Whatever dish we make, western or Asian, we need garlic cloves quite often. Garlic can enhance dishes with great aroma and nutrition. Way back thousand years ago, garlic was widely used as a medicine. Unfortunately, peeling garlic is not a pleasant job. Many of the traditional Chinese dishes, like braised tofu with roast pork, have to use whole garlic cloves, not minced garlic. Is there any easy way to get the troublesome peeling job done?
How To Peel Garlic
If you need crushed or minced garlic, smashing with a knife might be the quickest way to get the garlic skin off as you don’t need a whole, unbruised garlic clove intact. Just place the flat side of your chef’s knife on top of a garlic clove, then smash it with your free hand. There you go. The garlic skin will come off easily. If you trim off the woody end before smashing, the peel will come off from the flesh without any troubles at all. Then you can proceed with mincing.
A friend of mine told me she would like to give me a present, that’s a silicone garlic peeler. What a lovely idea. I placed a garlic clove inside the tube, rolling it back and forth with a light pressure by hand. Immediately I heard crinkle sound. Viola! Got a clean, peeled garlic in a few seconds, leaving no garlic odour on my hands.
While I was playing with this new kitchen gadget, hubby was quite curious to find out what I was actually doing. Then came his remark, “That works by friction. Your silicone mat should work too.” “Really? Let me try and see.” Bravo! All four garlic cloves rubbed with the two ends of my silicone mat came out totally peeled and clean. My silicone mat made the magic within 10 seconds.
What if without a silicone mat? Will a pair of plastic gloves work? So, my experiment went like this. Placed a glove on table, then put a garlic clove on top. Wore another glove and rubbed the garlic like I did with the silicone mat before. The garlic skin came off as well. Comparatively, plastic gloves produce less friction with less working area than a silicone mat, as a result I felt a bit troublesome.
My peeling garlic experiment didn’t stop there, still went on. I placed 3 garlic cloves in a glass jar, tightly screwed lid on. Then shook vigorously for a few seconds. There came out clean, peeled garlic, yet with a few bruises on.
The verdict: I like the silicone garlic peeler and silicone mat the most, that I could fully control how hard I press without bruising any garlic, and got totally clean, peeled garlic cloves with ease.
Notes:
If you need crushed or minced garlic, smashing with a knife might be the quickest way to get the garlic skin off as you don’t need a whole, unbruised garlic clove intact. Just place the flat side of your chef’s knife on top of a garlic clove, then smash it with your free hand. There you go. The garlic skin will come off easily. If you trim off the woody end before smashing, the peel will come off from the flesh without any troubles at all. Then you can proceed with mincing.
A friend of mine told me she would like to give me a present, that’s a silicone garlic peeler. What a lovely idea. I placed a garlic clove inside the tube, rolling it back and forth with a light pressure by hand. Immediately I heard crinkle sound. Viola! Got a clean, peeled garlic in a few seconds, leaving no garlic odour on my hands.
While I was playing with this new kitchen gadget, hubby was quite curious to find out what I was actually doing. Then came his remark, “That works by friction. Your silicone mat should work too.” “Really? Let me try and see.” Bravo! All four garlic cloves rubbed with the two ends of my silicone mat came out totally peeled and clean. My silicone mat made the magic within 10 seconds.
What if without a silicone mat? Will a pair of plastic gloves work? So, my experiment went like this. Placed a glove on table, then put a garlic clove on top. Wore another glove and rubbed the garlic like I did with the silicone mat before. The garlic skin came off as well. Comparatively, plastic gloves produce less friction with less working area than a silicone mat, as a result I felt a bit troublesome.
My peeling garlic experiment didn’t stop there, still went on. I placed 3 garlic cloves in a glass jar, tightly screwed lid on. Then shook vigorously for a few seconds. There came out clean, peeled garlic, yet with a few bruises on.
The verdict: I like the silicone garlic peeler and silicone mat the most, that I could fully control how hard I press without bruising any garlic, and got totally clean, peeled garlic cloves with ease.
Notes:
- Some Chinese fans/readers asked me where to get the silicon garlic peeler. My friend told me she got it from eCosway Australia. There is a store at Sunnybank. As far as I know, they have stores around the world. And you might find one near your place.
- Just a moment ago, I found a similar product on Amazon. Hope this info helps.
Thks Christine special this English version, so I can share your idea with my hubby! Actually he is my garlic 'peeler' and his nick-name as work is garlic man!!
ReplyDelete@catlux:
ReplyDeleteI bet “garlic man” will do so much better, haha.
I'm using a garlic press for minced garlic, and for whole bruised garlic, I cut off the two ends and crush with knife. I liked your experiments, will try out the glass jar method next time :)
ReplyDeletepls note if u hv a big garlic...then it cant go into the silicone tube
ReplyDeleteWow...that is great. I dont see this over here..I mean that silicon garlic peeler . I must check this out :) Very useful for peeling garlic without bruising it :) Thanks Christine for sharing this info !
ReplyDelete@bkhoon:
ReplyDeleteNo worries. Tried the biggest one that I had, the tube has enough room to put the garlic clove inside.
This is an interesting and useful post! Both you and your hubby are super genius!! Thanks for sharing your experiment!
ReplyDeletedo u have recipes for 芝麻糊
ReplyDeletethis is super interesting! thanks for sharing ur experiment too!
ReplyDeleteWhy not wear both gloves? You'd have more control that way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your many interesting garlic experiments. I usually do with smashing followed by mincing.
ReplyDelete@CFT:
ReplyDeleteI tried wearing both gloves actually. I felt it's more difficult to rub the garlic cloves between my two palms, and got me feel hurt. That's why I didn't like this method and didn't mention it.
You can get rid of the odour on your hands by rubbing your hands with soap and stainless steel fork or spoon.
ReplyDelete