Garlic oil, also known as allicin, is an oily organic sulfide formed from alliin under the action of alliinase after garlic is crushed. It is mainly composed of diallyl trisulfide, diallyl disulfide, More than 30 kinds of sulfur-containing organic compounds such as diallyl sulfide, methallyl trisulfide, and dimethyl trisulfide are composed of antiviral, antibacterial, anti-tumor, lipid-lowering and hypoglycemic, and protective cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health , improve the body's immunity and other effects.
At present, the process of extracting garlic oil from garlic is relatively mature, and steam distillation, organic solvent extraction or supercritical fluid extraction is commonly used.
Among them, the solvent extraction method mainly extracts garlic oil based on its properties of being slightly soluble in water and easily soluble in organic solvents such as ethanol, benzene, and ether. There is no obvious difference between the garlic oil obtained by this method and that obtained by steam distillation. The choice of organic solvent is key. It is required that the solvent has good solubility for garlic oil, is easy to separate after the extraction, has a significant difference in boiling point, and does not contain other bad odors and solvent residues. The general process of the solvent method is: peel garlic → wash → mash → enzymatic hydrolysis → solvent extraction → distillation and separation → solvent recovery → garlic oil.