No kitchen is complete without a few accessories all developed for the sole purpose of extracting the delicious flavor of garlic. No matter if a person is of an Italian descent, an Italian food lover, a professional chef, or a regular person who likes the taste of garlic, the proper garlic tools are necessities. Garlic is a strong smelling and tasting, and specific garlic gadgets make the cloves easier to peel, crush, chop, press, roast, and grate.
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| An Ikea garlic press, with pressed garlic. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Garlic is an ingredient present in many recipes. Since it can have a strong flavor, it is sometimes used in small amounts. However, there are many people who love the taste of garlic and can’t seem to get enough of it. For these people, garlic can be added to recipes in bulk. Since garlic must be removed from its skin before it is used, several tools can assist in making this sometimes difficult job much easier.
Most garlic tools can be purchased for a relatively small amount of money, some as little as a few dollars. However, there are quite a few tools which all do different things to a clove of garlic, and a person may or may not need all of them. The need for the tools depends on how much garlic a person tends to use in their daily or weekly cooking.
Garlic Peeler
No matter if a single garlic clove or a whole head of garlic is being used for a recipe, everyone can benefit from a garlic peeler. Anyone who has ever tried to peel individual garlic cloves using their fingernails knows how tedious it can be. A garlic peeler can greatly speed up the peeling process and it is very easy to use. By placing a clove or garlic in a garlic peeler, the skin of the garlic sticks to the peeler and the inside of the garlic clove is left for cooking. Using this tool will speed up the garlic peeling process and at the same time it will alleviate the everlasting garlic smell that can remain on fingers.
Garlic Roasters
True garlic lovers should not live without a garlic roaster. While a piece of aluminum foil can serve as a makeshift garlic roaster, an official roaster, made out of a terra cotta plate, a rounded lid, and ventilation holes, is the best way to roast a head of garlic. Placing an entire head of garlic (with the top cut off) in a roaster and drizzling it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and baking for about one hour will yield a delicious, soft head of garlic. Individual garlic cloves can be squeezed out of the head and spread directly on a cracker or a piece of bread for a delicious treat.
Garlic Slicers
It’s very difficult to cut garlic into very thin pieces using a knife, and it takes a lot of practice and experience to slice garlic in an efficient manner. So, if a large number of garlic slices is needed for a recipe, a garlic slicer can come in very handy. Garlic slicers ensure that pieces of garlic are uniform in shape and thickness, and they are as easy to use as cheese graters!
Garlic Keepers
Most people come home from the grocery store with a bag full of garlic heads and throw them in the refrigerator. This, however, is not a recommended place to store garlic. In fact, garlic should not be stored on a kitchen counter either since direct sunlight is not good for it. Garlic keepers can be cute accessories to add to any kitchen, as they come in many styles. Storing heads of garlic in a garlic keeper allows the garlic to remain in a cool, dry place away from sunlight.
Garlic Press
Simply chopping a clove of garlic into a million pieces with a knife and a chopping board does not produce the same effect as a piece of garlic that has been put through a garlic press. A garlic press is a tool that squeezes the garlic and presses it into tiny pieces. Some recipes call specifically for pressed garlic, and there is really no way to obtain pressed garlic without using this specific tool.
There are numerous other garlic tools and gadgets available, and most are very inexpensive. The best way to determine what is needed in a specific kitchen is to evaluate the daily, weekly and/or monthly garlic consumption in a household, and judge what tools would make preparing the garlic easier for the cook.
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