This would much like a normal garlic press, but with two connected bowls. The two bowls would have a blade where they join, and would have sloped sides so that the garlic halves would turn cut-side down to the holes in the bottom of the bowls.
The plunger would be divided unit, and the plunger and bowls would be hinged like a normal garlic press.
The handles would be standard 1-1/2 inch oak dowel, and would come in varying lengths, depending upon your strength. With the dowels removed, the entire unit would have the footprint of a saucer in the dishwasher.
Comes with a lemon juicer and four- potato ricer that fit the dowels.
* I know that some people don't like garlic presses. They make the flavor of the garlic too aggressive or bitter, they are wasteful, they are unnecessary if you are good with a knife, etc.
I'm very fast with a knife, and I can liquefy garlic with my chinese cleaver, but the old divide, smack, peel, smack, chop (or slice) just gets old when you cook a lot of asian food that has about 12 cloves in each recipe.
Also, a lot of the bitterness and aggressiveness of garlic is due to the quality of the garlic. If it has sprouted, even a little, and you don't remove the green sprout, it isn't going to taste good.
If it is just out of the garden, and is perhaps a little young, you can't make it aggressive by pressing it. This idea is for that type of garlic.-- nomocrow, Apr 14 2008 Can't you just use a potato ricer? http://www.amazon.c...Ricer/dp/B00004OCJQ [DrCurry, Apr 14 2008] I liked your original annotation.-- DrCurry, Apr 14 2008 Wow, what a useless kitchen gaget this could be. Good for hokey-cokey fans too.-- james_what, Apr 14 2008 //Can't you just use a potato ricer?//
No. I tried. Not enough leverage, and the thing is too flimsy. It takes considerably more force to mash raw garlic than cooked potatoes. Hence the long oak handles.
I think the difference is something like four to one, which is why the ancillary idea in the fourth paragraph is a four- potato ricer.
//Good for hokey-cokey fans too.//
That's not what this idea is all about.-- nomocrow, Apr 14 2008 halfbakery