Garlic is one of the healthiest plants around and, thanks to its valuable ingredients, offers numerous health benefits. Whether it’s the flu, vascular disease, immune deficiency, bacterial infections or nervous disorders, even the aging process – there is hardly a disease that garlic would not have a positive effect.
Unfortunately, the healthy and healing tuber also has its very special scent and sometimes we refuse dishes containing garlic to avoid the smell. Often not only does the breath smell unpleasant, but also the smell that we exhale through our skin and sweat. On top of that, the rooms that were used for cooking smell of garlic.
Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can use to consume garlic, for example in the form of homemade aioli , without fear of the notorious garlic flag. In this article we will show you how you can avoid odours and neutralize existing garlic odours again with the right type of preparation. One precaution in using minced garlic is that you should know how much minced garlic equals one clove? So use the right minced garlic’s quantity in your cooking.
Why garlic
As an aromatic spice and vegetable, garlic (Allium sativum) is an important source of selenium and potassium and provides a lot of adenosine, which is important for cell metabolism. It is rich in vitamins A, B and C and provides many phytochemicals, especially sulphides, which have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects.
Why and how do we smell after consuming garlic?
The sulphur compound allicin provides the aromatic taste in food, but unfortunately also the unpleasant bad breath. It arises when the cell structure is broken down.
The intensity of the stench we give off after eating varies depending on how we turn the minced garlic to cloves. Eaten raw, the aroma is particularly intense, but the good thing about it is that we absorb all the valuable nutrients.
The raw consumption is rather rare. Usually the toes are chopped into small pieces or pressed, added to sauces and vegetables or fried or boiled. Even lightly sautéing or frying garlic reduces the subsequent odour considerably.
The raw consumption is rather rare. Usually the toes are chopped into small pieces or pressed, added to sauces and vegetables or fried or boiled. Even lightly sautéing or frying garlic reduces the subsequent odour considerably.
1. Proper preparation prevents odours
The right way of preparing dishes containing garlic can almost completely avoid odours.
Prepare your dishes as you normally would, using whole cloves of garlic instead of chopping them up. The toes are removed from the food before serving. It contains the delicious aroma of the tuber, but the unpleasant smell in the mouth afterwards is far less intense.
This type of preparation or to make minced garlic equals one cloves works great for:
- Sauces and stir-fry dishes – Fry the garlic, but take it out again after a short time.
- Tzatziki – Soak the garlic in the cucumber water, let it steep briefly, and then take it out again before adding the other ingredients.Tip: Mix the garlic with lemon juice before frying or cooking. So the aroma is retained, but the stench in the mouth does not develop quite as strongly.
Get rid of odour on the hands
The smell is transferred to our hands as soon as it is peeled, and it becomes even more intense when it is then cut. The following home remedies will help get rid of the odour on your hands.
2. Stainless steel
Rub your fingers on the stainless steel sink, stainless steel faucet or stainless steel spoon for a minute while running lukewarm water over your hands. The stainless steel has an odour neutralizing effect.
There are even products specially developed for this case, like this stainless steel egg . Simply wash your hands with the egg under lukewarm water and the smell will be washed off after 20-30 seconds.
3. Coffee grounds
Coffee grounds work great for many odour problems. To wash your hands, simply grind some coffee grounds or use a coffee soap. You can make such a coffee soap yourself relatively easily.
4. Salt and lemon
Rub lemon juice and salt in your hands and then wash them off with lukewarm water.
5. Vinegar
Wash your hands with vinegar and lukewarm water. Both the garlic odour and the vinegar odour dissipate quickly.
6. Soda
Soda is a real miracle cure in the household . It also helps with the stink of garlic on your hands. Rub your hands with baking soda, then wash them thoroughly with water. The smell is already neutralized.
Bad breath
Probably the most unpleasant thing after a meal with garlic is the odour that remains in your mouth. Depending on how much we have eaten, we smell it ourselves or we may be alerted to it by someone. However, there are many tips and tricks to eliminate the odour!
7. Clean your mouth
Carefully brush your teeth, tongue, and spaces between your teeth after you eat. Use dental floss and gargle with a mouthwash. Baking soda can also help drive away the smell, for example in the homemade mouthwash
8. Chew herbs
Chewing the leaves of parsley , sage, or mint helps relieve bad breath.
9. Chew cardamom
Many people in India swear by it: chew cardamom after food containing garlic . After a few minutes, the unpleasant smell of Knofi is minimized.
10. Chew the coffee beans
Chew on coffee beans for about ten minutes, as they too will dispel the aroma.
11. Eat ginger
The miracle tuber ginger can also help. To do this, chew small pieces for as long as you can, after a while they will likely become very sharp.
12. Drink milk
Drink a glass of milk and hold the liquid in your mouth for a while. If you have a strong odour, brush your teeth with milk and then clean them again normally. Other dairy products like yogurt or curd work just as well.
Tip: It is best to drink the milk while you are eating.
If you are really brave, you can also mix plenty of parsley with milk and drink it. Keep the liquid in your mouth for a while so that it can work better.
13. Eat lemon
Eat lemon pieces after the garlic dish. The acidic ingredients can minimize the negative odour.
Body exhalations
Since the smell comes not only from the mouth but also through the pores, it can happen that we smell of garlic through our skin after eating. This is especially the case if we have eaten a lot of the tuber. Remedying it is not that easy, but with a few tricks you can definitely reduce the odour!
14. Take a hot bath
Since we also exhale the garlic over the skin, it is advisable to make yourself sweat after eating. A hot bath or sauna can help.
15. Physical activity
It can help to go for a jog or to do some other sweaty activity in order to specifically transport the odorous substances out of the pores and thus reduce the odour. So you did even more for your health.
Garlic smell in rooms
After cooking, the kitchen and dining room often smell of Knofi too. The air in the room can be easily refreshed with a few tricks.
16. vinegar
The miracle cure vinegar, for example, helps very well. Put a few bowls of vinegar in the affected areas and the smell will go away on its own. Alternatively, you can purify the air intensively with hot vinegar. To do this, boil vinegar in a 1: 1 ratio with water in a saucepan and let it simmer over low heat. You can also add orange or lemon peel. This makes for an even more pleasant scent.
17. Soda
Also, soda helps with unpleasant garlic odours in rooms. Set up small plates of baking soda, the powder absorbs odours very efficiently and so the room air is refreshed.
18. If nothing helps
We hope these tricks will help you enjoy garlic and avoid the negative consequences of smell.
But if the tricks don’t help, you have no choice but to campaign for garlic in a missionary manner! Convince your fellow human beings of the fantastic, healthy properties of garlic . Conjure them up delicious dishes and health drinks . In many cultures garlic is part of everyday life and nobody complains about the smell. Why not with us too?
Conclusion
Garlic is just delicious! If you are in two minds whether you should eat it or not, ask yourself before you eat whether a little Knofi aroma would be bad afterwards. For example, do you have an important appointment? Then it is even advisable to leave out the garlic.
But if you eat with friends and everyone tastes the garlic, ultimately everyone smells of it and it doesn’t matter 😉
The body takes up to 20 hours to completely break down the malodorous substances. If you’ve eaten a lot of garlic, the tricks can reduce the odour, but not completely eliminate it. But if you only consume small amounts, you can easily get the smell under control with the home remedies.