Magic – And Then Some!

It seemed as though I had waited ‘forever’ to visit our youngest in Denver, Colorado! I dragged a bucket of garden tomatoes, jars of this season’s jam, fresh ‘homegrown’ eggs, some bell peppers, almost too ripe raspberries, and a few insanely delicious cupcakes I had thought to freeze before they disappeared along on the road trip west.  He loved it all. Within a few hours of our arrival he was chopping those tomatoes and peppers and making fresh salsa. I shared my salsa trick, loving it that I was sitting in his kitchen and he was making food for me! He shared a bit of kitchen magic too that I still cannot get over! I was in heaven, making food with him, chatting back and forth, and for the very first time – sharing kitchen tricks! His magic trick centers on garlic cloves. When using garlic you can separate the cloves and smash them under a chef knife, and then peel the papery white skin off the garlic before you chop it or whatever you are going to do with it. This is moderetly easy. You can also peel away that papery white skin before you chop it which is a bit more time-intensive. So anyway, back to the story. My son was ready to mince a few cloves of garlic for the salsa. His eyes lit up and he said, “Oh Mom, you have to see this! It is life-changing!” OMG! I was in heaven. A life-changing food trick presented to me by my youngest! Does it get any better than this? He took several cloves of garlic, white peel/skin and all. He placed them in the bottom of a small, but fairly deep cereal bowl. He took another matching sized-bowl and placed it on top of the first bowl. Then he grinned a grin that matched my confused state, said ‘watch this’, and began shaking the two bowls, clamping them together with his thumbs while he shook away. After a bit, perhaps thirty seconds, he set the bowls down, took off the top bowl, and there sat garlic cloves, gleaming in their newly exposed flesh on a bed of white, papery skins! He had peeled the garlic by shaking them together! How clever! Oh my gosh. It works! Of course once back home I tried the trick. Yes, I tried it even before I had done laundry, or emptied my  bag. First things first! It works! Lucky for me I had several garlic bulbs on my counter just waiting for my return. I pried the bulbs apart into cloves and I was in business! I tried cereal bowls. I tried pint jars. I tried plastic freezer boxes. They all worked! The deeper the better! A few attempts had only four or five cloves. It was a success. I tried 15 cloves. (Yes, my hands perfumed garlic for a bit!) It worked too. The more cloves you put in the longer it takes by just a bit. Such a great trick because more often than not you only need a clove or two, and have cereal bowls in arm’s reach.I am so impressed with our son for sharing this trick. Perhaps you already know it. Well it is still new to me! How easy to use this magic to peel a few cloves, put them in a freezer bag, and toss in the freezer unit you need them! I have to admit I have often stumbled on bagged,  fresh and peeled garlic, for what I thought was a crazy cheap price at the market. Not anymore! It is not labor intensive to peel that garlic! Just shake away! Think of it as garlic-cardio! Now I need to unpack!