The 10-minute rule for garlic

By Sari Huhtala

I had been cooking with garlic for years before I realized I was missing one crucial step in my culinary routine – the one step that transforms garlic from a superfood to powerful medicine.

If you’ve ever cried while chopping an onion, you would have noticed how the juice released from the onion triggered those tears. Turns out those same potent organosulfur compounds that are in onions are just waiting to be released from your garlic buds. Following the 10-minute rule with garlic and onions gives you the best bang for your nutritional buck.

Onions and garlic, two foods that are in the allium family, not only love to be crushed or chopped, if you give them a 10-minute break after crushing or chopping, they reach their nutritional peak and they actually turn into medicine. When the cell membrane of an onion is cut, or a garlic bulb is crushed, it releases the enzyme alliinase. If you wait 10 minutes before heating or eating the onion or garlic, the alliinase fully converts to allicin. If you eat the garlic before it converts to allicin, the alliinase gets destroyed by your stomach acids.

Allicin is the true medicine.

A 2025 review in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology revealed that allicin may inhibit the growth of bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. Studies show it may also improve diabetes, reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, help treat psoriasis, malaria, mouth ulcers, and has beneficial effects on numerous cancers.

One study revealed that eating one single meal made with two teaspoons of raw crushed garlic that has been sitting for 10 minutes activates the expression of seven human genes, which turn on proteins and natural killer cells that prevent cancerous tumours, and help destroy bacteria and viruses.

How to get the most nutrition out of your garlic and onions

• Avoid heating crushed garlic and onions. Heating above 104 degrees F begins to destroy the enzyme allicin. At 167 degrees F the enzyme is completely destroyed within 60 seconds. Instead, try adding raw to meals, or add to a meal in the last stage of cooking so that the onions or garlic are only very lightly heated.
• There is no allicin in a garlic bulb or onion. The enzyme only forms when the cell wall is damaged. Crush it, or chop it and let it sit for 10 minutes.
• Within three hours the allicin in crushed garlic gets destroyed if it is stored in oil. Add crushed garlic to salad dressings just prior to using the salad dressing for best benefits.
• Store-bought minced garlic in oil has no medicinal value. All the allicin is destroyed.
• A spoonful of medicine. Straight up raw, crushed garlic may be a little too potent for the palate. Try adding it to a teaspoonful of raw honey to make the medicine go down. It actually tastes good.
• The allicin in crushed garlic degrades over time. It is best to use it after letting it sit for 10 minutes, rather than storing it. The allicin lasts about two days at room temperature.
• You’ll get more allicin from garlic that is minced or crushed versus chopped.

(This information is not intended to replace medical advice and treatment from a health care practitioner).

Sari Huhtala is the creator, publisher and editor of Alive and Fit Magazine, which was created in 2007.  She has over 25 years of experience in journalism and over 15 years of experience as a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor, and is a holistic chef, offering holistic cooking and edible wilds workshop, and My Farmacy workshops. She is an organic farmer, wild-crafter and grandmother, who has spent over 20 plus years navigating a holistic, healthy path for her family. Reach her at friends@thelaughingforest.ca 

Photo credit: ©sanapadh via Canva.com