Speaker 1: From adding a punch of flavor to our food to
Speaker 1: warding off evil spirits.
Speaker 2: Garlic is powerful.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is all about garlic.
Speaker 3: My name is Evil Longoria and I am My de
Speaker 3: Gomezrajon and welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that
Speaker 3: explores our past and present through food.
Speaker 1: On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
Speaker 1: of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages from our culture.
Speaker 2: So make yourself at home. Even so, I sent you
Speaker 2: a voice note because I was in Spain doing searching
Speaker 2: for Spain. Chinean is an old town from the fifteenth
Speaker 2: century and it's right outside in Madrid and it's a
Speaker 2: it's a different kind of garlic. It's only grown there.
Speaker 2: It has like smaller d in this which is clothes.
Speaker 2: And it was fantastic because that little town that makes
Speaker 2: all this garlic, and it's a dying breed. Everything is garlic, garlic,
Speaker 2: this garlic, bread, garlic, sauce, garlic, salt, like everything. And
Speaker 2: I just was in Heaven and there was this farm
Speaker 2: where Chef Medium Hernandez was harvesting this very special garlic.
Speaker 1: That's so cool. So I remember you said that this
Speaker 1: garlic was almost extinct.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's labor intensive. Okay, it still grows in the
Speaker 2: ground and we picked it. It's like it's purple on
Speaker 2: the outside, and it's very pungent. It's very strong, and
Speaker 2: they say that's white specials because it's one of the
Speaker 2: strongest ones. You need very little too to have the flavor.
Speaker 2: But there's this woman that's made it her mission to
Speaker 2: keep it alive, keep this species alive. I don't know
Speaker 2: how many garlic species there are. There are hundreds.
Speaker 1: There's about three hundred different garlic varieties, really, but only
Speaker 1: most grocery stores here in the US sell like two
Speaker 1: different kinds. Yeah, so this one that you're talking about,
Speaker 1: I mean we can't get it here obviously, but does
Speaker 1: it taste different than the stuff that we're used.
Speaker 2: To get it? It was pretty I mean it's called
Speaker 2: Spanish garlic, but it is, yes, the region of Castilla.
Speaker 1: Okay, this the world capital of garlic.
Speaker 2: Yes? Is that the world capital of garlic.
Speaker 1: Of garlic in the central region of Castilla La Mancha
Speaker 1: is known as the world capital of garlic.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's actually called Spanish rocha. That's the variety I think. Okay,
Speaker 2: so then it's a strong pungent flavor. So oh, and
Speaker 2: the those are easier to peel. Yes, it's a purple garlic.
Speaker 2: I knew garlic grew in the ground. I didn't know
Speaker 2: we were picking it. I didn't know that. You know,
Speaker 2: it has a stem that sticks straight up like this,
Speaker 2: it's ready to pick when it's fall the stem is
Speaker 2: laying down.
Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: How do you say laying down? The Spanish acostava costalo? Yeah,
Speaker 2: that coustavo, and it's you can grab them and so
Speaker 2: you it's so it's easy to identify, you know, Okay,
Speaker 2: this one's ready, this one's not. But it's a very weird,
Speaker 2: heavy plant. It's like that. You have to clean the
Speaker 2: weeds out of their lot, and so they have this
Speaker 2: this particular woman has to have all these volunteers come
Speaker 2: and help clean the weeds because the weeds will attack
Speaker 2: the garlic at the root and make it die. So interesting.
Speaker 2: You got to like clean out the weeds to make
Speaker 2: sure the weeds are not going to take away from
Speaker 2: the garlic. But it was a tiny field, I mean
Speaker 2: the tiny You can grow so much garlic and very
Speaker 2: little land.
Speaker 1: Very versatile, it's easy to grow. I didn't know that
Speaker 1: about the about the weed.
Speaker 2: Regions like Changehn really specialize in cultivating this high quality
Speaker 2: traditional aqua fino, which is basically fine, like fine, guy, yeah,
Speaker 2: like a fine quality, like a bigger quality.
