A garlic press, also known as a garlic crusher, is a kitchen utensil to crush garlic cloves efficiently by forcing them through a grid of small holes, usually with some type of piston. Many garlic presses also have a device with a matching grid of blunt pins to clean out the holes.
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The inventor of the garlic press is generally held to be Karl Zysset (1907–1988) founder of the Swiss kitchen utensil company Zyliss.[1][2]
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. Some sources[3] also claim that pressing with the peel on makes cleaning the press easier.
Garlic crushed by a press is generally believed[citation needed] to have a different flavor from minced garlic, more of garlic's strong flavor compounds are liberated. A few sources prefer the flavor of pressed garlic. Raw-foods chef Renée Underkoffler says "a good garlic press makes dealing with garlic a clean pleasure. Pressed garlic has a lighter, more delicate flavor than minced garlic because it excludes the bitter center stem."[4] The magazine Cook's Illustrated says "a good garlic press can break down cloves more finely and evenly than an average cook using a knife, which means better distribution of garlic flavor throughout any given dish."[5]
On the other hand, some chefs say garlic crushed in a press has an inferior flavor compared to other forms of garlic. For instance, chef Anthony Bourdain called garlic presses "abominations" and advised "don't put it through a press. I don't know what that junk is that squeezes out of the end of those things, but it ain't garlic."[6] The cookery writer Elizabeth David wrote an essay titled "Garlic Presses are Utterly Useless".[7] Alton Brown (known for his dislike of single-purpose kitchen tools) has referred to garlic presses as "useless" and without a reason to exist.[8]
Cook's Illustrated lists some additional uses for a garlic press, such as mashing other small items (including olives, capers, anchovies, ginger and canned chipotles) or pressing out small quantities of onion or shallot juice.[5]
Collection
editThe largest collection of unique garlic presses is thought to be owned by Tord Elfwendahl, Stockholm, who has since 1979 collected an excess of 1200 unique Garlic presses.[9]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Mueller Science: 500 Schweizer Primeurs, Schweizer Erfindungen und Schweizer Entdeckungen ; retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ "Zylyss".
- ^ For example, the Epicurious Food Dictionary Archived 2006-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Underkoffler, Renée (2004). Living Cuisine: The Art and Spirit of Raw Foods. Avery. ISBN 1-58333-171-9. p. 179.
- ^ a b Wu, Sandra. "Notes from Readers", Cook's Illustrated, Sept. & Oct. 2006 p. 3.
- ^ Bourdain, Anthony (2001). Kitchen Confidential. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-093491-3. p. 81.
- ^ David, Elizabeth (2000). Is There a Nutmeg in the House?. Viking. ISBN 0-670-03033-3. p. 51.
- ^ Rothman, Wilson (27 August 2009). "Alton Brown: Kitchen Gadget Judgment Calls - Yea or Nay?". Gizmodo.com. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
- ^ "The Garlic Press Collector". www.garlicpress.org. Retrieved 24 April 2023.