The oldest work of literature in the Mongolian language is The Secret History of the Mongols. It begins with the story of a widow, Hö’elün, abandoned in the harsh and desolate steppe with her children after her husband is killed by a rival tribe. An ingenious 13th-century blend of epic narrative and verse, the book describes how this brave, wise woman, undaunted, saved them all from starvation by foraging for mushrooms, roots, wild onions and garlic. One of the boys, Temuçin, would grow up to be the legendary Genghis Khan, ruler over the largest contiguous empire in history, founded in 1206, just a decade before the book was written.

According to botanists, garlic is native to Central Asia, like its relatives the onion, chive and leek. Our common garlic is believed to derive from an allium still found on the slopes of the Tian Shan (Celestial Mountains), the neighbouring Pamir-Alai Mountains and Kopet Dağı, which later naturalised in other parts of the world and became one of the earliest, most widespread domesticated plants. Its ethnobotanical significance and its cultivation in Asia go back thousands of years. Analysis of pottery finds unearthed in Bronze Age Uzbekistan prove that it was already fully integrated into agricultural life four thousand years ago.

The Hittites talk of garlic in the 2nd millennium BC, and at Yassı Höyük, a mound near Kahramanmaraş in eastern Anatolia, Turkish archaeologists have discovered 2,800-year-old carbonised garlic cloves (along with 21 kilograms of chickpeas) that confirm that garlic was being cultivated in Iron Age Anatolia. Today cuisines all over the world benefit from garlic’s distinctive flavour. Botanically, cultivated garlic (Allium sativum) is a perennial. Its bulb comprises between ten and 20 cloves, wrapped in a papery, silky coat, or tunica. The long, blade-like leaves appear in spring, and in summer it produces flowerheads in the form of showy white or pink pompons. Ornamental species make a pleasing addition to herbaceous borders…

THE RECIPES

• Sucuk Köftesi / Garlicky Köfte
• Çilbir / Eggs with Garlic Yoghurt
• Tarator / Walnut Sauce
• Kiirmizi Pancar / Beetroot Compote
• Cacik / Cucumber and Yoghurt Salad
• Patlican Salatasi / Aubergine Salad
• Tutmaç / Pasta with Garlic Yoghurt
• Sarimsak Turşusu / Garlic Pickle
• Körmen Börek / Wild Garlic Börek
• Wild Garlic Soup