I’m by no means a great cook, but like many people, my interest in cooking has expanded infinitely during the pandemic – more like a way to pass the time than the only way to survive. . And now I consider finding new recipes in my small apartment kitchen a real hobby. But there’s one thing that I quickly learned as a burgeoning home cook: Most recipes call for garlic, and I absolutely hate mincing garlic.
While I initially carefully minced the garlic with a knife (hello, finger garlic), I ended up buying minced garlic. That is, until I came across Chef’n Garliczoom last fall, and I’m still hooked on it months later.
This tiny kitchen appliance makes mincing garlic a breeze. Simply toss in a few whole cloves, then roll the appliance along the kitchen counter to cut custom pieces — less rolling will result in a coarser hash, while more means a smaller hash.
I’m the first to admit my knife skills are poor and the garlic cloves were so small that I really struggled to chop them evenly (and safely) by hand. As a result, I’ve gotten used to seeing unappetizing bits of garlic in the dishes I’m preparing and sometimes cuts in my hands. The practice is not sustainable.
And if you’ve ever used minced garlic in a jar, you know it’s no good. The ready-made stuff doesn’t taste like the real thing, so you’ll end up using a lot of it. Even then, it doesn’t taste quite right.
In the end I think there must be a better way. Since my job involves finding and evaluating products, I’m always searching the Internet for a life-changing gadget. In this case, I think I would just go to amazon.com and type “garlic chopper” into the search bar.
Chef’n Garliczoom was one of the first results and it stands out because it really doesn’t look like other choppers. And hey, does it have wheels? I was very curious. For only $13, I hadn’t thought of adding it to my cart.
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Chef’n Garliczoom is super easy to use: Pop a few cloves of garlic into the round cavity, then roll the green wheels along your countertop to mince. More rolling means a finer mince, while less leads to a coarser mince.
When it’s time to clean, the blades in Chef’n Garliczoom can be easily removed from the chamber – I usually just toss both pieces in my dishwasher. And in terms of storage, this appliance is incredibly compact, so you don’t have to worry about adding another bulky tool to your kitchen arsenal.
I find myself using Chef’n Garliczoom a few times a week and I haven’t bought another jar of minced garlic since I bought it. My fingers never smell like garlic (and they’re safe from my sloppy chopping skills), and my food tastes great – if I say so myself.
