Martha Stewart’s Hack for Peeling Garlic Is Ingenious

Peeling garlic is usually tedious, frustrating, and messy. You’d never imagine that it could be fun. Well, Martha Stewart is here to change all that. The infinitely wise master of the kitchen realm recently revealed her ingenious method for peeling garlic, which she insists is actually “very fun.” And apparently it only takes ten seconds!

During an appearance on the Today Show, Stewart proved that you don’t need a unitasker like a garlic crusher to make adding this pungent ingredient to your favorite dishes a cinch. All you need to recreate her trick is two metal bowls. Seriously, it’s that simple.

Pop a couple whole bulbs of garlic into one of the metal mixing bowls, then place the second bowl on top of it. Then, using all the upper arm strength you can muster, shake the bowls back and forth. The friction from the layers of skin rubbing against each other as the garlic hits the sides of the bowl should cause the bulbs to peel themselves.

At the time, Savannah Guthrie rightly wondered, “Is this a magic segment or a Martha segment?” Yes it does seem like magic. No more standing over the cutting board picking away at paper-thin layers of skin. No longer must you scrub your fingers trying get the garlic smell off. Once again, Stewart pulls through with a way to make cooking easier and more fun.

Of course, this smart tip for peeling garlic has been around for a while (though I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard of it before).

If this one doesn’t work for you, you can always use the classic method: Smash the garlic with the flat side of your knife (gently but firmly; you want to be careful) until the bulb splits into cloves. While it’s much, much messier than Stewart’s method (and you will get that garlic scent all over your fingers and under your nails), the cloves should easily slip out of their skin.