I just ate 30 cloves of garlic. How do I not kill my coworkers?

September 4, 2007 6:25 PM

[GarlicFilter] Whenever I consume garlic, I smell like garlic for a week. I love garlic, and I don't want to stop eating it. What can I do to a) detox from the latest garlic-consumption and b) not smell like garlic in the future after making delicious stir-fry?
posted by moooshy to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

Try eating parsley, maybe.
posted by dilettante at 6:31 PM on September 4, 2007

For your hands, try lemon juice.
posted by annabellee at 6:35 PM on September 4, 2007

Warning: This is a link to an ebay item that inexplicably sort of looks like testicles. BUT - it's stainless steel - and I cannot find on the intarwebs but have seen before stainless steel bars of "soap" - maybe at Williams Sonoma? That are supposed to remove stinkiness from your hands with rubbing. Apparently also works if you have stainless steel spoons lying about.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:44 PM on September 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

Rinsing your hands with water while rubbing them on stainless steel (try your sink) will remove stinky garlic smell. Some stores even sell a little soap-bar sized stainless steel "nugget" you can use to wash your hands.

I was skeptical at first but it works!
posted by puddpunk at 6:45 PM on September 4, 2007

The Straight Dope says it works but admits it's probably a secret of the universe...

maven beat me :(
posted by puddpunk at 6:48 PM on September 4, 2007

Response by poster: Right, hands are fine -- but pores, head, feet, torso, arms, legs, elbow -- all garlicky. Which is lovely, in theory, but not at my small workplace....
posted by moooshy at 7:02 PM on September 4, 2007

The stainless steel you (probably) have in and around your kitchen sink works just as well as those little bars, but this only removes the smell from your fingers and hands, and the after-smell of garlic is not confined to the point of contact. (If, for example, you take off your shoes and stand on a peeled clove for about five minutes, you will find that your fingertips "emit" that garlicky smell. I've tried it.) I've found the only way to get rid of that smell is to try to sweat out as much of it as possible. A long run the morning after a garlic-heavy dinner seems to expel most of the smell, but I don't know any way to get rid of it altogether. Chewing parsley does go a small way to killing the aftertaste and SOME of the smell on your breath.
(and it's not really the answer you're after, but drinking lots and lots and lots of gin makes me smell so much like someone who's drunk lots and lots and lots of gin that no one notices the garlic smell)
posted by bunglin jones at 7:11 PM on September 4, 2007

Maybe you can't avoid that. Even kyolic, the garlic supplement specifically designed to be odorless, makes people smell like garlic later. In my opinion.
posted by salvia at 7:22 PM on September 4, 2007

I find that a hot bath can steam most of the onion/garlic-smell out of me. Then again, I'm not one of those people that emits the smell of anything I've eaten for very long. But perhaps if you chew parsley, exercise, shower, chew parsley, sit in the hot tub, chew some more parsley, get back on the treadmill, then shower...? Not so practical after lunch break, though.
posted by desuetude at 7:35 PM on September 4, 2007

The more you cook the garlic, the less breath and body odor it will cause. Try cooking the garlic long and slow, separately from other stir fry ingredients. Also, try roasting garlic until it's practically a paste.
posted by beagle at 7:37 PM on September 4, 2007

Fresh garlic will do that.
So cook the garlic (chopped, saute in oil) till it begins to brown. THEN add it to your recipe.
You get the taste, but it won't go thru your pores.

You're talking about a couple of cloves or less, right?



shaking fist at desuetude and beagle on preview
posted by artdrectr at 7:38 PM on September 4, 2007

Run or work out the next day to sweat it out then take a hot soapy shower, or bath followed by a hot and then cold shower. Wash bedding. Keep bowels regular. If any of these are too personal or insulting, my Aunt Madge said them.
posted by longsleeves at 7:47 PM on September 4, 2007

what artdrectr said.
posted by longsleeves at 7:49 PM on September 4, 2007

Response by poster: Thank you all. Will do next time, but I fear for my coworkers tomorrow...
posted by moooshy at 8:14 PM on September 4, 2007

I've always found breath assure to get rid of the garlic emanations from breath, sweat, etc. Sorry, I would have included a link but for some reason I couldn't find a suitable one. Available at your local drugstore.
posted by mattholomew at 8:53 PM on September 4, 2007

I know someone with the same problem, and she takes a long jog after every garlicky meal to sweat it out. It's the only thing that works for her.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:24 PM on September 4, 2007

I'd heard that chlorophyll supplements can help with body odor. Don't know if they'd work with this particular kind of body odor.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 10:23 PM on September 4, 2007

I noticed that if my husband drank red wine with a high-garlic-content meal, the garlicky odor just seemed to ooze out every pore afterwards. YMMV.
posted by Lynsey at 9:12 AM on September 5, 2007