An Ikea garlic press and garlic

A garlic press is a kitchen utensil designed to crush garlic cloves efficiently by forcing them through a grid of small holes, usually with some type of piston.

Garlic presses present a convenient alternative to mincing garlic with a knife, especially because a clove of garlic can be passed through a sturdy press without even removing its peel. The peel remains in the press while the garlic is extruded out.

Garlic crushed by a press is generally believed to have a different flavour from minced garlic; since more cell walls are broken, more of the garlic's strong flavour compounds are liberated.

The garlic press shown is from Ikea and was remarkably cheap, yet of all the garlic presses I have owned it's the most efficient and the easiest to clean. Highly recommended.

Jamie Oliver 'no peel' garlic press

In most recent Jamie Oliver cookery programs, he promotes his Jamie Oliver garlic press by showing it presses garlic without the need to peel the garlic first. I tried this yesterday with the Ikea press and to my surprise, the Ikea press does exactly the same (for less than £3). I feel a bit silly for not trying it before!

For best results I would trim the rough stumps first and remove the skins left in the press after 3 or 4 cloves have been crushed.

See also

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