Allium sativum L. isn’t some spell from the Harry Potter books, it’s the name of one of the most common kitchen staples around the world—garlic. For thousands of years, garlic has been used not only to add flavour to food but also as a form of traditional medicine.
Little known fact: Garlic was called ‘Russian penicillin’ during the Second World War after microbiologist Louis Pasteur demonstrated its bactericidal properties.
Recently, countries such as Japan, Korea, USA, Australia and the Phillipines have begun to develop and produce a new type of this kitchen commodity, namely black garlic.With an estimated market value of approximately US $94 million in Korea and America alone, black garlic became the trigger to establishing companies specializing in its production in Japan. These countries have been developing the product after realizing its medicinal and economic potential. Bangladesh is yet to hop onto this wagon owing to lack of social reputation of black garlic within the country, which in turn is the consequence of a lack of publicity and insufficient research in the area.
Black garlic has been developed in Bangladesh for the first time by Dr Subodh Kumar Sarkar, an Associate Professor and the Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, in cooperation with Dr Jin Ichi Sasaki, Former Professor of Hirosaki University of Health Sciences, Japan.
Three types of black garlic have been developed so far, namely NSTU- BG- 1 (DL- BG), NSTU- BG- 2 (DS-BG) and NSTU- BG- 3 (CL- BG). It has been found through this research that all three types contain the presence of higher concentrations of flavonoids, alkaloids, saponin, tannin, cardiac glycosides and reducing sugar compared to three types of fresh garlic. The experimental results of extracts of both NSTU- BG-1 (DL-BG) and NSTU-BG-2 (DS- BG) showed strong antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria as well.
The results of antibacterial activity and phytochemical screening indicated the presence of potent bioactive compounds in both NSTU- BG- 1 (DL- BG) and NSTU- BG -2 ( DS- BG), which might be useful as a medicinal supplement to control pathogenic bacterial infections especially caused by gram-positive bacteria.
The findings of this research and the development of three varieties of black garlic were presented in two International conferences, 4th AFSA International Conference on Food Safety and Food Security in Cambodia on August 11, and the 3rd International Black Garlic Summit in Hachinohe, Japan on September 6.
For his work, Dr Subodh Kumar Sarkar received an award as the “Black Garlic Ambassador” in the 3rd International Black Garlic Summit in Hachinohe, Japan on September 6.
The researchers behind this project believe that with proper support from the government, financial and otherwise, it will be possible to produce black garlic on a large scale and encourage its consumption throughout the country. Consumers would benefit from its use due to its medicinal properties, which promote better human health. From an economic perspective, black garlic can be exported internationally to earn a lot of foreign currency.
Black garlic, dubbed as a ‘vege fruit’ by Dr Jin Ichi Sasaki, is a processed garlic product that exhibits a less pungent odour compared to regular variety garlic, and a sweet taste. As a result, it is readily edible without any food additives. Its medicinal significance lies in its exhibition of antioxidant, antibacterial, antidiabetic and antitumor activities, as well as its cholesterol and blood pressure controlling properties.
