The Ancient Tibetan Garlic Cure

 Organic garlic

Last year a colleague of mine told me that her grandmother makes her own garlic potion to stay healthy. She marinates garlic in alcohol for up to six weeks and when the potion is ready, she drinks few drops a day for few weeks. She repeats this cure every year and never gets sick.

I wondered if anyone else knew about the garlic cure and started an online search. To my surprise the search produced the "Tibetan garlic cure." The post showed up on several blogs and some bloggers claimed that this healing garlic recipe was inscribed on a clay tablet that was discovered in the ruins of ancient monastery in Tibet sometime around 1971. The formula was deciphered and translated to many languages by an UNESCO commission. 

Unfortunately, I do not have any better information and cannot verify this claim, but I know that the therapeutic properties of garlic were known in many cultures for centuries, and that many cultures use alcohol to prepare herbal liquors, tinctures and medicinal wines. The Chinese used therapeutic liquors for centuries; so did Hildegard von Bingen in Medieval Europe. Herbs, flowers, fruits, roots, and even small animals (such as snakes) or animal parts were preserved in alcohol. Alcohol potentiated the healing properties of used ingredients and allowed better preservation from spoilage. To this day Chinese pharmacies in Hong Kong and everywhere where Traditional Chinese Medicine is practiced, sell therapeutic wines. You can see a coiled snake or a ginseng root that has been preserved to extract the its highest healing potential.  

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a plant native to Central Asia. For thousands of years garlic has been used not only in cooking, but also as medicine. The Sumerians, Egyptians, Chinese, Tibetans, Indians, Ancient Greeks and Romans, all valued garlic's therapeutic qualities. They discovered garlic's potential to kill germs and used it as medicine to cure various infections, including typhus, dysentery, influenza, and cholera.

Modern research confirms what the ancients knew for ages. Garlic not only kills germs, it is also an effective herb that can be used modulate and strengthen the immune system. Scientists also found that garlic can also prevent cardiovascular disease and reduce blood pressure.  

Garlic seems to be a very healthy herb all by itself. Is it possible that preserving it in alcohol enhances its healing potential even more? 

Miron glass bottles with garlic tincture

To make the garlic solution you will need about 12 ounces (350 g) garlic, 3 ounces of 96% pure, food grade alcohol, and a tight closing jar. 

I decided to use a violet Miron glass jar. Miron glass blocks the complete spectrum of visible light with the exception of the violet part. At the same time it allows a certain part to be permeable for radiation in the spectral range of UVA, and infra red light. This unique combination offers optimal protection against the aging processes that are released by visible light, thus lengthening durability and potency of products. Scientists in Germany found that Miron glass enhances the therapeutic strength of products stored in it.

Making the Tibetan Garlic Cure

• Wash and sterilize the jar. Dry it carefully and set aside.
• Peal the garlic. I suggest you wear rubber gloves.
• Roughly chop the garlic cloves and transfer them into your clean jar.
• Slowly pour the alcohol into the jar making sure that the garlic is well covered. Add more alcohol if you find it necessary. 
• Tightly close the lid and place the jar in a cool, dark place. Allow the garlic to marinade for 10 days.
• After 10 days carefully open the jar and strain the garlic tincture through a sieve pouring it into a clean measuring jar. 
• Pour the clear liquid into a clean dark glass bottle and close it with a pipette stopper.  (I used Miron glass bottles)

This is how the Tibetan garlic should be made according to various websites. I changed the method a bit remembering that my colleague's grandmother kept her garlic in alcohol for at least three weeks. I allowed the tincture to mature even more when I transferred it into two small Miron glass bottles. I stored the bottles for another three weeks before I began the cure. 

There is a suggested way to administer the garlic cure beginning with one drop and breakfast on the first day and increasing the amount with each meal up to 25 drops on day eleven. Continue taking 25 drops per meal until the tincture is finished. Remember to shake the bottle before each use and take the tincture in 1/2 cup of milk that was warmed up to the room temperature.   

 

I am not sure that such "schedule" is necessary, although some homeopathic or alchemical principles might be involved here. I decided to take two drops with each meal, three times a day and I take it either in a spoon of yogurt or a spoon of honey to neutralize the strong garlic taste.  

 

The tincture is said to have incredible healing potential: 

• it may help decrease blood pressure
• it may improve blood circulation
• it may help regulate and balance blood lipids
• it may prevent the LDL cholesterol buildup in arteries
• it may help prevent thrombosis
• it may help speed up metabolism and stimulate fat burning in the body
• it may help detoxify the kidney and improve the kidney function
• it may help improve the function of the immune system
• it may help eradicate candida
  

These statements are based on the generally accepted properties of garlic. In many cultures the smelly bulb was used for centuries not only to spice the food, but also to cure countless ailments. Modern research shows that certain compounds in garlic may in fact be effective to prevent cardiovascular disease.

 

Many people use the Tibetan garlic cure to detoxify the body, clean the arteries from arterial plaque, balance sugar, protect against cancer, and to strengthen the immune system. The efficacy of this natural remedy was not tested in the lab, however, those who use it swear to it.

Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2014

 

*This information is for educational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure a disease.