Cover This Superfood in Melted Chocolate and Watch What Can Happen to Inflammation and Heart Health

Garlic is a pungent herb, and is one of nature’s best antibiotics. Plus, due its high nutrient content and immune stimulators, garlic is classified as a superfood herb. Consuming garlic on a regular, ideally daily, basis will benefit your health exponentially. But, finding ways to incorporate garlic into your diet can be challenging.

Don’t worry, though. Below is a recipe for chocolate (yes, chocolate) covered roasted garlic cloves. First, though, as if you needed convincing, check out these impressive health benefits garlic can offer you.

Health Benefits of Garlic

Immunity Boost

While garlic contains over 100 biologically active compounds, its high allicin content make it a seriously powerful immune-boosting superfood. Plus, garlic’s anti-viral and anti-fungal agents have bene known to have incredible immune-stimulating effects!

According to a study by the University of Maryland Medical Centre, garlic may help prevent or reduce cold and flu symptoms. In the study, people took either garlic supplements or a placebo for 12 weeks during the cold season (November and February). Those who took garlic had fewer colds than their placebo counterparts, and if they did by chance get sick, their symptoms were less intense and shorter.

Antioxidant Packed

Research on garlic proves it to be the world’s most powerful antioxidant. With that, garlic has the ability to increase your body’s overall antioxidant levels of the body, reducing your susceptibility to certain cancers.

In fact, a large-scale study, called the Iowa Women’s Health Study, looked at how much garlic 41,000 middle-aged women ate. The results were impressive, showing that women who regularly ate garlic had a 35% lower risk of developing colon cancer.

Inflammation Fighting

The Arthritis Research and Therapy journal has long touted the anti-inflammatory power of garlic, making it the perfect food for fighting inflammation-related health issues, like swollen joints. The secret lies in garlic’s high sulfur content that prevents the activation of inflammatory enzymes in the body.

Heart Healthy

Garlic is used for many conditions related to the heart and blood system. These include a wide range of issues, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and heart attacks. In fact, many individuals who experience hypertension have switch to using garlic to lower their blood pressure. This was supported by a German study, proving that garlic can prevent heart disease caused by clogged arteries and plaque build up.

Chocolate Covered Garlic Recipe

If you’re a garlic lover, then you probably don’t need convincing that roasted garlic is a special treat. But why stop there, bump up the flavor (and make it extra kid friendly) by covering them in chocolate. There are numerous dark chocolate benefits, as well, so it will bump up the benefits of garlic even more. While this may seem like a weird treat, these are a fan favorite and will be gone before you know it! You’ve been warned.

Ingredients

6 heads of garlic
a few tablespoons of oil

1/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 T unsalted butter

Instructions

Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

Put each garlic head in foil and place them in a cupcake tin.
Drizzle a couple teaspoons of oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated.
Drizzle each head with honey.

Close the foil over each head.
Bake at 400 F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small knife to cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Melt the chocolate chips with the butter in a double boiler or the microwave.
Dip each clove of garlic in chocolate.
Place chocolate covered garlic on parchment paper and place in the refrigerator to cool.