I am by no means a prolific chef, but like many people, my culinary passions have expanded endlessly during the pandemic – more as a way to pass the time than just a way of subsistence. And now I think of cooking new recipes in my tiny apartment kitchen as a real hobby. But there’s one thing that I quickly learned as an aspiring home cook: most recipes call for garlic, and I absolutely hate cutting garlic.
While I initially painstakingly minced the garlic with a knife (hello garlic fingers), I eventually resorted to buying canned minced garlic. That is, until I stumbled upon Chef’n Garliczoom last fall and I’m still addicted to it a few months later.
This tiny kitchen gadget makes chopping garlic easy. Simply toss in a few whole cloves and then roll the device across the kitchen counter for a custom cut: less rolling results in coarser mince, more rolling results in finer minced meat.
I’m the first to admit that my knife skills aren’t up to par, and the garlic cloves are already so small that I really struggled to chop them evenly (and safely) by hand. As a result, I got used to nasty bits of garlic in the dishes I cooked, and sometimes to cut fingers. The practice just wasn’t sustainable.
And if you’ve ever used canned minced garlic, you know it’s not good. Ready made things don’t taste as good as the real thing, so you end up using a lot of them. Even then the taste is not quite right.
I finally realized that there must be a better way. Since my job is related to product research and review, I am always browsing the Internet looking for a gadget that will change my life. In this case, I think I just opened amazon.com and searched for “garlic chopper”.
The Chef’n Garliczoom was one of the early results, and it stood out because it really didn’t look like other choppers. And hi, does it have wheels? I was intrigued. For only $13, I added it to my shopping cart without hesitation.
• Related: More Kitchen Gadgets We Love
Chef’n Garliczoom is incredibly easy to use: place a few garlic cloves in the round bowl, then roll the green wheels over the countertop to chop. More rolling means smaller stuffing, and less rolling means coarser.
When it’s time to clean up, the blades in the Chef’n Garliczoom are easy to remove from the chamber – I usually just toss both parts in the dishwasher. And in terms of storage, this device is very compact, so you don’t have to worry about adding another bulky tool to your kitchen arsenal.
I find myself snatching up Chef’n Garliczoom a few times a week and I haven’t bought another can of minced garlic since I bought it. My fingers never smell like garlic (and they’re protected from my careless chopping skills), and my food tastes amazing – if I say so myself.