Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
From adding a punch of flavor to our food to
warding off evil spirits.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Garlic is powerful.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Today's episode is all about garlic.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
My name is Evil Longoria and I am My de
Gomezrajon and welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that
explores our past and present through food.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages from our culture.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So make yourself at home. Even so, I sent you
a voice note because I was in Spain doing searching
for Spain. Chinean is an old town from the fifteenth
century and it's right outside in Madrid and it's a
it's a different kind of garlic. It's only grown there.
It has like smaller d in this which is clothes.
(00:53):
And it was fantastic because that little town that makes
all this garlic, and it's a dying breed. Everything is garlic, garlic,
this garlic, bread, garlic, sauce, garlic, salt, like everything. And
I just was in Heaven and there was this farm
where Chef Medium Hernandez was harvesting this very special garlic.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's so cool. So I remember you said that this
garlic was almost extinct.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, it's labor intensive. Okay, it still grows in the
ground and we picked it. It's like it's purple on
the outside, and it's very pungent. It's very strong, and
they say that's white specials because it's one of the
strongest ones. You need very little too to have the flavor.
But there's this woman that's made it her mission to
(01:41):
keep it alive, keep this species alive. I don't know
how many garlic species there are. There are hundreds.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
There's about three hundred different garlic varieties, really, but only
most grocery stores here in the US sell like two
different kinds. Yeah, so this one that you're talking about,
I mean we can't get it here obviously, but does
it taste different than the stuff that we're used.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
To get it? It was pretty I mean it's called
Spanish garlic, but it is, yes, the region of Castilla.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Okay, this the world capital of garlic.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yes? Is that the world capital of garlic.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Of garlic in the central region of Castilla La Mancha
is known as the world capital of garlic.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yes, it's actually called Spanish rocha. That's the variety I think. Okay,
so then it's a strong pungent flavor. So oh, and
the those are easier to peel. Yes, it's a purple garlic.
I knew garlic grew in the ground. I didn't know
we were picking it. I didn't know that. You know,
it has a stem that sticks straight up like this,
it's ready to pick when it's fall the stem is
(02:44):
laying down.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
How do you say laying down? The Spanish acostava costalo? Yeah,
that coustavo, and it's you can grab them and so
you it's so it's easy to identify, you know, Okay,
this one's ready, this one's not. But it's a very weird,
heavy plant. It's like that. You have to clean the
weeds out of their lot, and so they have this
(03:06):
this particular woman has to have all these volunteers come
and help clean the weeds because the weeds will attack
the garlic at the root and make it die. So interesting.
You got to like clean out the weeds to make
sure the weeds are not going to take away from
the garlic. But it was a tiny field, I mean
the tiny You can grow so much garlic and very
little land.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Very versatile, it's easy to grow. I didn't know that
about the about the weed.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Regions like Changehn really specialize in cultivating this high quality
traditional aqua fino, which is basically fine, like fine, guy, yeah,
like a fine quality, like a bigger quality.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So it's been beloved in Spanish cooking, you know, forever,
and even during the Middle Ages in Spain when Europeans
were trading gold and silver for spices of the East,
Ferdinand of Spain tried to stop the importing of slices
like cinnamon and pepper, because doing that meant letting the
(04:05):
silver out of the country and then return. He said,
when it's like garlic is good enough, like why do
we need cinnamon and all of that stuff. But his
wife Isabel the Catholic. The evil is about the Catholic.
She hated garlic and she prohibited its use within the
Spanish court.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Oh interesting, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So there's a lot of this loathing garlic, loving garlic,
wanting garlic in the Spanish court. A lot of people
loathe it because of because of its odor, even like
now in the British court in England, they don't eat garlic.
What because of the smell. Because if you're in a
eating or something, you don't want to offense or missing
(04:50):
out on life totally.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Oh I don't care. I would eat garlic even on
a first date, Like I would be like, r, I'm
eating this. So wait, do you know what the first
recipe was that used garlic?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yes, the first recipe is not just the first recipe
that used garlic, but it's the first known recipe, the
first recorded recipe ever.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It dates to around seventeen thirty BC Messipotamian region, which
is modern day Barack carts of Siria Turkey in Cuneiform,
which is a saint you know, form of writing developed
by a smearants, and the recipe reads meat is used.
