Last week, I was kindly and generously handed a bag of grocery garlic, but it was moldy, and the mold had spread throughout the bag! So, I had to chuck it, even though it was free and a gift. I personally try to stay away from garlic that is pre-peeled and sold in large quantities in bags and containers, unless I need a TON of garlic to use at once, like for garlic confit, or a recipe calling for a LOT of garlic - I prefer using it fresh from the bulb as it's fresher that way for serving, and it gives a nicer, deeper flavor and has a higher content of stored nutrients. Ideally, garlic bulbs should be stored in a cool, dark place such as a pantry to avoid molding and sprouting (see video below), which I HIGHLY recommend! Ethan Cheblowski's garlic science video for an in-depth scientific and easily understandable video:
Growing up, my mother had "poverty mindset" so sometimes, even though she had more than enough money, she would drink moldy tea or rotting pieces of fruit (even when we had more than enough produce and food)! She then later developed H. pylori infections...and yes, this was in the Bay Area. My dad was a microbiologist by trade, and it drove him nuts, and they fought a LOT...that would escalate...I could see every domestic violence incident coming from a mile away. My mother has made her living as a pharmacist, and I believe that therefore she probably thought that just having access to medications would just "solve" everything, and she would inadvertently over time got brainwashed into polypharmacy. I have seen polypharmacy in other post-doctorate, highly educated people as well. You could ask, why did domestic violence happen? Well, in my family, there had been a lot of domestic violence that was accepted and normalized as part of the culture, from both mom & dad's sides of the family, and they both had high-stress jobs as immigrants into the country, and English was not their first language, and sometimes they would take it out on me -- for example, one memory I have is looking my dad in the eye and he said that was a "sign of disrespect" and he struck me on the forehead with his fist when I was a child. It was difficult for me to navigate "American" culture growing up as a result because in professional school I was told by a dean that it's "more respectful to look people in the eyes," which I thought was fairly odd and restrictive -- staring into someone's eyes forever can be extremely intimate and sometimes people need to look elsewhere to ponder or gather their thoughts. There also can be lots of mixed messages about what respect is and means according to different cultures. It took me getting acquainted to other people at school and extracurricular activities that not everybody grew up with physically abusive and controlling parents, which I am thankful for. So, please, please learn from that brief dark interlude of my family history and refrain from eating moldy garlic! You deserve amazing garlic! 🧄
I love using fresh bulbs of garlic that have been grown well by experts and are safe for human consumption. As an aromatic used in many dishes, with many health benefits, I was taught growing up that traditionally, garlic can help "clean the blood" - layman's terms for regulating components in the blood like blood sugar and acting against pro-inflammatory molecules.
Here are a couple of sources of garlic I personally recommend:
Gilroy Garlic: https://gilroygarlicfestivalassociation.com/
Gilroy is historically known for their garlic!
A local store I recommend that also carries Gilroy Garlic, in-person and online:
It has been my experience that people with a LOT of money and/or post-grad secondary education/life experience have come up to me asking for health advice (even when they have access to health insurance and a network of care providers!) because they want free information and perhaps have had negative, traumatic experiences with the US healthcare system (which I don't blame them for), or are testing me/judging me, and get angry asking for language in "layman's terms." I have noticed that some are more quick to understand what I am saying, which some people have referred to as "maturity" - this trait, I have found, is not solely contingent upon age, I am afraid to say. Historically, people also treat, use me differently (sometimes manipulate) based on the "value" I have provided for them, which I can tell sometimes based on their aura color (something that might be a bit of synesthesia, but having searched through online forums, many people have similar experiences with auras...for example, I recently saw a flash of dark green around someone and I detected jealousy...when the darkness cleared, the aura purified such that the person was able to attain more success in their business and manifested more money and growth into their life. It was extremely interesting. It is also interesting to note that some of the people with synesthesia on these forums are co-labelled as having ADHD, whereas growing up the more open-minded would have called them creatives...neuroscientifically-speaking, synesthesia is due to more connections between different areas of the brain, especially the sensory areas, so people with synesthesia have a cool different way of perceiving things compared to those without it. Therefore, I would be careful about accepting certain diagnoses as cold-hard fact or with a negative stigma, because sometimes they come from a high amount of prejudice -- always trying to remember that the Universe is an infinitely loving and inclusive place to be. 💚
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