Garlic is one of my favorite culinary herbs. Yet strangely, I had never seen a whole garlic plant prior to last week and never knew much about its origins.

It turns out that garlic is one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops. It was worshipped as a god by the Egyptians, used to pay and feed slaves building the pyramids, prescribed as medicine in China and given to ward off the evil eye in medieval Europe.

Garlic is an allium vegetable, related to onions, leeks, chives, scallions and shallots. It is high in a variety of sulfur compounds that play a role in cellular detoxification, joint health and cardiovascular functioning. It also has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties.