Garlic lovers seem to eat up just about any technique there is to expedite the process of removing stinky cloves from their peels. There’s the shake in two mixing bowls method, the shake in a jar method, the microwaving method ― the list goes on.
None quite took the internet by storm quite like the most recent iteration posted to Twitter on Sunday, involving what looks like a thick paring knife and seemingly magical powers.
Twitter user @VPestilenZ shared a mesmerizing video using the technique, captioned, “As someone who makes a lot of Korean food, this is the best method for getting garlic peeled.” So far it’s racked up over 370,000 likes, more than 16 million views and thousands of replies.
But naturally it was Chrissy Teigen who summed it up best, speaking for all of us when she tweeted “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.”
Had we been depriving ourselves of this oddly satisfying and efficient way to peel lots of garlic at one time? There was only one way to find out. Using a paring knife and a scissor (which resembled th, two HuffPost staffers ― one who is a novice cook and one professionally trained ― tried their hand at the technique.
It, to put it simply, didn’t go so well.
At worst the garlic just broke, at best it came out in weird half pieces. What we were left with was a lot of wasted garlic and strong-smelling fingers.
For what it’s worth, some other people appear to have had better luck. One user shared the tool that works best appears to have a slanted tip. So there’s that.
Perhaps with a lot of practice this could end up being a hack worthy of all this buzz, but for now, as senior editor and culinary school graduate Kristen Aiken put it: “I could’ve peeled it faster the normal way.”