10 Minute Garlic Tip
The 10 minute garlic tip (crushing, grating or chopping garlic 10 minutes before cooking) helps to retain more of the health benefits and delays the loss of active health benefits during cooking.
Once garlic is crushed, grated or chopped, the compound alliin and the enzyme alliinase combine to form allicin. Allicin is what is thought to be the anti-cancer agent in garlic and is more heat stable. This reaction takes up to 10 minutes. Dr. Greger explains in more detail in the Inhibiting Platelet Activation with Garlic & Onions video on his nutritionfacts.org website.
Recipes list the ingredients in the order that they get used. In dishes that call for garlic, crush, grate or chop the garlic first, and set aside while you continue with preparation of the other ingredients and recipe steps. In most dishes, it will be 10 minutes or more before it’s time to put the garlic in the pan. Since I learned about this 10 minute garlic tip, I have started using it in all my dishes and condiments that include garlic. The Springtime Fresh Garlic Soup is a great dish to try this out, since garlic is the star ingredient.
