 2 ¼ cups sliced onion
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed organic butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoon of fresh thyme (chopped)
- ½ cup raw ginger
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 4 lemon wedges
- 3 ½ cups organic veggie broth
Preparation
Put 26 cloves in a glass baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Use foil to cover the dish well and bake at preheated oven (350 F) for around 45 minutes. Once you see the cloves are tender and golden brown, take the dish out of the oven.
Let the garlic cool before squeezing it with your fingers, and place the cloves in a small bowl.
Place the butter in a heavy large saucepan and melt it over medium heat. Then, add the ginger, thyme, onions, and cayenne powder, and cook for around six minutes. Next, add the roasted and raw garlic cloves and cook for three minutes.
Pour the vegetable broth and simmer for twenty minutes, or until you notice the garlic is very tender. Then, puree everything in batches until you get a smooth soup. Transfer the soup to the saucepan together with the coconut milk, and bring to simmer.
Sprinkle some salt and pepper and the juice of a lemon wedge into each bowl before serving.
You can make this soup one day ahead and keep it in the refrigerator. When you want to eat it, rewarm it over medium heat and don’t forget to stir.
There are many other benefits of garlic we want to mention, like its ability to fight off bacteria and viruses, treat wounds, and boost the immune system. Russians even call it the Russian penicillin, and Louis Pasteur wrote that garlic successfully killed bacteria.
According to nutrition scientists at the University of Florida, garlic can help fight off viruses and boost the immune system by increasing the number of T-cells in the bloodstream.
University of California pharmacologists found that the active compound in garlic, allicin, helps kill infections. This compound can also help improve circulation, dilate blood vessels and cardiovascular problems like high cholesterol.
The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study which shows that consuming more garlic can help lower high blood pressure.
Brazilian dentists, on the other hand, discovered that if you gargle with garlic water you can kill the germs that are responsible for gum disease and tooth decay.
As we mentioned, the right way to consume garlic to obtain its benefits is still unclear as there are two assumptions.
One is that baking garlic cloves encourage the release of allicin-type chemicals, and the other that letting peeled garlic sit uncovered for 10-15 makes it produce the highest levels of infection-fighting compounds.
We can’t tell if the garlic soup is 100 percent effective in preventing and fighting colds, flu, and norovirus, but one thing is for sure – garlic contains virus-killing compounds, so it’s worth a try.
At least your garlic breath will keep everyone far out of the sneezing range, including those are infectious.
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