Herbs and Their Uncommon Uses

Ward Off Problems with 10 Garlic Uses

Garlic isn’t just for keeping away Dracula. In fact, the notion that garlic warded off vampires is centuries old and is connected to the fact that garlic is a natural remedy for cuts, mosquito bites, and coughs. Garlic can also be used for making glue, fishing, fighting infections and treating cuts and more.

Mosquito repellent

If you want to ward off all those blood-sucking vampires from knocking on your door this Halloween, garlic is the way to go! In fact, the notion that garlic wards off vampires might have come from the fact that garlic is a natural mosquito repellent.

It’s not clear exactly why mosquitoes don’t like garlic but it probably has something to do with the plant’s compounds being harmful. You can repel mosquitoes by either hanging garlic cloves around your deck or campsite or by applying garlic extract to your skin.

Garden pesticide

A lot of commercial pesticides can be harmful to the environment and dangerous to keep around your family. Garlic is a natural pesticide and is just as effective as many commercial options. Mince three garlic cloves and add them to a tablespoon of mineral oil and let them sit for 24 hours. Strain out the garlic and add the oil – along with a teaspoon of dish soap – to a pint of water and apply through a spray bottle to your plants.

Fish bait

If your town is running through a worm shortage, don’t fear! Just place a bunch of small marshmallows in a bowl of garlic powder or crushed garlic. Cover the bowl and allow to sit. When you go fishing, just apply the marshmallows to your hook and toss them in the water. The garlic will attract bass, trout and other kinds of fish.

Glue

Garlic can even be used as an adhesive. Crush garlic cloves. Apply the garlic juices to paper and hairline cracks in glass and it will act as an adhesive. Apply the sticky crushed garlic and it’s juices to the cracks and paper and wipe away the excess. Chinese people have been using this method for centuries.

Cough syrup

Garlic is so potent that it can help you suppress that cough and get rid of your sore throat. Boil a quarter pound of garlic cloves in a cup of water. Add honey and sugar for taste. You can also create a garlic tea by soaking a clove of garlic in a cup of water.

Did you know?

An item that wards off the living dead is called an Apotropaic. Garlic is a common example of an apotropaic for vampires.

Vampire folklore has been connected to rabies. Centuries ago, people would be bitten (sometimes by bats) and start to exhibit symptoms such as hypersensitivity to light and garlic. This would cause them to become nocturnal and eventually to have bloody froth at the mouth and at times, bite others. Little understanding of the disease began the folktales of vampires.

Deicer

In 2008, Ankeny, Iowa, must have smelled pretty potent when they used garlic salt to remove ice off the roads. The garlic salt, which was unfit for human consumption, was donated by a local spice producer.

Athlete’s foot

Garlic is also a natural antifungal! You can use it to combat athlete’s foot infections and cut back on the itching. Add a few cloves of garlic to a warm foot bath and soak your feet for 30 minutes.

Cuts and abrasions

You can use garlic to help treat cuts or abrasions. Gently wash the area of the wound with soapy, warm water and pat it dry with a clean cloth. Peel a garlic clove and bruise one side of it by slamming it on the table or an edge. Then gently apply the bruised area against your cut or abrasion for 5-10 minutes. Garlic contains allicin, which inhibits the growth of several kinds of bacteria and protects against infection. If the garlic stings, remove the garlic instantly.

Ear infections

For centuries, people have used garlic’s anti-bacterial qualities to fight infections – including ear infections. Now, don’t chop up a bunch of garlic cloves and jam them down your ear. Instead, crush garlic cloves with a press and place it in a teaspoon of hot olive oil for five minutes. Strain the garlic and allow the oil to cool. Carefully place a few drops of the remedy at a time down your ear canal. You can also purchase garlic oil made for this purpose.

Splinter removal

Splinters are painful to remove and many times you need a quick, easy solution to get the splinter out. Instead of waiting for the piece to remove itself, place a thin slice of garlic over the splinter and hold it in place with a bandage. The garlic will help the skin work the splinter out within a few hours.

Blood Thinner

Garlic is said to be blood thinner and reduces bad cholesterol . Swallow 3-5 garlic pearls each morning before breakfast. If the pearls are big, cut into small pieces. Myself and my wife are using every day soon after we wake up in the morning for the last several years. Do not chew but swallow it. Chewing it will leave a bad smell in mouth.

