How many of you have well-meaning friends who share every “produce hack” they find? I regularly get links to salad choppers, advice about PLU codes and GMOs, ways to grow your own produce from food waste and, of course, how to cut, dice, peel and otherwise DIY my own value-added produce.
I decided to put one of those hacks to the test in my kitchen recently. Did you know, you can peel an entire head of garlic in seconds?
I tried it, using two of the “hacks” I’ve seen on the internet, including two stainless steel bowls and a canning jar. I also pulled out a trusty tool my mom got for me, because we use a lot of garlic in this house. It’s a silicone sleeve specifically for peeling garlic.
Now, as a devoted fan of Alton Brown, I’m all for minimizing so-called unitaskers in the kitchen, but this garlic peeler thing? It’s awesome.
1. Let's make some noise
First up was the set of stainless steel bowls. This one I’ve tried in the past. You’re supposed to be able to put an entire head of garlic in the bowls and hold them together and shake vigorously for five seconds. Let’s make some noise
I shook vigorously, which created a heck of a clatter, for at least 10 seconds.
Result: Two bulbs peeled, 10 bulbs not
peeled:Fail
2. The ulitmate multitasker
Next up was the ultimate kitchen multitasker: the canning jar. I had a wide mouth pint size available, with a plastic lid. Bonus points: I use these jars to bop whole heads of garlic to separate bulbs. The ultimate multitasker
I gave this the same shake as the stainless steel bowls, vigorously, for about 10 seconds.
Result: Seven bulbs peeled, six bulbs not peeled.
More successful, but not a win.
3. Unitasker, FTW
Next, I brought out the unitasker, the silicone sleeve. I popped a few bulbs in it, rolled on the cutting board for about three seconds, et voilà, every one of them was peeled. Unitasker FTW
Result: Six bulbs peeled, zero not peeled.
The clear winner.