Addressing a different problem based on the same principle.

Peeling garlic cloves. Aim: fresh, crisp cloves while avoiding the handwork approach (there are many supposedly easy shortcuts that don't really work. Example: short time in microwave.)

I love fresh garlic - vastly superior to various preservation methods (e.g., pickled cloves, whole or crushed), but hate peeling them by hand using any of the various approaches to getting all the skin off, down to that last translucent layer.

I love the shortcut of buying peeled cloves in plastic bags - stashed in a corner of the produce department. However (as most of you have probably experienced), the cloves seem to develop a layer of slime in no time, right inside the bags. It's just another side effect of humidity forming in the packaging. Besides the slime, the cloves can also rapidly develop nasty white bumps alongside green/blueish edges right inside those bags. If you're frugal and not too squeamish, you can remove those nasty bits of (outright) mold - the blueish ones and white bumps (yes, it's ugly, but what's left isn't toxic). I've found the bagged, peeled cloves won't even stick to each other allowing you to salvage the good ones and even the partial remainders without waste.
(Frustratingly, some cloves remain fine, right next to the yucky ones).

What to do?

Sure, you can cut these pieces off, after rinsing the slimed cloves in an attempt to salvage the garlic. There's no real solution that compares to fresh peeled garlic (however much they torture your undernails.) done the hard way. (And if you crush them in a handy dandy doo-dad (there are many - I have several - that leaves the garlic super tangy. Sometimes even so painfully, they almost burn the tongue.

Here's Amanda's next to best garlic prep so as to take advantage of the bagged cloves, without enduring either slime or various molds (or wasting the whole bag)!

Remove the cloves from the bag (having made sure you check for the freshest date when purchasing them - easier said than done, all too often). If there's even the faintest bit of slipperiness, wash them first, before drying them in good paper towels. After leaving them first on the countertop for a while until they're quite dry, spread them out on a plate in your frost-free fridge.

Humidity - the enemy - won't develop.

This method will salvage those bagged, peeled cloves - the handiest way to get lots of peeled garlic (but, alas, so quick to go bad). (Chopping the cloves - crushing them, if you prefer - will yield pieces almost as tangy as just-peeled even if you leave them in the fridge a week or more before use. What's critical is avoiding humidity (don't know why they don't sell those plastic bags with perforation).

If you do insist on hand peeling your fresh garlic, make sure to buy only the very largest cloves, chopping off the whole bottom with a serrated knife - the opposite side too. This will allow you to remove the skins most easily (rubbing a handful at a time, can help them fall off.) Working underwater will make it easier to get them off and reduce the pungent oil from your skin - a bit of clean fingernail will serve as a useful tool, to get them all the way off. (PIB but better than teensy cloves with fragile skins.)

I just hope your guests appreciate all your trouble! If they complain about your garlicky skin, allow them to do the honors next time. (I've found crushed parsley rubbed firmly on your skin, is the best odor remover - can even work pretty well to improve your breath by chewing!)

The best way to nullify garlic breath, of course, is to make sure everyone is consuming about the same amount!

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
My mom made the tall pot, and I made the garlic keeper!

Swooonnning!!!

Amanda, have you seen the trick where you peel garlic by shaking it in a jar?

It’s method 2 on this website.

Amanda Try one of these - just do one clove at a time. Works great for me (though I sometimes still just put the clove between my big knife and the cuttings board and give it a whack with my hand - the husk, or whatever you want to call it comes right off.

https://youtu.be/riOU721ZEjI

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Amanda, have you seen the trick where you peel garlic by shaking it in a jar?

It’s method 2 on this website.

Sounds unbelieveable but I'm always up for newer, better ways of garlic peeling because I am a great fan of garlic - used in greater quantities that most of you seem to want to use them ("A few cloves at a time"?? What th-?? Never heard of such a thing. Even when I see a recipe that speaks of using a few cloves I wonder what planet the cook comes from! ).

Whether it's hummus or Moroccan chicken or salmon steaks with sliced lemons, including the rind (THERE the big nuisance is getting all the seeds out) for three examples, I use about a WHOLE garlic apiece. (Don't know the term, but I'm referring to the unit of cloves which includes all the cloves joined!)

I do have the mason jars, so I'll see how it goes - relying on my method to avoid humidity by leaving the peeled cloves without any cover in the fridge. Wonder if this or something similar is the secret for peeling they use to bag them - have always been curious.

(That sure is a gorgeous knife used for crushing large single cloves shown in method #1, step 3.)

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Amanda Try one of these - just do one clove at a time. Works great for me (though I sometimes still just put the clove between my big knife and the cuttings board and give it a whack with my hand - the husk, or whatever you want to call it comes right off.

https://youtu.be/riOU721ZEjI

That looks novel, though I don't know just where I'd get that rubbery thing (maybe it would work with a piece of those kind of criss-crossing rubber things used to unscrew tight lids - will look for pic).

Here:

And again, imagine my incredulity at any reference to using "ONE CLOVE AT A TIME"!?!

I guess you all know that fresh garlic is a well known health food, especially for strengthening the immune system. (Because it repels infected people? Wonder why it hasn't yet been recommended as a COVID remedy.)

Not in the market for an expensive small kitchen appliance, but this article about a Swedish bread dough mixer was pretty cool.

https://www.wired.com/review/a...-assistent-original/

Sadly, I still haven't baked that bread I promised Mr wtg....

Wow, that mixer looks amazing. Honestly, though - my kitchen aid has been fantastic for what I’ve been doing with it, the dough hook makes great dough! I used it with the sweet rolls I made last weekend and it worked perfectly.

I have a 1980s era KitchenAid and it does a decent job on bread dough. I let the mixer do most of the work but I still like to hand knead the dough before I let it rise.

That Swedish thing does look like da bomb, though....

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Amanda Try one of these - just do one clove at a time. Works great for me (though I sometimes still just put the clove between my big knife and the cuttings board and give it a whack with my hand - the husk, or whatever you want to call it comes right off.

https://youtu.be/riOU721ZEjI

I have one of those silicone tubes. Works great! But not worth the trouble for just. 1 or 2 cloves. Also the fresher the garlic is, the more tightly the skins stick to the clove, so it all depends.

I have my mom’s KitchenAid stand mixer; she never used it. I hardly ever use it either! I made cinnamon rolls last week and just kneaded by hand because it’s such a big production to get the mixer out. They turned out great anyway.