From smashing garlic cloves to soaking them to buying pre-peeled ones, people have developed many shortcuts to the cumbersome task of peeling the bulbous herb. The Garlic Shaker, though, may be the most elegant yet, allowing you to peel entire heads of garlic by simply shaking them.
A handheld device that looks similar to a pepper mill, you simply place a batch of garlic cloves inside the device’s chamber and shake it vigorously for 10 to 30 seconds. From there, you simply remove the cap and pour out the contents, which will consist of garlic cloves with their skins all magically separated. No smelly hands, no tedious work, and no damaged cloves – just perfectly peeled garlic, ready to hit the cutting board for mincing.
The Garlic Shaker performs its sorcery using spiral rings inside the chamber, which will cause the individual cloves to spin, gyrate, and rotate while you shake it up and down. The gentle pressure that’s exerted whenever the cloves hit various surfaces in the chamber then serve to “massage” the skin out of the garlic, all without damaging any part of its actual meat. Seriously, this simplifies peeling garlic so much that you can probably get your kids to do the peeling (kids love to shake stuff) while you attend to other things in the kitchen.
Dimensions are 9 x 3.5 inches, with food-safe, BPA-free plastic construction. It’s also dishwasher-safe, although it’s strictly for use in the top rack.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Garlic Shaker. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $25.