Speaker 1: So it's been beloved in Spanish cooking, you know, forever,
Speaker 1: and even during the Middle Ages in Spain when Europeans
Speaker 1: were trading gold and silver for spices of the East,
Speaker 1: Ferdinand of Spain tried to stop the importing of slices
Speaker 1: like cinnamon and pepper, because doing that meant letting the
Speaker 1: silver out of the country and then return. He said,
Speaker 1: when it's like garlic is good enough, like why do
Speaker 1: we need cinnamon and all of that stuff. But his
Speaker 1: wife Isabel the Catholic. The evil is about the Catholic.
Speaker 1: She hated garlic and she prohibited its use within the
Speaker 1: Spanish court.
Speaker 2: Oh interesting, Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of this loathing garlic, loving garlic,
Speaker 1: wanting garlic in the Spanish court. A lot of people
Speaker 1: loathe it because of because of its odor, even like
Speaker 1: now in the British court in England, they don't eat garlic.
Speaker 1: What because of the smell. Because if you're in a
Speaker 1: eating or something, you don't want to offense or missing
Speaker 1: out on life totally.
Speaker 2: Oh I don't care. I would eat garlic even on
Speaker 2: a first date, Like I would be like, r, I'm
Speaker 2: eating this. So wait, do you know what the first
Speaker 2: recipe was that used garlic?
Speaker 1: Yes, the first recipe is not just the first recipe
Speaker 1: that used garlic, but it's the first known recipe, the
Speaker 1: first recorded recipe ever.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: It dates to around seventeen thirty BC Messipotamian region, which
Speaker 1: is modern day Barack carts of Siria Turkey in Cuneiform,
Speaker 1: which is a saint you know, form of writing developed
Speaker 1: by a smearants, and the recipe reads meat is used.
Speaker 1: You prepare water, you add fine grained salt, dried barley, cakes, onion,
Speaker 1: persian shallat and milk, you crush and at leak and garlic. Ooh,
Speaker 1: that's the first garlic recipe.
Speaker 2: But I love that the first recipe ever written down
Speaker 2: was a meat recipe too. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And there's a similar recipe in a rock today, a stew,
Speaker 1: a lamb stew that uses the same ingredients. So I
Speaker 1: mean that recipe doesn't really tell you any give you
Speaker 1: any information. Meat is used, It's like, okay, what do
Speaker 1: I do with it? So suggest I see that you know,
Speaker 1: whoever is reading this knows what to.
Speaker 2: Do with it. Meat, Come on, figure it out. Used.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we always talk about how food is constantly
Speaker 1: evolving with the migration of people and all that. But
Speaker 1: there's a similar recipe in rock today that's very that
Speaker 1: has the same exact ingredients. And so it's this tradition
Speaker 1: with lamb wood lamb.
Speaker 2: That makes sense. Garlic came to Spain from Central Asia.
Speaker 1: Yeah, garlic is from Central Asia. What, Yes, that's its
Speaker 1: place of origin, and is it it was its origin
Speaker 1: disease preventing. It's mainly well, it has always been used
Speaker 1: as a food and also as a medicine, So mainly
Speaker 1: food and also medicine. But it arrived in Spain with
Speaker 1: the Romans, so you can kind of trace the sort
Speaker 1: of where the Romans went based on where garlic was.
Speaker 2: But yes, well they also say in ancient Egypt garlics
Speaker 2: garlic was magical and it had all these healing abilities,
Speaker 2: and the pharaohs fed it to the slaves for strength. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they would place it in the tombs and they buried
Speaker 2: the kings. They would have it, they would have magic
Speaker 2: and also strength, yeah, and also food, yeah, and also food.
Speaker 2: As always, we like to talk about how these ingredients
Speaker 2: ended up in Mexico because we're Mexican, yes, and so
Speaker 2: how did I'm assuming the Spaniards.
