Here are Five Ways to Get Rid of Bad Garlic Breath

Tuesday was National Garlic Day. Yes, I know. That’s a random national holiday, but it’s one that I can certainly get behind and celebrate. I love garlic and will eat just about anything with garlic in it. By the way, to fully illustrate my love for garlic, I found a killer recipe for Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic that I will share with you in a bit. And yes! That’s precisely what the recipe is. It’s a whole chicken with 40 cloves of garlic shoved up in it.

Now, as much as I love garlic, Kevin abhors the smell of it. I don’t why he’s so sensitive to it, but he can smell it from the proverbial mile away.

If I have eaten anything with garlic in it- pasta sauce, garlic bread, salsa- he will walk in the house and instantly say, “You ate garlic today, didn’t you?” I immediately get a guilt trip from him like he’s the Vampire Lestat and can’t be around it. It’s always so dramatic and so annoying.

As it turns out, there’s some science behind why some people find the smell of garlic so repellent. And it’s not because they sleep in coffins and burst into flames if they see sunlight. As it turns out, humans have been eating garlic for about 5,000 years.

Mara Grunbaum wrote a fascinating article for LiveScience.com back in 2019. It was called “Why Do We Love Garlic But Hate Garlic Breath?” In it, she shares an interesting fact. Garlic breath doesn’t come from your breath at all. Garlic breath comes when the garlic starts to interact with your stomach.

It’s kind of complicated, but here’s the gist of what happens. According to Mara’s article, gastric juices break down the garlic and that releases sulfides. One of them (AMS) is really tiny and slips into your bloodstream. Those molecules eventually work their way into your lungs and you essentially end up breathing out a bunch of garlic like Puff the Magic Dragon.

Now, here’s some more drama from the Benefield household. If Kevin and I both eat garlic, there’s no issue because he has eaten it too and just smells himself. However, if I’m the only one who’s eaten garlic, he grabs the remote control and cranks up the drama on the Royal Househusbands of Owensboro to about a 12.

And, I’ll own this. I’m a sweater. And, if I eat a lot of garlic and then get hot, chances are I’m going to sweat out something that smells like the Mizkan plant here in Owensboro. I’m not sure I can do anything about my entire body smelling like the dumpster at Olive Garden, but there are some things you can do to curb “garlic breath.”

But honestly, I don’t mind garlic breath, because I love garlic so much. So what? Eating garlic makes you smell. I say go for it.

In fact, go for this! I promised you a great recipe for Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic! Here it is. There are actually several recipes like this floating around on the internet. Here’s a great one from YouTube!

Now, warning. After you devour this chicken, you are most definitely going to have garlic breath!