My sister gave me one of these ages ago, and it’s my favorite kitchen gadget!
A good trick for getting the skin of garlic is to take 2 little bowls or similar (it can help if one is slightIy smaller than the other, I have a set of stainless steel bowls of various sizes that nest together, and they work great for this). Put garlic in one, then put the other bowl open end to open end (so you are making a sort of capsule). Shake vigorously for 10 or 15 seconds. That’s it. The garlic peel just sheds away. Super easy.
I’m not a fan of dedicated kitchen gadgets because they take up room that can be better utilized by multi-purpose tools. For peeling garlic, I just use a cook’s knife or cleaver. Put 1-3 cloves on your cutting board, then hold the flat side of the knife on top of the cloves and strike moderately hard with the palm of your hand. This will free the skin from the cloves, making them easy to remove.
I use my palms to do the same thing. I find I always have them with me and they take up no space in any drawer. Unless I’m reaching for some other tool.
How to peel garlic:
Place garlic on flat surface
Pound garlic hard with the side of a closed fist
(rarely) Retrieve garlic clove from other side of room
This device seems like it would reduce the violence in my current peeling process. I think that is a negative.
You can accomplish this same task without spending $7 OR getting your hands covered in garlic smell, simply by using any sufficiently large can that has a lid. Place clove(s) inside, shake for a few seconds, remove peeled cloves, that simple. The trick with 2 bowls also works fine, and using the flat of a knife does work, but is significantly slower, especially if you are dealing with multiple cloves.
I sometimes do that, but I usually end up smashing them too much, and then I’m stuck peeling little bits of skin from little bits of clove (I know I shouldn’t smash so much, but still). I’m with solstone:
I have one of those tubes. I stopped using it after I learned the two-bowl technique. For fewer than four cloves, I just do it by hand, trimming off the sharp end and rolling them in my hands. The floppy tube thing is fine, but it quickly gets garlic oil inside and only works for the first few cloves, after which it’s useless. Either roll them in your hands or use the bowl trick. (Warning: the bowl trick is really, really noisy.)
Too true! Especially with metal bowls.
Saw the headline, and thought it was going to be another variation on Flappy Bird. Kinda disappointed.
That’s how I do it when I need whole peeled cloves, and I’ve used my cocktail shaker for smaller amounts. Otherwise I just smash the damned things with my palm or the side of a knife. Peel comes right off and it takes seconds. If your cutting it anyway who cares if its pretty or whole?
man, i was just about to post that exact same video 
the floppy tubes are great for a few cloves, but the metal bowl trick is awesome when it is one or more heads of garlic.
I never thought to use a cocktail shaker. Great idea!
Why even bother with the knives? Just squeeze the clove between your fingers. Then your hands are already right next to the skin you’re trying to remove. I have yet to see a gadget that bests my bare hands for peeling 1 to about six cloves. More than that and I’ll use the bowl/shaker method.
You can get garlic smell off your hands with salt. That is, if you don’t like garlic smell - you crazy person.
It works fairly well, though it wont work for just one or two cloves and occasionally a peel makes it out intact. I’m not sure what sort of shaker would work best. I use what’s essentially a Boston shaker, except I use a smaller metal mixing cup over a pint sized glass. Its a lot less unwieldy than a full Boston, with much less chance of breakage or a locked shaker. But I think the cobbler style shaker might work better for garlic, less space inside so the garlic would ding around a lot more. I hate those for actually making cocktails though, Messy and slow, so I don’t keep one around to check.
Nothing saves time better than just learning how to do something quickly with simple tools. You develop very transferable motor skills. And when you’re over at a friend’s house or on a camping trip or something, you aren’t limited by your lack of gadget access. (It’s bad enough when there isn’t a well-stocked pantry around.)
I’ll admit something like a food processor is useful when solo cooking for a dozen people. But when I have that many people over, at least a couple of them are there to help.
Or rub your hands on stainless steel — a spoon, a faucet, whatever.
Yep, the biggest time suck in my kitchen is rummaging through over crowded drawers, trying to find a potato peeler.
