CHOP and STOP YOUR WAY TO HUGE HEALTH BENEFITS!
Although the Allium family is vast, it only includes a small number of edible plants: garlic, onions, shallots, green onions, leeks, and chives. We know that garlic can punch a big amount of flavor (and fragrance!) from just one little clove - and it can also offer gigantic health benefits as well. It has been known for its medicinal benefits for centuries, including more recently lowering blood pressure, protective against heart disease and it also appears to have anti-cancer effects — and this this the part that really jazzes me up!
In order to obtain these incredible health benefits, you’ll want to practice the CHOP and STOP method. That is, cut your garlic about 10-15 minutes before you use it. Garlic’s health benefits are caused by sulfur compounds formed when a garlic clove is chopped or crushed and the most well-known compound is allicin. However, allicin is a defense molecule compound that is formed within 10 -15 minutes after being cut and then begins to diminish Don’t worry! The garlic is still delicious and it has other great phytonutrients that will support good health, but the real superhero, allicin, is fleeting. Essentially what is happening is when the garlic is cut, it tries to heal itself by producing the sulfuric compound allicin. As these incredible health benefits rush in, we eat them and they are absorbed throught our digestive tract, and travel all over our body, exerting strong biological effects.
Much of the research on allicin in the edible allium family has been done on garlic, however, research finds similar chemicals present in the other family members. This is important because it suggests these other vegetables have similar health benefits.
Onion, too, has been researched and again, observing the CHOP and STOP method allows for allicin to produce in tha 10-15 minute window. One more thing about onions, when you peel them, make sure to peel as little of the outer most skin off, as flavonoids in onion tend to be more concentrated in the outer layers of the flesh. To maximize your health benefits, peel off as little of the fleshy, edible portion as possible when removing the onion's outermost paper layer. Even a small amount of "overpeeling" can result in unwanted loss of flavonoids. For example, a red onion can lose about 20% of its quercetin and almost 75% of its anthocyanins if it is "overpeeled." (WHFOODS.org).
So, remember, when you’re about to make dinner and you have a recipe calling for any of the allium vegetables, remember to CHOP and STOP for 10-15 minutes to gain the biggest nutritional bang for your buck.
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