how do you peel your garlic?

[JimboJack]

single or multiple  cloves ,
if multiple i put them in an empty gym protein shake close the lid and shake for a bit , the skins of the garlic will peel off
depends on age, and size but does work

[BrianHG]

Still, you didn't really answer the question, are we talking a whole garlic bulb, or a single garlic clove?

If peeling a single clove, you lay it on its side on the chopping board, you top and tail it, and then lay the flat of the knife on it and give it the slightest of taps, just enough for it to yield slightly. After that the skin should just peel off easily.

Even without squashing it at all, the skin should still peel off after you cut the root end off, as demonstrated in the linked video. The squashing just makes the process slightly easier.

https://youtu.be/QjZ1LFqNWRM?si=4oYE8MzgSbOeW9b-&t=2414

The chef in that video did it wrong.  You place the individual cloves of garlic into the metal bowls (I use a soup pot with lid), then shake vigorously.  The dry skin on each garlic clove will separate withing 30-45 sec.  This only works with at least 6 to 10 garlic cloves.  When I make a big sauce with something like +20 cloves, this saves a tone of time instead of individual peeling.

[coppercone2]

i still feel like it can be shaking in a tumbler for 10 minutes and it wont peel anything. garlic is strong

[BrianHG]

i still feel like it can be shaking in a tumbler for 10 minutes and it wont peel anything. garlic is strong

Your garlic hasn't dried out/been aged enough.  That outer skin needs to be inflexible and dry.  That way, the impacts of the garlic clove causes the core to squeeze, flex and expand randomly, ripping apart/off that outer peel.  If the peel is too flexible, or young, it flexes with the core, staying glued on.

[ohren]

When cutting the root end off, I don't cut all the way through,

This, and then grab the clove with my free hand and pull it away to peel the bottom of it, while putting it aside. Then repeat with the clove tips, except you don't often need to cut those off; you only have to grab the peel again with the knife blade and grab the clove with your other hand and put it to the side, fully peeled.

Avoiding having to use fingers and nails to try to grab the actual peel (and not having to grab some separate specialized tool) is what speeds it up for me.

If you have *lots* of cloves to peel I've heard that a quick way is to bounce them all at once violently in a steel bowl, with a pan or something as a lid. The impact makes them shed skin on their own.

But I mostly use pre-peeled frozen garlic, because it's cheaper, more convenient, and I'm lazy. They don't smell the same though (the magic smell is gone), which is a shame.

[coppercone2]

do you guys have like a hired garlic manager to orchestrate this ready to peel garlic??


this 'correct garlic' does not happen in real life i think this is people talking about myths

and its starting to seem like this would be unfresh garlic

I am starting to think I never seen this because by my standards, when the garlic is 'ready' for a shake peel, it means for the trash can.

[thephil]

I prefer the electric method: apply 10kV from both ends and scrape cooked garlic bits from the wall. Failing that I like the rubber tube method.

[tooki]

In general, I like to leave the root end on, so I can use it as a grip when slicing or grating it.

For just a few cloves I do it by hand, I just pinch the clove between thumb and index finger enough to get it to separate at the root end, then use mt fingernails.

For large amounts to be used right away, shaking the cloves in a container works well. But this can bruise it, so I don’t like doing it for pre-peeling garlic for later use.

To pre-peel, I take the cloves of garlic and soak them in warm water for 30-60 minutes. After rehydrating, the peels slip right off with practically no effort. This is gentler, so the cloves can then be dried off, then stored in the fridge in a baggie lined with paper towel, or in a container. As long as the cloves are undamaged, they keep for weeks.

[coppice]

Peeling garlic is like peeling bells. A good wack with a mallet does the job nicely. Did you know that frozen food shops now sell bags of frozen mashed garlic cubes these days? Not every dish requires garlic in the same form. Many asian dishes really need garlic to be sliced, but if you are basically into crushing the stuff, the frozen cubes can be quite convenient.

[coppercone2]

exactly the meat hammer is excellent, betters so if it has a flat on it