I had an OXO and liked it until it broke at the hinge.
I also had a Pampered Chef which also worked very well. It eventually developed some black corrosion that would get in the garlic. That caused me to throw it away. It was my favorite before the Joseph Joseph Helix.
Had a Zyliss Susi before those. Also worked well but the handle snapped on mine if I recall correctly. Might have been some other breakage but something broke.
Not great luck with presses. I’ve only had the Helix about three years but so far so good.
I’ve 2 at home, first one is a mixed of various metal and silicone, and smaller size. Not particularly happy with that, as the metal corrode if not washed instantly, and silicone changing colour.
Very happy with the second one, all stainless steel, Zwilling Twin Select Garlic Pre](https://www.knivesandtools.com/en/pt/-twin-select-garlic-press.htm) which I considered quite expensive for a garlic press. It’s the pro version in their range. The press is heavier, well built and lever works well with less effort when pressing, when compared to my first one. Also I see more garlic going through the press, as the size is bigger and better accommodate the garlic. Sometimes I need to press a whole head of garlic, I find it much more easy to get rid of the pressed garlic.
I see they have since changed the handle in their newer version.
I remember seeing big chefs on TV complaining about garlic press, they deform garlic with juice and nasty taste. For a while, I’ve stopped pressing them and chopped them. But I’ve found they are just different, the pressed garlic is stronger than chopped garlic in flavour, especially for a sauce. Knife crushed garlic and mixer mashed garlic are also different.
Agreed. With a knife I can slice, dice, and puree garlic. Pressed is somewhere between diced and puree in pungency. I don’t object to a press per se. I simply find the knife faster when you account for cleaning time. Further, I want to keep my knife skills sharp (ha!) and practice is good. I can’t really taste the difference between pressed and pureed garlic.
Appliances come in a distant third due to cleaning time, with mild distaste due to noise. I’ll use a food processor if I’m using several heads of garlic but not for usual cooking.
I just did a big ol’google search for garlic presses, and I’m starting to think that there’s no one press that works for everybody. Mine is just fine for me, I saw a few highly rated ones that looked uncomfortable to use. So whatever works for you- I find a press to be much faster to use- and clean- than knife work, but I should add that I do peel the cloves first by smacking them with the side of a knife. I think that not peeling the garlic makes it harder to clean the press and don’t peel the small cloves in the middle, just cram as many in there as will fit.
My first Zyliss, many years ago, was great, but it eventually broke. I replaced it with the newer model expecting a similarly good product. It has been a disappointment. The coating started wearing off from day one, and the output is often stained grey. I now usually use a fork and a little salt on a plastic board.
One of my first model is now available on ebay, but only a lunatic would pay that price!
I use both, the knife or microplane for small volumes. I have the standard metal press as well and use it on occasion if I’m feeling lazy or have a lot garlic to process
I use a fork to squeeze out the juice lemon.
That is until I found the Joseph Joseph juicer. It squeezes every bit of juice out of the lemon. Very handy when having to juice a lot of lemons.
I did not know that they made a garlic press.
I had or rather still have the Oxo one but got the WMF model a few years ago that Century Link and others had highly recommended, And honestly, I’m not really sure I see a difference except the chamber for the WMF is much narrower and can be hard to fit in a large clove and can squeeze out the sides.
I just dispise the smell of fresh raw garlic, so thats why I don’t cut it.
With that said cutting it takes me maybe 6-8 seconds, while placing the clove in my garlic press and pressing it out maybe takes me 10-12 seconds… so that’s quite a time difference right there - a whopping 4 seconds time difference !!!
And If I press 2 cloves of garlic at the same time in the garlic press, it still takes me around 10-12 seconds totally, while the time it takes to cut two cloves of garlic now will go up to perhaps 10-12 seconds, so now the’re no time difference between the two methods.
Recently, I cooked for a big crowd, so garlic pressed some 5 heads of garlic, must be ±50 cloves, passed half an hour to do it. I’ve to confirm it wasn’t fun with all the sticky mushy and the juice, my hands still smelled garlic the next day! Next time, with this amount, I’ll chop them instead.
I avoid cutting garlic, because I dislike to touch cut up raw garlic, and I’ll have to touch them, when cutting them.
I pressed two whole garlic for a dinner last weekend - perhaps a total of 18-20 cloves and used my OXO garlic press for the job. I think it took me 3-4 minutes total to press the 20 cloves.
If the cloves are small, I can press 3 at the same time in the OXO garlic press.
It does leave a bit left in the chamber, but I just remove that fast with a knife.
I have large hands and fingers and my precision work with small things like single garlic cloves is not ideal when cutting them with a knife, so that’s why my OXO garlic press to me is a great unitasker, I wouldn’t want to be without.
