If a recipe says "garlic cloves - crushed"......

[NotActuallyAMum]

Do I need to buy a proper garlic crusher to do it or is there another way?

TIA

LOL ... was going to say - weird zester

Oooo does look good. And they're really easy to use, do the job well?

Sooo going to get one. I need to make more lemon drizzle cakes

I prefer chopped garlic. Much prefer infact. I think the flavour is more intense or something.

At last! A chance to mention my marvellous garlic press from Lakeland, of course

I have never rated garlic crushers as they are a total faff to clean out but this one is brill. You don't have to peel the garlic - just put the whole thing in, squeeze, then fish the skin (in one piece) out of the crusher.

I no longer have stinky fingers from chopping garlic with a knife, chef stylee.

I am a crushing convert

You get a slightly different flavour from chopped garlic than from crushed, IIRC. For crushed I do the same as pp -- get a broad-bladed kitchen knife and crush it using that.

Lemonaid if you are still interested the headmaster of my nephews school has been talked into the calendar but that leaves them very little time to sort it out. Could you ring my sister if you're interested?

Ta - sorry for hijack!

Hmm. Interested, but quite booked up at the moment (partly with maternity shoots for Mumsnetters, funnily enough). I'll give her a call, though.

Oops, now I'm hijacking too. But I think possibly the conversational possibilities of crushed garlic had already been exhausted...

Thanks

BTW I love garlic, always chop then crush it with some salt and a knife

I lvoe the look of that lakeland one! How on earth does it leave the skin behind, it looks like a normal press from the pic. I have had two, and they both left laods of garlic behind, even with the little hole cleaner bits. It all goes round the sides of the presses in mine. And I HATE peeling garlic.

I think it's magic, Kelly - the skin just stays inside all flattened out and the garlic squidges through the holes. You then lift out the skin with the point of a knife.

Their potato ricer works in the same way - you don't have to peel the potatoes before boiling them, then the ricer separets them from the skin = perfect mashed potato.

(No, I'm not on commission )

I can spell separates, duh.

You're missing the point - crushing garlic with a knife is very satisfying somehow , whereas a garlic crusher just creates more washing up.
I think that crushing it (however you do it) releases the oils.

Also, if you crush a garlic clove in its skin, then chop off the ends, the skin just falls off so no need to peel it.