You prepare water, you add fine grained salt, dried barley, cakes, onion,
(05:33):
persian shallat and milk, you crush and at leak and garlic. Ooh,
that's the first garlic recipe.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But I love that the first recipe ever written down
was a meat recipe too. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And there's a similar recipe in a rock today, a stew,
a lamb stew that uses the same ingredients. So I
mean that recipe doesn't really tell you any give you
any information. Meat is used, It's like, okay, what do
I do with it? So suggest I see that you know,
whoever is reading this knows what to.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Do with it. Meat, Come on, figure it out. Used.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
But yeah, we always talk about how food is constantly
evolving with the migration of people and all that. But
there's a similar recipe in rock today that's very that
has the same exact ingredients. And so it's this tradition
with lamb wood lamb.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That makes sense. Garlic came to Spain from Central Asia.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, garlic is from Central Asia. What, Yes, that's its
place of origin, and is it it was its origin
disease preventing. It's mainly well, it has always been used
as a food and also as a medicine, So mainly
food and also medicine. But it arrived in Spain with
the Romans, so you can kind of trace the sort
(06:51):
of where the Romans went based on where garlic was.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
But yes, well they also say in ancient Egypt garlics
garlic was magical and it had all these healing abilities,
and the pharaohs fed it to the slaves for strength. Yeah,
they would place it in the tombs and they buried
the kings. They would have it, they would have magic
and also strength, yeah, and also food, yeah, and also food.
As always, we like to talk about how these ingredients
(07:18):
ended up in Mexico because we're Mexican, yes, and so
how did I'm assuming the Spaniards.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Exactly the Spaniards. Yeah, Garlic was brought to Spain by
the conquistadors in the sixteenth century, and from there it spread,
you know, through Central America, South America, and it is
one of the most used ingredients in Latin America, and
it's used in marls and salsas and stews. But it's
actually one of the most used ingredients in cuisines, like
(07:44):
you know, Mexican cuisine, you use it a lot, but
also Chinese, Italian, India.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Uses a lot. Egyptians and Greeks and Romans used it medicinally.
Egyptians really loved garlic, and obviously the Greeks. And if
the Greeks and the Egyptians like it, then the Romans
liked it all. Like I'm wondering how how much bad
breath they had because they didn't brush their teeth either.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Back then, they didn't brush their teeth.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, they would chew on things.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But yeah, garlic has this intense odor.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I mean, if I have garlic and you haven't had
a garlic, you would be like, oh my God, to
get away from me. But if both of us are
having garlic, then we don't really notice.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And then stink. Who was the first guy in ancient
Rome that the father of modern pharmacology.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Diascordes is the father of modern pharmacology, and him, together
with Hippocrates, who is considered the father of modern medicine,
both recommended garlic to clean arteries, prevent stomach disorders, treat
bites from mad dogs and vipers, and a secured for asthma,
black guys, baldness, birthmarks, and life. Hmmm, lice, lice O interesting,
(08:58):
basically everything, wow, everything, And it was continued, you know,
to be used medicinally throughout the ages. I never really
had garlic medicinally, but I think that you really need
a lot of it for it to really really you
know work. I did go to a doctor once because
I have a lot of neck issues, and he told
(09:19):
me to to crush some garlic and she led to
it and add an aspirin to it and then just
use it as like as used it as a Yeah,
on my neck.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Did you do that?
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I did my dad. My dad was was a doctor,
and he was like, it's that, but I.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Didn't use it. But I don't care.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I'm just gonna try it.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That is so funny. I love garlic so much, you know,
it's so funny. Pipa says he hates garlic, and he goes,
don't forget, I don't like garlic.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I go, I put garlic in everything. You love garlic,
And he's like, I do, but he didn't like garlic.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
He it doesn't like garlic. I put it in everything,
and our eggs in obviously pasta sauces everything.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
On bread like that's one of my favorite ways to
use garlic. Yeah, toast the bread and then get the
clove and just sit like that, the garlic bread or
roasted garlic.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah. Oh that was a new thing for me in
COVID when I would see videos and oh, really, put
the whole head of garlic in the oven and then
you mush.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It out and put it on a bread. Oh my,
that is the most incredible thing. With some olive oil
and some sea salt, flaky sea salt.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Oh my god. Did you know that Americans eat more
than two hundred and fifty pounds of garlic a year,
and some of it, well, most of it is grown
in California. Gilroy, California, which is the only town in
America that you can marinate a steak by hanging it
out on a clothes line. What is the capital of
garlic in the US. So ninety percent of US garlic
(10:52):
comes from Gilworth, from Gilroy, California.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Oh my god, I know it's in northern California. Yeah,
I love that quote that Will Rogers said that you
can marrn it to steak by hanging it outside. Why
because it's so garlicy. The smell is so garlicy. So
you just said that because it's so garlic and you
can just mariniz. That's well.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
You know, I didn't realize how versatile garlic is because
you can use it as a spice or I use
it to disease and foods. You can roast it, saute it,
slice it, pickle it, add it to butter, use it
as a aoli a timmy.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
TOUTI I mean it's you could use it as a spice,
But it's a vegetable. Garlic is a vegetable. Garlic is
a vegetable. Yeah, technically a vegetable because it comes from
the ground. It comes from the ground. It's related to
the your leaks. It's in the same family, and they're
in the lily family, the lily, lily family, the lily well,
(11:48):
the st stead.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
It's purple. Yeah, and it's super easy to grow and
inexpensive to buy.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Which is so because of that. It has always been
