What is garlic?
A: Garlic is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus Allium.
Its close relatives include what?
A: The onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion.
It is native to where?
A: South Asia, Central Asia and northeastern Iran and has long been used as
a seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human
consumption and use.
China produces how much of the world's supply of
garlic?
A: 76%.
Allium sativum is a perennial flowering plant growing
from a what?
A: A bulb.
It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to
how tall?
A: 1 m (3 ft).
The leaf blade is flat, linear, solid, and
approximately how wide?
A: 1.25–2.5 cm (0.5–1.0 in) wide with an acute apex.
The plant may produce what color flowers from July to
September in the Northern Hemisphere?
A: Pink to purple flowers.
The bulb is odoriferous and contains outer layers of
thin sheathing leaves surrounding an inner sheath that encloses what?
A: The clove.
Often the bulb contains how many cloves?
A: 10 to 20.
The cloves are asymmetric in shape, except for those
where?
A: Closest to the center.
If garlic is planted at the proper time and depth, it
can be grown how far north?
A: As far north as Alaska.
What is it pollinated by?
A: Bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects.
So-called elephant garlic is actually what?
A: A wild leek (Allium ampeloprasum), and not a true garlic.
Single clove garlic (also called pearl or solo garlic)
originated where?
A: In the Yunnan province of China.
Garlic is easy to grow and can be grown year-round in
what kind of climates?
A: Mild.
While sexual propagation of garlic is possible, nearly
all of the garlic in cultivation is propagated asexually, by doing what?
A: Planting individual cloves in the ground.
Garlic does well in what type of soil?
A: Loose, dry, well-drained soils in sunny locations, and is hardy
throughout USDA climate zones 4–9.
Garlic plants are usually hardy and not affected by
many what?
A: Pests or diseases.
Garlic plants are said to repel what?
A: Rabbits and moles.
The phytochemicals responsible for the sharp flavor of
garlic are produced when the plant's cells are what?
A: damaged.
When a cell is broken by chopping, chewing, or
crushing, enzymes stored in cell vacuoles trigger the breakdown of what?
A: Several sulfur-containing compounds stored in the cell fluids (cytosol).
The resultant compounds are responsible for what?
A: The sharp or hot taste and strong smell of garlic.
Among alliums, garlic has by far the highest
concentrations of initial reaction products, making garlic what?
A: Much more potent than onion, shallot, or leeks.
Although many humans enjoy the taste of garlic, these
compounds are believed to have evolved as a what?
A: A defensive mechanism, deterring
animals such as birds, insects, and
worms from eating the plant.
Because of its strong odor, garlic is sometimes called
what?
A: The "stinking rose".
When eaten in quantity, garlic may be strongly evident
in the diner's what?
A: Sweat and garlic breath the following day.
This is because garlic's strong-smelling sulfur
compounds are metabolized, forming what?
A: Allyl methyl sulfide.
Allyl methyl sulfide (AMS) cannot be what?
A: Digested and is passed into the blood.
The blood carries it where?
A: To the lungs and the skin, where it is excreted.
The well-known phenomenon of "garlic breath" is
allegedly alleviated by eating what?
A: Fresh parsley.
Abundant sulfur compounds in garlic are also
responsible for turning garlic green or blue during what?
A: Pickling and cooking.
Numerous cuneiform records show that garlic has been
cultivated in Mesopotamia for how long?
A: At least 4,000 years.
Well-preserved garlic was found in what tomb?
A: The tomb of Tutankhamun (c. 1325 BC).