I’ll also testify to the ability of garlic to fend off illness. I’ve found that it absolutely works, but only preemptively. When there’s a ‘cold’ bug going around I try to remain vigilant as to how I’m feeling. If I feel the very first signs of a cold, that little ‘tickle’ or very start of a scratchy throat, I’ll immediately eat a clove of raw garlic, and then follow it with some more every hour or so until the ‘tickle’ is gone. It has worked every single time so long as I take the garlic right away. Put it off an hour or so and it’s then too late. The other, and even better way to go about it is to just to eat a clove every morning and evening when in danger of being exposed to whatever bug is going around, but then there’s no way to avoid garlic breath, lol. I’d much rather have garlic breath than have the bug! I swear by this, but the key is timing: it’s preventative.
That is very useful information. I’m making an elderberry tincture as a prep for cold and flu season. Funny how we go through that much more quickly than the garlic tincture! Elderberry seems to help after the fact, but I’m pretty sure it’s effective only for viruses. Garlic is both anti viral and antibacterial.
There are lots of recipes now for ‘refrigerator’ type pickled garlic, which use the least heat possible in processing in order to retain the most of the raw benefits:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/easy-refrigerator-pickled-garlic.aspx