Speaker 1: Exactly the Spaniards. Yeah, Garlic was brought to Spain by
Speaker 1: the conquistadors in the sixteenth century, and from there it spread,
Speaker 1: you know, through Central America, South America, and it is
Speaker 1: one of the most used ingredients in Latin America, and
Speaker 1: it's used in marls and salsas and stews. But it's
Speaker 1: actually one of the most used ingredients in cuisines, like
Speaker 1: you know, Mexican cuisine, you use it a lot, but
Speaker 1: also Chinese, Italian, India.
Speaker 2: Uses a lot. Egyptians and Greeks and Romans used it medicinally.
Speaker 2: Egyptians really loved garlic, and obviously the Greeks. And if
Speaker 2: the Greeks and the Egyptians like it, then the Romans
Speaker 2: liked it all. Like I'm wondering how how much bad
Speaker 2: breath they had because they didn't brush their teeth either.
Speaker 1: Back then, they didn't brush their teeth.
Speaker 2: I mean, they would chew on things.
Speaker 1: But yeah, garlic has this intense odor.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I have garlic and you haven't had
Speaker 1: a garlic, you would be like, oh my God, to
Speaker 1: get away from me. But if both of us are
Speaker 1: having garlic, then we don't really notice.
Speaker 2: And then stink. Who was the first guy in ancient
Speaker 2: Rome that the father of modern pharmacology.
Speaker 1: Diascordes is the father of modern pharmacology, and him, together
Speaker 1: with Hippocrates, who is considered the father of modern medicine,
Speaker 1: both recommended garlic to clean arteries, prevent stomach disorders, treat
Speaker 1: bites from mad dogs and vipers, and a secured for asthma,
Speaker 1: black guys, baldness, birthmarks, and life. Hmmm, lice, lice O interesting,
Speaker 1: basically everything, wow, everything, And it was continued, you know,
Speaker 1: to be used medicinally throughout the ages. I never really
Speaker 1: had garlic medicinally, but I think that you really need
Speaker 1: a lot of it for it to really really you
Speaker 1: know work. I did go to a doctor once because
Speaker 1: I have a lot of neck issues, and he told
Speaker 1: me to to crush some garlic and she led to
Speaker 1: it and add an aspirin to it and then just
Speaker 1: use it as like as used it as a Yeah,
Speaker 1: on my neck.
Speaker 2: Did you do that?
Speaker 1: I did my dad. My dad was was a doctor,
Speaker 1: and he was like, it's that, but I.
Speaker 2: Didn't use it. But I don't care.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna try it.
Speaker 2: That is so funny. I love garlic so much, you know,
Speaker 2: it's so funny. Pipa says he hates garlic, and he goes,
Speaker 2: don't forget, I don't like garlic.
Speaker 1: I go, I put garlic in everything. You love garlic,
Speaker 1: And he's like, I do, but he didn't like garlic.
Speaker 2: He it doesn't like garlic. I put it in everything,
Speaker 2: and our eggs in obviously pasta sauces everything.
Speaker 1: On bread like that's one of my favorite ways to
Speaker 1: use garlic. Yeah, toast the bread and then get the
Speaker 1: clove and just sit like that, the garlic bread or
Speaker 1: roasted garlic.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh that was a new thing for me in
Speaker 2: COVID when I would see videos and oh, really, put
Speaker 2: the whole head of garlic in the oven and then
Speaker 2: you mush.
Speaker 1: It out and put it on a bread. Oh my,
Speaker 1: that is the most incredible thing. With some olive oil
Speaker 1: and some sea salt, flaky sea salt.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. Did you know that Americans eat more
Speaker 2: than two hundred and fifty pounds of garlic a year,
Speaker 2: and some of it, well, most of it is grown
Speaker 2: in California. Gilroy, California, which is the only town in
Speaker 2: America that you can marinate a steak by hanging it
Speaker 2: out on a clothes line. What is the capital of
Speaker 2: garlic in the US. So ninety percent of US garlic
Speaker 2: comes from Gilworth, from Gilroy, California.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I know it's in northern California. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that quote that Will Rogers said that you
Speaker 1: can marrn it to steak by hanging it outside. Why
Speaker 1: because it's so garlicy. The smell is so garlicy. So
Speaker 1: you just said that because it's so garlic and you
Speaker 1: can just mariniz. That's well.