a food of the people, right, unlike spices that have
you know, traditionally been so expensive or rather historically been
so expensive.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It's easy to grow, and also.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Squirrels and other mammals they don't like the taste or
the smell of it, so they'll leave it alone and
it can continue to grow weeds. Like you said, it
is a different is a true story.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
After the break, we're heading into the kitchen to cook
a garlic e recipe for my new cookbook, Well Spon
and salsa mata.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, I don't like eggstimes.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I still love you. You love me, but you love
garlic more.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I love garlic.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I'm telling you you're gonna love this dish because it's
it's the garlic is the star dish.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Okay, yeah, what are.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
We making you know what's funny is I call them
Turkish eggs, but they're kind of have Middle Eastern roots,
so they're Turkish eggs, their.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Lebonese eggs there.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I don't know exactly what it is, but in Mexico
it's called Webbelskke's where we've been drinking, guys, where Wolve's
gone hok oke exactly, which is like a yogurt garlic
lemon sauce okay, and egg sits on for breakfast and
(13:18):
you scoop it up with sour dough bread.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Okay, all right, So I want you to what am
I doing?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Zest?
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Yeah, one full full lemon. So this recipe is from
your cookbook?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, so why this particular recipe, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I ate these eggs at a restaurant in Mexico and
I was like what is that.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
They were like, oh, these are Turkish eggs.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Or webbles gone Hokka, And I was like, what is hocoka?
And they were like, oh, it's just yogurt. So we're
gonna mix our We're gonna mix some yogurt. Okay, We're
gonna do one medium garlic clove. I usually do like two.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Yeah, let's make it garlic eatee.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We're gonna make it super garlic e So Hocoka is
like it's sort of like a like a dance, like
a super dense yogurt.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Right, it's like a milk. Yeah, it's actually like a sour.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Eam in between cream like Grandma mahugana and yogurt. Like
it's different in Mexico. I don't know exactly what it
is in.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Mexico, but if you if you can't find it, you
could substitute like yogurt like real fat. You know that
the hog comes from the now, which means sour. No,
it's like a sour yogurt, Like, it's kind of sour, right.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Put the lemon zest in the yogurt.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So it's like what like a cup of yogurt sort
of it's and it's one lemon zest.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah. I love the smell of this.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I'm a little nervous about the the egg that doesn't
eat eggs.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
All right.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Now we're gonna press, okay, press the garlic.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
This is my favorite garlic press in the world.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Really, I don't have a garlic press. I don't own
a garlic press.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Oh, I'm getting you.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
We gotta get my garlic press.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
This is pampered Chef. My aunt, who taught me how
to cook, was the one that told me there was
no better garlic press than pampered Chef.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Look how it comes out so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
You can put the whole cloven with the skin and
it'll come right out. Really Yeah. But then I get
stuck in my machine and I hate it. Okay, Wow,
then we're gonna here. You do that, and we're gonna
juice this lemon and put it in there too, so
you can do.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Half a lemon of lemon.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I this is.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Like whatever you want, whatever you lie. God, this garlic
is super super super juicy.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Oh God, my lemon doesn't fit in my lemon squeezer,
So then we're gonna squeeze the lemon we just zested.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
It's a big old lemon.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I'm only gonna do half.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
This is like my favorite profile.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yes, a little sour, citrusy salty. This is like my
favorite with the little kick.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I know you're excited about the frying of the egg,
but here's the thing. If you're gonna have any eggs,
it might as well be mine. Let me tell you
the secret to frying eggs. Spanish olive oil.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Oh that's a beautiful bottle.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Thank you, and you do a lot. I learned this
in Spain. You want to like really drown the egg.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
You made these for Pepa in Spain.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Wait before we do that, let's lay the bed of
your beautiful on the bottom, so that should make two.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Oh wow, so it's a lot. Okay, yeah, you put it,
spread it all underneath.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So then we put our little egg on top. Not
very it's runny.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
It's runny. Okay, you don't like it runny, I've never eaten.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Now you pour the salsa macha on top of the
egg like a drizzle it. It needs to be a
runny egg because you want it to break into that sauce.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
So it's like a hole.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And then the satsa matcha is like an Asian chili oil.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, well, salsa macha is Mexican, right do you want
to Usually I use that chili crisp.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
But it has but it has a similar profile. So
this is I love this. It's like this Middle Eastern.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
But then the which is like like dried chi or
wahiyo with nuts.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
I mean, it's just oh my gosh, I love a
good said so much. It's like one of my favorite things.
