Garlic has been used to spice up cooking for a long time but there are many other uses for garlic that you may not think of – besides warding off vampires.
Rub a raw garlic clove on your acne. Garlic has blood-cleansing and antibiotic properties that seems to be effective against acne and other skin problems. You can also crush garlic cloves and use the juices from them.
Not only are vampires afraid of garlic but apparently another blood sucker is as well. Your pesky misquito does not enjoy garlic either. Misquitoes are repelled by garlic because the plant’s compounds are harmful to the little blood-sucking pest. Try placing cloves where there are a lot of misquitoes and at nighttime you can use some of the juice extract to rub in exposed parts of your skin. Warning: You may repel more than misquitoes.
So let’s add to the list of what garlic repels besides vampires, misquitoes and undesirable humans. It also repels ticks, fleas and other parasites so this is good for your pets as well. Some pet food brands contain dehydrated garlic. Some horse owners rub their horses with a garlic mixture to help keep harmful insects away from them. Now you can’t rub garlic on your pets but you can keep a constant amount of garlic in its diet.
Need an environmenally safe pesticide for your garden? Want to keep rabbits, deer and hedgehogs away from your veggies as well? Never fear, garlic is here. Just mix up some garlic cloves and extracts with pepper and a bit of soap and you will have yourself a pesticide that is supposed to keep up with what you purchase at the store.
If you get a boo boo, you can help keep it free from infection because of garlic’s antibiotic properties. Crushed raw garlic can kill strains of staph bacteria. Just gently apply the garlic on the wound to prevent infection.
Love to go fishing? Well here is an interesting idea to use a bait. Using either garlic powder or crushed garlic, place some in a bowl and add small marshmallows. Make sure that the marshmallows are well covered with the garlic. If you are using garlic powder, then using some crushed garlic helps here because it will allow the garlic powder to stick. Using the marshmallows as bait, you can catch trout, bass and other kinds of fish as well.
If you happen to need some glue and you are fresh out, the crush up some garlic and use the juice as a glue or adhesive. I hear it works pretty good considering it was used to repair glass in China.
You can use garlic as a skin product but if you do, try a test area first to be sure you do not have any irritation or sensitivity. If you mix garlic and lemon extracts with water, cider vinegar and lavender flowers, you will have an awesome face cleaner. Combine garlic juices with water, vodka and rosemary for a scalp and hair lotion. Please be careful when using these mixtures around the eyes.
If you have a sore throat due to flu or illness, you can boil a quarter pound of garlic cloves in a cup of water and add a little honey and sugar to help with the taste. Now you have garlic cough syrup. It can ease your cough and help you recover faster. The antibacterial properties of garlic are very potent. You can even make garlic tea by soaking a clove of garlic in a cup of water. Ummm – Yummy. 🙂
Ok, lastly you can use garlic for an aphrodisiac. This has been confirmed throughout the ages in many ancient writings. So put a little spice in your nice and have some garlic on a hot date night. Just remember to use a good mouth wash.
Well there you have it. Garlic is such a versatile spice. Eat and enjoy!
sheriscleaning 