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't realize how versatile garlic is because
Speaker 2: you can use it as a spice or I use
Speaker 2: it to disease and foods. You can roast it, saute it,
Speaker 2: slice it, pickle it, add it to butter, use it
Speaker 2: as a aoli a timmy.
Speaker 1: TOUTI I mean it's you could use it as a spice,
Speaker 1: But it's a vegetable. Garlic is a vegetable. Garlic is
Speaker 1: a vegetable. Yeah, technically a vegetable because it comes from
Speaker 1: the ground. It comes from the ground. It's related to
Speaker 1: the your leaks. It's in the same family, and they're
Speaker 1: in the lily family, the lily, lily family, the lily well,
Speaker 1: the st stead.
Speaker 2: It's purple. Yeah, and it's super easy to grow and
Speaker 2: inexpensive to buy.
Speaker 1: Which is so because of that. It has always been
Speaker 1: a food of the people, right, unlike spices that have
Speaker 1: you know, traditionally been so expensive or rather historically been
Speaker 1: so expensive.
Speaker 2: It's easy to grow, and also.
Speaker 1: Squirrels and other mammals they don't like the taste or
Speaker 1: the smell of it, so they'll leave it alone and
Speaker 1: it can continue to grow weeds. Like you said, it
Speaker 1: is a different is a true story.
Speaker 2: After the break, we're heading into the kitchen to cook
Speaker 2: a garlic e recipe for my new cookbook, Well Spon
Speaker 2: and salsa mata.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't like eggstimes.
Speaker 2: I still love you. You love me, but you love
Speaker 2: garlic more.
Speaker 1: I love garlic.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you you're gonna love this dish because it's
Speaker 2: it's the garlic is the star dish.
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, what are.
Speaker 2: We making you know what's funny is I call them
Speaker 2: Turkish eggs, but they're kind of have Middle Eastern roots,
Speaker 2: so they're Turkish eggs, their.
Speaker 4: Lebonese eggs there.
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what it is, but in Mexico
Speaker 2: it's called Webbelskke's where we've been drinking, guys, where Wolve's
Speaker 2: gone hok oke exactly, which is like a yogurt garlic
Speaker 2: lemon sauce okay, and egg sits on for breakfast and
Speaker 2: you scoop it up with sour dough bread.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, So I want you to what am
Speaker 4: I doing?
Speaker 2: Zest?
Speaker 4: Yeah, one full full lemon. So this recipe is from
Speaker 4: your cookbook?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so why this particular recipe, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I ate these eggs at a restaurant in Mexico and
Speaker 2: I was like what is that.
Speaker 4: They were like, oh, these are Turkish eggs.
Speaker 2: Or webbles gone Hokka, And I was like, what is hocoka?
Speaker 2: And they were like, oh, it's just yogurt. So we're
Speaker 2: gonna mix our We're gonna mix some yogurt. Okay, We're
Speaker 2: gonna do one medium garlic clove. I usually do like two.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's make it garlic eatee.
Speaker 2: We're gonna make it super garlic e So Hocoka is
Speaker 2: like it's sort of like a like a dance, like
Speaker 2: a super dense yogurt.
Speaker 4: Right, it's like a milk. Yeah, it's actually like a sour.
Speaker 2: Eam in between cream like Grandma mahugana and yogurt. Like
Speaker 2: it's different in Mexico. I don't know exactly what it
Speaker 2: is in.
Speaker 1: Mexico, but if you if you can't find it, you
Speaker 1: could substitute like yogurt like real fat. You know that
Speaker 1: the hog comes from the now, which means sour. No,
Speaker 1: it's like a sour yogurt, Like, it's kind of sour, right.
Speaker 2: Put the lemon zest in the yogurt.
Speaker 1: So it's like what like a cup of yogurt sort
Speaker 1: of it's and it's one lemon zest.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I love the smell of this.
Speaker 1: I'm a little nervous about the the egg that doesn't
Speaker 1: eat eggs.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 4: Now we're gonna press, okay, press the garlic.
