What's the best way to grind fresh garlic cloves?
Asked by
ETpro (
34605
)
January 19th, 2011
They have the grinders that have a cage with a levered lid you press down to force the condiment against a wheel with a series of grinding teeth formed in it. You crank the wheel to rotate it against the object you wish to grind. But garlic and onion tend to come off in layers and end up going round and round with the wheel.
Does anyone know of a really good kitchen tool that will grind garlic cloves uniformly and completely. We want to spike up our salads and noodle soups with the natural antibiotic power of garlic without the painful experience of biting into a large chunk or whole clove of fresh garlic.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
16 Answers
I think that garlic needs to be a little bit drastic…so I’ll argue against grinding in general. I think a nice fine chopping works nicely.
Peel the clove. put it on a cutting board. Take a good wide-bladed chopping knife and turn it sideways (flat) and rest it on the clove. With your other hand hit the flat of the knife with the heel of your hand. It’ll smash the clove, then chop it up some more, and put in your dressing or your soup base.
I’m voting with @zenvelo I generally use the smashing with the flat of a knife technique and further chopping, depending on the use, method myself. And the nice thing about doing it that way is that you don’t have to peel the cloves first. You smash them, or at least I do, with the peel still on and then after you smash them the peel basically just slips off. Well, maybe not just slips of but you’ll see how easy it is to get the peels off that way. No fuss no muss. But sometimes I do use a garlic press depending on what I’m making but never a grinder or grater.
I like to grind it in a mortar with some sea salt to absorb the juices.
A second vote for @zenvelo I make my own red sauce and the method described is what I follow… smash and chop.
@zenvelo Thanks. No equipment to buy.
@crisw Good idea. That sound worth a try.
A third for smash and chop.
No votes for a garlic press?
Garlic presses work well. However, IMHO, the best tool for the job is a chief’s knife.
the procedure is simple. Place the clove under the flat part of the knife and give it a whack with the heel of your palm. This crushes the garlic clove and makes it easy to remove the skin. The whole procedure including removal of the skin takes less time that you would spend trying to dig the garlic press out of a drawer.
If the crushed clove is still a bit large for what you want, a quick chop with the sharp edge of the knife you have at hand will yield any size you want from large slivers to a fine dice.
Garlic press all the way. It’s the only way to get the maximum amount of the nutritional/medicinal value from garlic.
@faye As far as I can remember, it releases more of the oils, because is ruptures the most of the cells in the clove, whereas cutting of any sort misses a lot of them. It’s been a while since I read about why it is that crushing is better. I use my press for both cooking and making medicinal preparations (research has been showing garlic is a very good broad spectrum antibiotic, it just needs concentrating a bit).
@incendiary_dan Thanks, I’ve never found one that works very well. Excuse to go shopping!
@Adirondackwannabe I mentioned the garlic press. I like the flat of the knife method for most everything but I use a garlic press if I don’t want any junks, like in some salad dressings.
and
@meiosis I’ll have to look for one of those peelers. Thanks for the heads up; I didn’t know such a thing existed. Peeling garlic is a pain to begin with and then papery bits stick to the knife and your hands. Aaarggg.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
