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Garlic is one of the common ingredients in cuisines across the world, making it easy for cooks to use garlic cooking oil. If you have graving of garlic oil then you can easily make them in the comfort of your home. You can extract the oil from the garlic directly or infuse it with your preferred cooking oil such as olive oil. Here is what you need to know while making cooking garlic oil.
How to Make Garlic oil – A Complete Guide
What is garlic oil?
You may have been using garlic oil at your home and definitely enjoying its flavor. Garlic oil is the oil that is generated from ordinary garlic using steam distillation. Garlic oil can also be infused using other cooking oil and raw garlic. Garlic oil is commonly used in cooking various diets, and used for seasoning, others used it as a nutritional supplement and also functions as an insecticide because of its smell.
How to make garlic oil at home
Cooking garlic oil can be simply made in two ways that are using extraction and infusion methods. The two methods are easy and you can do it in the comfort of your home.
Preparation of garlic oil using extraction
You can prepare your garlic oil using the process of steam distillation. The requirement you will need using this method includes garlic, water, and heat. To produce around 1 gram of pure steam-distilled garlic oil then you will need to have around half a kilogram of garlic. Here are the steps to follow when extracting the garlic oil.
- Peel out the outer part of the garlic to remain with the white softer part.
- Crush the already peeled garlic until you get garlic puree
- Add water to the garlic puree. The importance of adding water is for enzymolysis.
- Heat the product and perform the steam distillation. The separation process of distilling water and garlic oil occurs. The steam from boiling water carries the vapor to the condenser.
- Condense the steam to get garlic oil
How to make infused garlic oil using olive oil and garlic confit.
Using your own made garlic oil in your cooking or salads adds a tasty flavor and you will feel you have taken the food in a better way. The infused oil is available in almost all the supermarkets but why do you need to buy it and you can make the garlic oil at your home at a cheaper price. The flavor of olive oil is amazing and health beneficial you can with garlic, however, you can use any cooking oil of your preference.
Garlic confit is the cooked garlic on the oil sometimes using low heat. The garlic confit is the garlic that remains after you have separated it from the infused garlic oil. You can use the garlic confit on your homemade dishes since it still has the strong flavor of garlic.
The ingredients required using this method include olive oil and garlic. Here are the steps to follow to get the garlic oil.
- Peel out the garlic cloves. Separate the inner part of the garlic with the outer part you do not need to do any chopping.
- Pour half a cup of olive oil into the pan
- Put your already peeled garlic into the pan
- Heat for 20 minutes at low heat. As the oil begins to warm you will observe some bubbles from smaller size to larger. The use of low heat is to avoid the coloring of the garlic, which can make the oil very strong.
- Remove the pan from the heat, and let it sit there for about 1 hour for the oil to cool completely.
- Pour your garlic-infused oil through the sieve into a jug and then put it into a sterilized glass bottle. The residue product remaining in the sieve is the garlic confit and it can be consumed with any food.
- Keep your garlic oil in a cool dark place.
Can garlic be stored in olive oil?
This question has been asked several times and you are curious to know. The answer is yes, Garlic oil can be infused without heating the olive oil, what you just need is to put the fresh peeled garlic into the jar of olive oil and cover it tightly. Store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. Remove the garlic cloves when cooking and make sure you cover them tightly and return them to the fridge.
How long does garlic oil last?
This is a big question that you have been curious to know. The garlic oil will quickly transform your recipes into something special and it needed to be stored well for it to last longer. You need to store your garlic oil kept in a glass in the fridge for it to stay longer. When garlic oil is well stored it can last up to a month. Since the process of making garlic oil at home is easier than you can make something that will last you for a month and then repeat the process again.
How to use garlic oil in cooking
If garlic flavor is your most preferred spice, then you cannot consume your food without it. You can use garlic oil in cooking all your meals. Use the garlic oil to roast chicken, veggie, or pork, use it in frying your egg, pizza, and other dishes. The garlic oil is not only used in cooking but also used in salad dressing and seasoning because of its tasty flavor.
What are the benefits of garlic oil?
Did you know that apart from the delicious flavor of garlic oil, it is also healthy for your body? Garlic oil has many health benefits including acting as antibacterial, antiparasitic, antifungal, and insecticidal. Here are some of the health benefits of garlic oil.
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Good for the skin
The antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties that are found in garlic oil are best for treating skin conditions such as wrinkles, dark circles, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, scars, and acne. The garlic oils have sulfur compounds which assist in boosting the formation of new tissues and also enable a good supply of blood to the affected parts of the skin.
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Helps to improve your cognitive function
Garlic oil is one of the best ways to prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as memory loss and mental disorders. When you consume garlic oil you will have good and well cognitive functions. The sulfur compounds that are present in the garlic oil like diallyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide are used to prevent the accumulation of cholesterol and oxidation which can lead to the formation of clots in the brain.
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Excellence in improving the health of the heart
The diallyl disulfide compound that is present in the garlic oil display the anti-atherosclerotic effects that assist in reducing the risk of getting cardiovascular diseases that can lead to death. It works by preventing the clots of blood in the arteries hence limiting you from getting diseases such as stroke or myocardial infarction. The garlic oil also improves the circulation of the blood in the body because it assists in the elasticity of the blood vessels.
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It acts as an antiviral
The virus diseases such as influenza B, cold cough, vaccinia, and the rhinovirus is the common thing that has affected you at least once in life. Garlic oil enhances the activation of the natural killer cells, the cells that destroy the cells that have been damaged by the virus. When you use garlic oil it will reduce the massive destruction caused by the virus in the body.
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It boosts the immune system
Garlic oil plays a key role in increasing the body’s immunity. The responsibility of garlic oil is to decrease the inflammation rate and boost immunity. The presence of garlic oil in the body enables the balance of Th1 cells that are responsible for the production of inflammatory compounds and Th2 cells that trigger the immune response to tackle the inflammation, thus boosting the immunity in the body and reducing the inflammation rate at the same time.
Health benefits of garlic confit
The garlic confit recipe is so delicious and you can use it in any meal you intend to. Garlic confit is full of health benefits to your body. Some of those benefits that you can get include:
- Garlic confit helps in lowering the cholesterol level in the body
- Helps in reducing the level of blood pressure in the body because it has important compounds that are helpful to people with blood sugar issues.
- Garlic confit assists in detoxifying the foreign materials from your body
- It helps your body in compacting infections caused by bacteria, fungus, and viruses because it has anti-inflammation compounds.
- It is important to the body because it has all the required nutrients and it contains a low level of calories.
- Garlic confit helps you in increasing the level of antioxidants hence providing free circulation of blood in your body.