Speaker 2: This is my favorite garlic press in the world.
Speaker 4: Really, I don't have a garlic press. I don't own
Speaker 4: a garlic press.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm getting you.
Speaker 4: We gotta get my garlic press.
Speaker 2: This is pampered Chef. My aunt, who taught me how
Speaker 2: to cook, was the one that told me there was
Speaker 2: no better garlic press than pampered Chef.
Speaker 4: Look how it comes out so beautiful.
Speaker 2: You can put the whole cloven with the skin and
Speaker 2: it'll come right out. Really Yeah. But then I get
Speaker 2: stuck in my machine and I hate it. Okay, Wow,
Speaker 2: then we're gonna here. You do that, and we're gonna
Speaker 2: juice this lemon and put it in there too, so
Speaker 2: you can do.
Speaker 4: Half a lemon of lemon.
Speaker 2: I this is.
Speaker 4: Like whatever you want, whatever you lie. God, this garlic
Speaker 4: is super super super juicy.
Speaker 2: Oh God, my lemon doesn't fit in my lemon squeezer,
Speaker 2: So then we're gonna squeeze the lemon we just zested.
Speaker 4: It's a big old lemon.
Speaker 2: I'm only gonna do half.
Speaker 4: This is like my favorite profile.
Speaker 1: Yes, a little sour, citrusy salty. This is like my
Speaker 1: favorite with the little kick.
Speaker 2: I know you're excited about the frying of the egg,
Speaker 2: but here's the thing. If you're gonna have any eggs,
Speaker 2: it might as well be mine. Let me tell you
Speaker 2: the secret to frying eggs. Spanish olive oil.
Speaker 4: Oh that's a beautiful bottle.
Speaker 2: Thank you, and you do a lot. I learned this
Speaker 2: in Spain. You want to like really drown the egg.
Speaker 4: You made these for Pepa in Spain.
Speaker 2: Wait before we do that, let's lay the bed of
Speaker 2: your beautiful on the bottom, so that should make two.
Speaker 4: Oh wow, so it's a lot. Okay, yeah, you put it,
Speaker 4: spread it all underneath.
Speaker 2: So then we put our little egg on top. Not
Speaker 2: very it's runny.
Speaker 4: It's runny. Okay, you don't like it runny, I've never eaten.
Speaker 2: Now you pour the salsa macha on top of the
Speaker 2: egg like a drizzle it. It needs to be a
Speaker 2: runny egg because you want it to break into that sauce.
Speaker 4: So it's like a hole.
Speaker 1: And then the satsa matcha is like an Asian chili oil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, salsa macha is Mexican, right do you want
Speaker 2: to Usually I use that chili crisp.
Speaker 4: But it has but it has a similar profile. So
Speaker 4: this is I love this. It's like this Middle Eastern.
Speaker 1: But then the which is like like dried chi or
Speaker 1: wahiyo with nuts.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's just oh my gosh, I love a
Speaker 4: good said so much. It's like one of my favorite things.
Speaker 4: This that's beautiful.
Speaker 2: Isn't it beautiful?
Speaker 4: That is beautiful. Let's get I'm nervous. Might just have this.
Speaker 2: You can just have the sauce if you want, but
Speaker 2: you so you want to break open that yokey and then.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I've never had this in my life. Okay,
Speaker 4: scoop it up. Okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna
Speaker 4: try it. Try a little bit. Do you love it?
Speaker 4: I'm gonna t all about the sauce. I dipped a
Speaker 4: little bit asa.
Speaker 2: But you could have the sour dough with the sauce
Speaker 2: and it'd be completely happy.
Speaker 4: Isn't it pretty?
Speaker 2: Garlic?
Speaker 4: Mm hm, it's delicious.
Speaker 2: Oh still good.
Speaker 4: I had a little bit. I don't taste the egg.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can't. It's overwhelmed by the garlic. What is
Speaker 2: a ten minute garlic? Girl, I've never heard of a
Speaker 2: ten minute garlic.
