Press release breathes hint of a more potent garlic

“Discovery could lead to more potent garlic, boosting flavor and bad breath” is the punch-in-the-nose headline in a news release from Virginia Tech. The lead researcher [pictured here, gazing at a test tube] explains:

“This information changes the whole story about how garlic could be improved or we could make the compounds responsible of its unique flavor,” said Hannah Valentino, a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ph.D. candidate. “This could lead to a new strain of garlic that would produce more flavor.”

The team offers punchy details, in a study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is called “Structure and function of a flavin-dependent S-monooxygenase from garlic (Allium sativum)“.

(Thanks to Davide Castelvecchi for bringing this to our attention.)