Sore Throat

For a sore throat. Place a small, peeled clove of garlic in each ear overnight, like ear plugs. The garlic fumes travel down thru the ear canal to your throat and by morning your throat feels just fine.

Intestinal Disorders

Garlic cured my intestinal disorder by restoring the good flora and killing the bad. Something medications only masked for short periods of time.

Flea & Worm Removal in Pets

Mix garlic powder in your dog’s food and fleas will remain at bay.

De-worming dogs. In the old days, unable to afford a veterinarian besides the lack of a vet in rural areas, my grandfather used garlic to worm his bird dogs. Crush a few cloves, wrap in some. Form of meat feed it to the dog. Within a day all the worms will be expelled.

Strength

During Roman times, soldiers chewed on garlic for strength.

Cancer

Garlic has also been shown to help fight cancer. In China, garlic was shown to reduce gastric cancer among men who ate garlic regularly. It has been shown to block the binding of carcinogenic cells to DNA in cells. It can also break down carcinogenic genes. Some people theorize this is done through garlic’s ability to regulate cell proliferation or cell growth. Garlic has also been shown to inhibit the growth of transplantable tumor cells, and also inhibit the cancer cells which occur spontaneously.

Heart Disease

Garlic can also help in the fight against heart disease. One part of garlic can help our arteries and veins dilate making it easier for blood to flow. Polysulfides found in garlic are broken down and produce a gas

- hydrogen sulfide - which helps vessels to open or dilate. Also, research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has proven garlic is effective at lowering total cholesterol, triglycerides, and increases HDL cholesterol.

Weight Loss

Garlic can help in weight loss! Another sulfur-containing cell in garlic can reduce inflammation in the body. 1,2-DT has been shown to reduce inflammation in the body. Cells in the body, called preadipocytes, can become fully developed and turn into fat cells (adipose tissue). This happens under specific conditions, usually when there is an increase in the inflammation response. This compound may inhibit the inflammation response, therefore limiting the preadipocytes from becoming fat cells.

Garlic Folklore

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/10/garlic_superstitions_folklore.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/superstitions-garlic-does-besides-813591.html?cat=7

http://news.healingwell.com/index.php?p=news1&id=609120

Asafoetida Bag

Asafoetida, a plant resin so foul-smelling that it is often known as devil's dung, has a millenniums-old history as a herbal remedy, being used for applications as diverse as preventing flatulence and inducing abortions. Slaves in the early years of the United States wore asafoetida bags around their necks to ward off croup, whooping cough, diphtheria and measles. During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, some people used it as a home remedy for the virus. New evidence suggests they may not have been that far off base.

Ferula assafoetida is a flowering plant native to the Mediterranean region. Although its odor is extremely bad in the raw state, when cooked it has a flavor reminiscent of fried onions and it is used as a spice in India and some other countries. It is now grown mainly in Iran, Afghanistan and China.

Ferula Assafoetida

1. Asafoetida reduces the growth of indigenous microflora in the gut, reducing flatulence2. In Indian Subcontinent, it is used as an antibiotic and it keeps small children healthy by

protecting them from diseases.3. Fighting influenza: Asafoetida was used in 1918 to fight the Spanish influenza pandemic. In 2009,

scientists at the Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan reported that the roots of Asafoetida produce natural antiviral drug compounds that kill the swine flu virus, H1N1. In an article published in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products, the researchers said the compounds "may serve as promising lead components for new drug development" against this type of flu.

4. In Thailand and India, it is used to aid digestion and is smeared on the abdomen in an alcohol or water tincture known as mahahing.

5. It is also said to be helpful in cases of asthma and bronchitis. A folk tradition remedy for children's colds: it is mixed into a pungent-smelling paste and hung in a bag around the afflicted child's neck.

6. Antimicrobial: Asafoetida has a broad range of uses in traditional medicine as an antimicrobial, with well documented uses for treating chronic bronchitis and whooping cough, as well as reducing flatulence.

7. Contraceptive/abortifacient: Asafoetida has also been reported to have contraceptive/abortifacient activity, and is related to (and considered an inferior substitute for) the ancient Ferula species Silphium.

