My Unexpected Guide; learning from cancer: Garlic

Tuesday, 30 March 2021

Garlic - and a Wild Garlic Pesto

Yay! It is wild garlic time - some might know it as 'bear's garlic’, ‘field garlic’ and 'stinking Jenny'. It sure does give off a pungent smell. I am very fortunate to live near woods so every year it is one of those things we forage lots.

So why here in this cancer blog? Well I just I wanted to celebrate this wonderful gift of nature. That is more than enough and I’m sure it has loads of health giving properties..I am guessing that the research hasn’t been done in any meaningful way but my gut tells me it is good! Having said that there is a fair bit of research about the positive impact of ordinary garlic and in particular one of its key compounds, an amino acid called allicin(i).

Indeed there are several claims that cancer can play a very significant role in cancer treatment. Chris Wark of ‘Chris Beat Cancer, for example has the lemon and garlic recipe on his website (ii). There is an in vivo 2017 study (iii) and an extraordinary study by Dr Wamidh Talib with mice showing garlic and lemon can tackle cancer. Chris Warks site covers the recipe details - not something I’ve tried. Would love to hear from folks that have.

Some struggle with the idea of lots of raw garlic and resort to supplements. This maybe good but there is some evidence that many don’t have the impact we would perhaps want and are much less effective than the cloves (iv). However some companies like Allicin Max have research to support their use and are also being used in medical trials.

It’s worth mentioning that I with garlic cloves you are meant to wait 10 minutes or more after you have crushed them before you use them raw or in cooking. This time is needed to release the enzyme that produces the anti-fungal and anti-cancer compounds.

Anyway to the recipe for pesto; well actually I’ve not really got exact measurements as have done it by feel and taste. You can see below - there are also lots of recipes online and wonderful other uses for the wild garlic.

Recipe

• 2 big handful of wild garlic (it is the leaves we eat raw or cooked - not the bulbs)

• 50gm Pinenuts (or some have used hazelnuts)

• a great dollop of cold-pressed olive oil

• yeast flakes to flavour (and great instead of cheese for those on non-dairy)

• squeeze of whole lemon juice

Blend all ingredients together until you reach a rough, pesto-like consistency then transfer to a clean jar and cover the top of the pesto with a layer of oil to help keep it fresh. The pesto will store for a week or so but ours usually gets eaten within days. This week we had it with spirulised butternut squash and big salad. I thought a spiruliser would be one of those gadgets we would never use but it is fantastic; love spaghetti made from courgettes!

Enjoy!