Just The Tip: How To Peel A Whole Head Of Garlic

Garlic. I love it. It’s a beautiful, magical vegetable (fun fact: garlic is a vegetable!) and one of the most used ingredients in my day-to-day cooking adventures.

However, despite its many wonders, garlic has a bitchy side. It gives you bad breath. Its scent lingers, even after you’ve washed your hands and done the requisite rubbing on a stainless steel faucet (which helps, btw), and we all know mincing it kind of sucks. Don’t even get me started on the peeling drama. Dear GOD, why is it so hard? I mean, when a recipe calls for smashed or minced garlic, fine. You can just smack the cloves with the flat side of a knife, peel the skin off and be done with it. But on the occasions that you need the cloves intact, it’s pretty miserable peeling off all those papery layers. Amiright? (I am.)

While there’s not much to be done about the smell or the annoyingness of mincing (embrace them!), I’m thrilled to inform you that there is a way to make the peeling process significantly less painful. On those days when you require a whole head of peeled garlic (they exist, I swear), or you just want to keep a bunch of peeled cloves in the fridge to save time later, try this simple hack. All you need is 10 seconds and a mason jar. Watch and learn, friends…