Garlic Press: Should You Buy One?
There is something extremely satisfying about using a garlic press. A knob of peeled garlic goes in the hopper, swing the arm over, and squeeze. Stress relief, plus perfect garlic! Entertaining though a garlic press might be, is it really a necessary tool in your kitchen?
In its favor, a garlic press is very handy for giving you a uniformly “minced” garlic that’s much smaller than we could get by hand. For those of us who love garlic flavor in every bite, or if you’re a little shy about your knife skills, this is fantastic. A garlic press is also very useful for those times when we need to crush a lot of garlic at once.
On the other hand, it’s a kitchen uni-tasker that takes up space in our drawer. The hopper gets clogged with garlic skins and becomes difficult to clean, especially if we forget to do it right away and the skins start to dry.
When we’re chopping vegetables for dinner anyway, it feels easier just to mince the garlic along with everything else rather than pull out another tool. And if you’re nervous about mincing something so small with a knife, it’s just as easy to crush it with a dinner fork as it is to use a garlic press.
On the whole, we’re not convinced that this is a necessary tool in our kitchens. But what do you think?