SG Santa Recommends: Garlic Press

Garlic Press This is one of the few things that I use almost daily in my kitchen. I am a fanatic for garlic. I love it roasted or sauteed. I love the bite it adds to everything from chili to salsa. I love how the fragrance of fresh garlic cooking fills the whole house, and starts eager stomachs rumbling.

I grew up using garlic salt. We put it in our homemade marinara sauce. We used it to make garlic bread. We shook it over our pizza. When I was a teenager and my father remarried, I discovered garlic powder. My step-mother first taught me to make alfredo sauce using the garlic powder she grew up with. Later in life a friend introduced me to the "convenience" of minced garlic in a jar. Being no great fan of fruitless labor, even labor of love for garlic goodness, I bought a jar to try it. Ick. It just wasn't the same. It didn't pack that beloved garlicky punch. In short, I have traveled far and wide, eaten garlic in every form known to man, and there is nothing like the real thing. So why does a garlic press make a great stocking stuffer?

1. See above. There is nothing like the real thing.

2. Garlic gives a huge amount of taste while being incredibly healthy for you. It is a key flavor for those attempting to eat both healthfully and well.

3. A press gives you convenience of instant mincing without sacrificing an ounce of taste. That delicious garlic is safe in nature's own flavor saver until the moment before it plunges into your cooking.

4. For those who weren't born chopping garlic (or taken a professional "knife skills" class) a garlic press gives you uniform small pieces that help distribute the flavor throughout your dish, without leaving any big hunks behind to surprise the unsuspecting eater.

5. Can anybody say dishwasher safe?