Zyliss Jumbo Garlic Press

I've owned about half a dozen garlic presses over the years, the last of which was an Oxo Good Grips (with grips that slip, fill up with water in the dishwasher and then drip that dishwater all over whatever you're cooking when you try to use it) and this Zyliss press is hands down the best of the lot and absolutely worth the premium you will have to pay for it over the sorts of presses you can buy in the grocery or discount stores. I find it easy to use, even with several large cloves of unpeeled garlic in it. The woman complaining about it being difficult to use probably has arthritic hands and I would think that the overwhelming majority of people age 10 and up should have no problems with using this press. Since I bought this press several months ago, the one and only time I touched the jar of store-bought minced garlic that has been sitting in my fridge for the past year was to throw it out in the garbage. This is easy to clean too, especially with the handy plastic cleaning tool. If you like to cook, buy this press. You won't be disappointed.EDIT 12/13/11: After about 3 1/2 years of near-weekly use, the plastic cleaning tool that came with this became only partially operable - it lost some of the tiny nibs that clean out each of the holes in the face of the garlic press and other nibs became bent so that they do not fit. This makes the press harder to clean, but if you rinse it immediately after use or soak it for a few hours in a glass of water, the old garlic comes off easily and it will rinse clean under the tap, ready to be put in the dishwasher. I wish the cleaning tool was a bit sturdier, but otherwise its still a great garlic press.EDIT 2/1/16: Shortly after writing that last update, the non-stick anodized-looking finish on the press started flaking off, sometimes into food, which is not a good thing. A lot of the negative reviews of this garlic press describe the same thing happening. So much of the finish has come off the perforated face of the press that I think it's now just bare metal, so I guess the problem has stabilized somewhat, but that's still a sign of a manufacturing and/or design defect.The plastic cleaning tool is now basically useless on the nubbed end - the flat end can still be used to scrape garlic out of the perforated face of the press.And apparently I'm a bit obtuse and chauvinistic, too. I initially thought that anyone should be able to use this press, but over the past few years more and more my wife has been calling out "Oh Honey!" and handing me the garlic press to use when she is cooking, commenting that it is just too difficult for her to squeeze all the garlic out (peeled garlic at that - unpeeled cloves require probably 30% more effort to press). So I guess this press just isn't as easy to use as I thought. Maybe I need to find one with longer handles to give more leverage.So, to be fair, I've reduced my rating to 3/5 stars from the original 5/5 stars and I'm now shopping for an easier-to-use garlic press.

After reading Cook's Illustrated's recommendation of this press, I was all set to love this press and tried several times to change my mind, but I just didn't. Instead, I bought a Calphalon garlic press that I think is a much better one.Pros of Zyliss:(1)It does press most of the garlic out. Slightly more if the cloves are prepeeled.(2)It can press a few cloves at once.(3)It comes with an attached cleaner, which is hard to lose.Cons:(1) It is hard to squeeze multiple cloves, especially if the cloves are unpeeled.(2) If you want to press multiple batches, you have to clean out the peels from the previous batch before proceeding.(3) You do need to use the cleaner (or a bamboo skewer or other pointy device) to get the smashed peels out of the hopper.(4)If the cloves are unpeeled, the garlic left behind is particularly tough to clean out because the holes are slighly recessed on the inside of the hopper. It is difficult to get anything in there that is effective at scrubbing the garlic out.The Calphalon garlic press has built in spikes on the plunger. It pokes through the garlic skins and makes it easier to press the garlic. The skins stick to the spikes so when you open it back up, you just peel off the skins and move on to the next batch (or leave them, add more garlic to the hopper and keep pressing.) It doesn't allow garlic to squeeze up past the plunger. However, IF you decide to peel the garlic first, it does leave more behind than the Zyliss and it is then harder to clean the remaining garlic off the spikes. (Unpeeled, both the Calphalon and Zyliss leave a similar amount behind.) Not being willing to do any more work than is required, I simply solve that problem by not peeling first. A toothbrush works great to clean off anything stuck in the spikes. The only other down side to the Calphalon is that the hopper is a bit smaller (normal size as opposed to Zyliss' oversized hopper), so you may need to do multiple batches if you are pressing a lot of garlic. But it is easy and in the end, less time consuming to use and clean than the Zyliss.

I use lots of fresh garlic. Daily. Luckily, at my local grocery they offer cute little plastic baskets filled with garlic cloves that have been cleaned, so all I have to do is pop one or two of those babies into my cool Zyliss Garlic Press and I'm ready to roll.Before my Zyliss, I had several different garlic presses that I picked from, willy nilly, from the kitchen tool drawer. One was easy to squeeze, but hard to clean. Another one was creaky and stiff, made my hand hurt if I didn't cut the clove into parts before filling its bin for pressing. A third was trendy and did a terrible job, the only time I used it was when I fell prey to how techno it looks and stupidly thought that maybe this time, things would be different. They never were, and I should just toss that one out - but I won't, because it's so artsy.It's as if I had been dating, and suddenly met The One.The Zyliss fits easily into my hand, and I can squeeze without hardship. This is true, even if I put several garlic cloves into its bin at the same time. Lovely.The Zyliss also has a fabulous cleaner that makes the press extremely easy to clean. Shoves the mess right up and out, no need to worry about getting the grit out of those tiny little holes. Nice.Finally, the Zyliss is light as a feather, or close to it. It's sturdy without anchoring your wrist down while you're working.Problems with it? Very few. I've almost lost the cleaner once or twice since it is separate from the press itself. That would be a nightmare if it went missing. I'd have to buy another Zyliss asap.I recommend this product - as well as using fresh garlic!- Reba Kennedy

With garlic buds growing at the same rate as our strawberries, this garlic press becomes essential. Very powerful but requires a strong hand, women may want to choose the smaller model. Can handle even the largest buds in one shot without pealing off the skin, and like magic, the skin pops out as you open the handle 90% of the times. The little blue cleaning tool is rarely used.

cooking food daily for me means having a lot of ginger and garlic (crushed). and after spending the last few months crushing them in a hand held chopper and freezing to use as and when needed i was told about this handy lille thing.i think (just by searching on here so not too sure) that theres 2 different types og these crushers, and as far as i could tell only this one seems to come with the handy blue part. and although it looks useless... its actually what made me buy this one (even though its a few quid more than the other) as it makes it a doddle to clean!! and that (cleaning) seemed to be the main down side of the other version... (going by the reviews i read)so since having this i dont used the hand held blender for this any more!! its fantastic#! i crush both my ginger and garli in here... and its so quick and easy to use and clean !!! just make sure you have strong hands, i dont have the strongest but i manage. if you have difficulty with your hands it may not be the best for you but other than that i love it!!! :)

Works well. It takes a fair bit of pressure to squeeze two or three cloves with the skins still intact but otherwise it works great.

It will do what it intends to do, but the product does not seem to be well made. I would rather spend a few extra dollar to get a nicer and heavier one.

Love this so much bought one for our son's family. Very easy to use and easy clean up.