This that's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Isn't it beautiful?
Speaker 4 (17:25):
That is beautiful. Let's get I'm nervous. Might just have this.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
You can just have the sauce if you want, but
you so you want to break open that yokey and then.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Oh my gosh, I've never had this in my life. Okay,
scoop it up. Okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna
try it. Try a little bit. Do you love it?
I'm gonna t all about the sauce. I dipped a
little bit asa.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
But you could have the sour dough with the sauce
and it'd be completely happy.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Isn't it pretty?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Garlic?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Mm hm, it's delicious.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Oh still good.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
I had a little bit. I don't taste the egg.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, you can't. It's overwhelmed by the garlic. What is
a ten minute garlic? Girl, I've never heard of a
ten minute garlic.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
So it said, after you slice or dice or pressed
whatever your garlic, leave them be for ten minutes. Just
let them be for ten minutes. And by doing this,
you're allowing this enzyme that creates this chemical responsible for
the garlics anti bacterial properties. So by just leaving.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
It just the enzyme pops out.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
The enzyme pops out before cooking with it, so then
so that.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
We get the properties exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
And this is also exactly and this is also the
enzyme that gives garlic it's odor.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Once you cut it an intact once it's chopped or
pressed or crushed, that like pungent odor. Is the enzyme yeah, exiting.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Yeah, exactly, it's And it's this enzyme called alanaise that
when it's disrupted by chopping or cutting, you know whatever,
it chemically changes into something called alisin alison, which is
a sulfur containing molecule that gives it its smell. So
this sort of sulfur is absorbed into the blood stream
(19:33):
and then it escapes through perspiration or to your breast.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And that's where the rumor comes that it words off
evil spirits is because of the odor. Yes, it's not
because of the enzyme that's going to kill the dracula.
It's the odor that's been associated with warding off things
like vampires, demons, were wolves exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
And even the earliest bridal bouquets and wreaths include garlic
bulbs to ward off any evil.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
So next week is our Halloween episode, So get your
garlic ready to ward off those evil spirits.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
In parts of Mexico, garlic is thought to lower blood
pressure caused by fright. Here's a little tease if next
week spectacularly spooky Halloween episode featuring Aiden Castellano's host of
the podcast.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
Susto itself for people who don't know. But I feel
like if they're listening to Hunger for History, they shouldn't know, right,
is it? It's a cultural illness where after a big
scare or something traumatic, the soul separates itself from the body,
and if it's a severe enough scare or trauma, the
soul can even fragment, and there's different remedies for it
based on who you're talking to. For me, growing up,
(20:44):
it was sugar, a spoonful of sugar in a glass
of water, and if we had Susto, we had to
mix it up and then chug that and then I
also heard from some friends in Mexico City, for example,
after the earthquake I think it was in twenty seventeen,
the food vendors were outside after the earthquake. They were
offering bolios to people to kurausto. And again, this is
(21:07):
another thing that I just kind of always accepted as like,
oh yeah, I had suso, let me know, chuck the
water with sugar. And then after hearing about the bolos,
I was like, what is what's the relation? Why is
that happening? And then I looked into it and I
have an article here that I can send to you
as well, was that it's a food scientists and sometimes
think that it's because of whenever we are reacting to
(21:31):
stress or to fear, our metabolism spikes and we need
glucose because it's taking resources from you know, the body
to react to this fear or to this stress, and
so our body then needs glucose to kind of support
that spike and metabolism. Another thing with the bread also
is people think carbs are good to respond to the
(21:58):
acids and the stomach that increase again when people are
experiencing fear or trauma. And so it's just it's interesting
to see that these remedies that we've always thought maybe
as purely superstition, do have some sort of root in
an actual food science.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Hungary for History is a hyphen media production in partnership
with Iheart's Michael Fura podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
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