Are the health benefits associated with cooking with fresh garlic the same as when substituting garlic powder?
– Guy Betterbid
New York, NY
Garlic powder offers some, but not all, of the health benefits associated with fresh garlic.
A lot of garlic’s healthful properties come from its plentiful (and aromatic, to say the least) sulfur-containing compounds, many of which are lost when garlic is processed into powder.
Two more important tidbits about garlic and health:
- Elephant garlic offers significantly lower levels of these sulfur-containing compounds
- Garlic cloves with green centers have also lost a good portion of their healthful properties (even more so if the actual bulb is sprouting those green shoots!)
