The "stinking rose" comes in pill and juice form, is famed for curing a boatload of ills and can turn a fearsome vampire into a whimpering kitten, but that's not why it is an object of obsession the world over. People devote festivals, poems and entire books to garlic because it tastes so freaking good.
Love it or hate it, you still need to know what to do with it, so here's your primer on the year-round bulb that packs more punch than a mountain of spices:
This article appears in Jan 14-20, 2009.