Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family. It has a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking.


Allium grows in the wild in areas where it has become naturalized. I first came in contact with it in the Mediterranean. It grows in the dunes and rocky cliffs near the shore line and in great abundance.

Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavor, as a seasoning or condiment as well as for medicinal purposes. Garlic is essential to several Mediterranean dishes such as aioli of Provence and Spain, and ajoblanco, a refreshing cold Spanish soup made by blending garlic, ground almonds, olive oil and soaked bread.

These were photographed on the shore of a Mediterranean beach where they are often "picked" at the end of a beach day to be taken home and used in cooking and dried flower arrangements. This wild garlic is much more mellow in flavor than traditional commercial garlic and is favored by many for just that reason.


The original photo was processed in Photoshop to bring out the texture of the flower heads and to add depth and dimension against the sky. 



As a remedy it is used to fight the common cold. My grandfather, when feeling a cold coming on, would need his "fix" to set him straight for the next day's work. I would peel and crush several cloves of fresh garlic and immerse them in a shot glass filled with melted butter. The shot glass would rest on the stove top until it was warm. Then gramp (in his 90's) would drink the concoction in one gulp and immediately chase it down with a whiskey. The next day he was up at the crack of dawn and back in the fields!



Now that's saying something for the power of garlic!