Speaker 1: So it said, after you slice or dice or pressed
Speaker 1: whatever your garlic, leave them be for ten minutes. Just
Speaker 1: let them be for ten minutes. And by doing this,
Speaker 1: you're allowing this enzyme that creates this chemical responsible for
Speaker 1: the garlics anti bacterial properties. So by just leaving.
Speaker 2: It just the enzyme pops out.
Speaker 1: The enzyme pops out before cooking with it, so then
Speaker 1: so that.
Speaker 2: We get the properties exactly.
Speaker 1: And this is also exactly and this is also the
Speaker 1: enzyme that gives garlic it's odor.
Speaker 2: Once you cut it an intact once it's chopped or
Speaker 2: pressed or crushed, that like pungent odor. Is the enzyme yeah, exiting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, it's And it's this enzyme called alanaise that
Speaker 1: when it's disrupted by chopping or cutting, you know whatever,
Speaker 1: it chemically changes into something called alisin alison, which is
Speaker 1: a sulfur containing molecule that gives it its smell. So
Speaker 1: this sort of sulfur is absorbed into the blood stream
Speaker 1: and then it escapes through perspiration or to your breast.
Speaker 2: And that's where the rumor comes that it words off
Speaker 2: evil spirits is because of the odor. Yes, it's not
Speaker 2: because of the enzyme that's going to kill the dracula.
Speaker 2: It's the odor that's been associated with warding off things
Speaker 2: like vampires, demons, were wolves exactly.
Speaker 1: And even the earliest bridal bouquets and wreaths include garlic
Speaker 1: bulbs to ward off any evil.
Speaker 2: So next week is our Halloween episode, So get your
Speaker 2: garlic ready to ward off those evil spirits.
Speaker 5: In parts of Mexico, garlic is thought to lower blood
Speaker 5: pressure caused by fright. Here's a little tease if next
Speaker 5: week spectacularly spooky Halloween episode featuring Aiden Castellano's host of
Speaker 5: the podcast.
Speaker 6: Susto itself for people who don't know. But I feel
Speaker 6: like if they're listening to Hunger for History, they shouldn't know, right,
Speaker 6: is it? It's a cultural illness where after a big
Speaker 6: scare or something traumatic, the soul separates itself from the body,
Speaker 6: and if it's a severe enough scare or trauma, the
Speaker 6: soul can even fragment, and there's different remedies for it
Speaker 6: based on who you're talking to. For me, growing up,
Speaker 6: it was sugar, a spoonful of sugar in a glass
Speaker 6: of water, and if we had Susto, we had to
Speaker 6: mix it up and then chug that and then I
Speaker 6: also heard from some friends in Mexico City, for example,
Speaker 6: after the earthquake I think it was in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 6: the food vendors were outside after the earthquake. They were
Speaker 6: offering bolios to people to kurausto. And again, this is
Speaker 6: another thing that I just kind of always accepted as like,
Speaker 6: oh yeah, I had suso, let me know, chuck the
Speaker 6: water with sugar. And then after hearing about the bolos,
Speaker 6: I was like, what is what's the relation? Why is
Speaker 6: that happening? And then I looked into it and I
Speaker 6: have an article here that I can send to you
Speaker 6: as well, was that it's a food scientists and sometimes
Speaker 6: think that it's because of whenever we are reacting to
Speaker 6: stress or to fear, our metabolism spikes and we need
Speaker 6: glucose because it's taking resources from you know, the body
Speaker 6: to react to this fear or to this stress, and
Speaker 6: so our body then needs glucose to kind of support
Speaker 6: that spike and metabolism. Another thing with the bread also
Speaker 6: is people think carbs are good to respond to the
Speaker 6: acids and the stomach that increase again when people are
Speaker 6: experiencing fear or trauma. And so it's just it's interesting
Speaker 6: to see that these remedies that we've always thought maybe
Speaker 6: as purely superstition, do have some sort of root in
Speaker 6: an actual food science.
Speaker 2: Hungary for History is a hyphen media production in partnership
Speaker 2: with Iheart's Michael Fura podcast Network.
Speaker 1: For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.