Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is the bulb of a herbaceous plant traditionally assigned to the Liliaceae family, even if a more recent classification places it in the Amarillidaceae family, like onion. Beyond the family to which it belongs, garlic, due to its sterility, propagates exclusively by vegetative means or through the division and planting of the individual cloves.
Once grown, the plant first begins to sag and then dry up: this is the ideal time to harvest the bulbs, many agree that the best time to harvest is when the plant has only five or six green leaves left. Its characteristic odor is due to numerous organic compounds including alliin, a natural amino acid constituent of fresh garlic which, subjected to enzymatic action by alliine lyase (an enzyme present in the plant itself), is converted into sulfonates, primarily allicin, responsible for the plant's typically pungent odour.