8. Antiepileptic: Asafoetida oleo-gum-resin has been reported to be antiepileptic in classical Unani, as well as ethnobotanical literature.

9. Balancing the vata and kapha. In Ayurveda, asafoetida is considered to be one of the best spices for balancing the vata dosha. It mitigates vata and kapha, relieves flatulence and colic pain. It is pungent taste and at the end of digestion. It aggravates pitta, enhances appetite, taste and digestion. It is easy to digest.

10. In the Jammu region of India, asafoetida is used as a medicine for flatulence and constipation by 60% of locals.[15] It is used especially by the merchant caste of the Hindus and by adherents of Jainism and Vaishnavism, particularly in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, who do not eat onions or garlic. It is used in many vegetarian and lentil dishes to add both flavor and aroma, as well as to reduce flatulence.

11. Bait: John C Duval reported in 1936 that the odor of asafoetida is attractive to the wolf, a matter of common knowledge, he says, along the Texas/Mexico border. It is also used as one of several possible scent baits, most notably for catfish and pike.

12. May also be used as a moth (Lepidoptera) light trap attractant by collectors—when mixed by approximately 1\3 parts with a sweet, fruit jelly.

13. Repelling spirits: In Jamaica, asafoetida is traditionally applied to a baby's anterior fontanel (Jamaican patois mole) to prevent spirits (Jamaican patois duppies) from entering the baby through the fontanel. In the African-American Hoodoo tradition, asafoetida is used in magic spells, as it is believed to have the power both to protect and to curse.

14. In ceremonial magick, especially from The Key of Solomon the King, it is used to protect the magus from daemonic forces and to evoke the same and bind them.

15. It was familiar in the early Mediterranean, having come by land across Iran. Though it is generally forgotten now in Europe, it is still widely used in India (commonly known there as hing). It emerged into Europe from a conquering expedition of Alexander the Great, who, after returning from a trip to northeastern Persia, thought they had found a plant almost identical to the famed silphium of Cyrene in North Africa—though less tasty. Dioscorides, in the first century, wrote, "the Cyrenaic kind, even if one just tastes it, at once arouses a humour throughout the body and has a very healthy aroma, so that it is not noticed on the breath, or only a little; but the Median [Iranian] is weaker in power and has a nastier smell." Nevertheless, it could be substituted for silphium in cooking, which was fortunate, because a few decades

after Dioscorides's time, the true silphium of Cyrene became extinct, and asafoetida became more popular amongst physicians, as well as cooks.

16. Asafoetida is also mentioned multiple times in Jewish sources, such as the Mishnah.[19] Maimonides also writes in the Mishneh Torah "In the rainy season, one should eat warm food with much spice, but a limited amount of mustard and asafoetida."

17. Asafoetida was described by a number of Arab and Islamic scientists and pharmacists. Avicenna discussed the effects of asafoetida on digestion. Ibn al-Baitar and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi described some positive medicinal effects of it on the respiratory system.

18. After the Roman Empire fell, until the 16th century, asafoetida was rare in Europe, and if ever encountered, it was viewed as a medicine. "If used in cookery, it would ruin every dish because of its dreadful smell," asserted García de Orta's European guest. Nonsense, García replied, "nothing is more widely used in every part of India, both in medicine and in cookery. All the Hindus who can afford it buy it to add to their food."

19.

Chemists Yang-Chang Wu and Fang-Rong Chang of Kaohsiang Medical University in Taiwan and their colleagues extracted a variety of chemicals from the roots of the plant and reported in the Journal of Natural Products that at least four of them were more active against influenza viruses than prescription antiviral drugs such as amantadine.The chemicals, primarily members of a family of compounds called sesquiterpenes, might serve as lead candidates for development of new antiviral drugs, they said.

For something that smells a little better, you might want to try elderberries. Researchers at HerbalScience Group LLC in Naples, Fla., report in the current issue of the journal Phytochemistry that elderberry extract contains two chemicals, called flavonoids, that can block infection of cultured cells by the pandemic H1N1 virus. The chemicals bind directly to the virus, preventing it from entering cells. It is not clear, however, how that phenomenon could be used to block infections in real life.