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It’s no secret that we love garlic around here. We tend to agree with the sentiment that garlic shouldn’t be measured according to a recipe – it should be measured by your heart.

That being said, no matter how much garlic you choose to use, it can sure be a pain to prepare and get it into your recipes. Sure, you could use garlic powder or minced garlic in a jar, but most people would agree, the taste isn’t quite the same quality as fresh garlic.

Luckily, there are a few different methods you can try out that will make the process of peeling and preparing garlic so much easier! First up is the tried and true flat knife trick. Simply put the clove of garlic on a flat surface and grab a knife with a large enough blade to cover the garlic clove. Then, with the sharp end pointed away from you, use the heel of your palm to hit the knife. This smashes the garlic and snaps the skin right off!

If, however, you’re not too comfortable hitting a sharp knife, there are other methods to freeing garlic from its skin. Another popular method that doesn’t involve knives at all, is the twist method. It really doesn’t take much effort to get a garlic clove out of its skin if you know how to handle it. For this method, simply grab the clove on each end and twist in opposite directions. You should hear a “snap,” and then the clove will fall right out!

Another method of peeling garlic was made popular by Martha Stewart. She showed America how to mass peel garlic cloves and we’ve never forgotten! Put all of the individual cloves in a bowl and cover it. In the famous example, Martha Stewart uses two metal kitchen bowls, but really any container should do just fine. Then, shake, shake, shake! After about 10 seconds, you can open up your container and find the peeled garlic cloves in the bowl.

Watch the video below to find out even more techniques, and the pros and cons of each method.