Customer Reviews

Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press

5 star:		(266)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Since I own both this Kuhn Rikon and the Rosle garlic presses, I have posted this comparison on the Rosle reviews, as well:

There's no doubt that the Rosle is extremely good--in fact, I would have given it five stars just a few weeks ago. But then I purchased the Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press (#2315), after reading a recent review of it in Cook's Illustrated. After repeatedly comparing the two side-by-side, the Kuhn is unquestionably the better press. It was also about $8 cheaper here on Amazon, but that doesn't seem to be the case any longer--in any event, I didn't consider price for this review.

What's strange is that the crushing mechanisms on both presses appear to be identical. In fact, prior to crushing with the Kuhn, I felt disappointed when I received it, convinced that I had just bought the same garlic press twice. However, for whatever reason (and it remains a mystery to me), the Kuhn's crushing of garlic is clearly superior in two ways: 1) It produces a more beautifully consistent mince of the garlic, whereas the result from the Rosle seems more "smashed" by comparison. The difference isn't subtle--I was honestly shocked by it. 2) The pressing is more complete, with less left behind in the hopper, and it presses unpeeled garlic better, as well. (That said, I get a much better press from either unit with peeled cloves.)

Ergonomically, the shape of the Kuhn also handles better, although I never had a problem with the Rosle. And I'd say both units have stainless steel construction of equally high quality. For me, it was the crushing performance and not the handling that has sadly relegated my Rosle to the drawer, since I now always reach first for the Kuhn.

UPDATE 6/11: After four years of regular use, this press continues to perform like new, so I can now add a 5 star recommendation for long-term durability, too. Unless this Kuhn Rikon somehow finds its way under a steamroller, I suspect it's the last garlic press that I'll ever have to buy. I'm baffled by the occasional complaint here that this press is hard to clean as it could hardly be any easier. Besides the handles, there are only two other parts to this unit: the mesh steel hopper through which the clove is pressed and the steel "presser" itself. As can be seen in one of the customer photos posted, both of those parts swing out (easily) from the handles, allowing you to simply rinse them clean under the faucet.

I read about this particular garlic press in Cook's Illustrated. I have found the magazine quite reliable when they recommend kitchen tools. Like another reviewer, I thought the design looked extremely similar to what I already had. Since my current garlic press was not very good (it mainly expelled juice more than garlic) I was a bit apprehensive, but our local organic farm was including a lot of garlic in our weekly produce box so I decided to go for it. Am I ever glad I did. I really like this garlic press -- it performs very well. When I squeeze, nice "minced" garlic emerges from the press. I am very happy with this product and recommend it without reservation.

Love garlic. Hate mashing, mincing, making paste. I would say I put garlic in about twice as much stuff, now. As easy as powdered garlic. Leave the peel on and press multiple cloves at once. Don't be mislead if you leave the skin on, you have to clean between pressings or the holes get clogged. Lot of money, but very sturdy construction. Will last a long time. Also, cleans in seconds. hopper folds out and opens up so it rinses clean very easily.
My last garlic press was seldom used, took too long to clean, took multiple presses as garlic oozed out around the plunger. It was such a pain, I chose to smash and mince with a chef's knife (tedious and leaves you fingers smelling like raw garlic), rather than wrestle with that thing. This press gets practically all of the goods in the dish you are preparing, just papery skin remains.

I have had this press for 9 months and have used it frequently enough (1x to 3x weekly) to justify my rating. I bought this based on the Cook's Illustrated recommendation.

This press definitely is a beautiful, high quality tool - very heavy, solidly built, satiny stainless steel. It is a bit large for my hands and somewhat difficult to squeeze. I would not call it ergonomic for small hands. It does make nicely minced garlic, but I also have had problems with garlic being squeezed out along the sides of the press, as mentioned by other reviewers. Also, there is a flat piece of garlic left in the press that I need to fold over in order to get the whole clove pressed (this also happens with my Zyliss and is one reason I was searching for a new press). It does not work very well on smaller, flat cloves of garlic, even if multiple cloves are put into the press.

The part with holes is a separate piece that flips out and it tends to annoyingly flip up if you do not make a conscious effort to hold it down (but there is a convenient finger tab, so it was well designed). Although it is easy to clean due to the hinged parts, it is still more difficult to clean than my classic Zyliss press due to the flip up part with holes (not just due to the holes themselves, but also due to the junction areas of the parts). The handles are smooth and rounded, though, so no gunk gets stuck inside them. Overall, it is just kind of clumsy to handle.

When I first got the Kuhn Rikon Epicurean press, I probably would have given it 5 stars since I was enamored with its beauty (even the name sounds regal). But after using it for 9 months, sorry to buck the 5-star trend, but I am giving the KR press 3 stars. It is very expensive and I find myself going back to my trusty Zyliss Susi Deluxe garlic press since it is faster to use - just open, throw in the clove and squeeze - and just as effective. I even dug the Zyliss out of the Goodwill donation bag so that I could continue using it. I wash the Zyliss out with my sink sprayer and garlic comes out of the holes easily (even easier if I wet it down and let the garlic remnants sit for a few minutes - they tend to plump up and out of the holes - this is also true for the KR press) (I threw out the Zyliss plastic cleaning tool since it was unnecessary) (yes, I also know the trick about not peeling the cloves, but I don't like to waste any of the garlic that would be left inside the peel). The Zyliss was Cook's Illustrated's previous favorite garlic press. I have not had much problem with the Zyliss coating flaking off, as noted by CI. I know the Zyliss was re-designed in the last year or two, so I'm not sure how the current design compares to the one I have. A stainless steel Zyliss would be great to have...

Anyway, bottom line on the KR - high quality, expensive, does the job, not much easier to clean than other presses.

This is the best garlic press I have ever used. So easy to squeeze the handle to press the garlic through. The inside lefts out to easily clean the press. No special tool needed to clean the holes. There is no discoloration due to the stainless steel and it is dishwasher safe. A must have tool for the garlic lover.

First let me say this does an excellent job. It's all steel design makes this quite a honker - nearly 3/4 pound. A user negative is that when the handles are fully pressed they can close on the side of your hand and you can get quite a nasty pinch. Here's an alternative - Kuhn also offers an Easy Squeeze garlic press for much less money. Here's the key: the actual press mechanisms are identical. Both mechanisms are steel with a swing out feature that makes them a breeze to clean. But the Easy Squeeze has rugged heavy duty plastic handles that do not meet when fully pressed so it cannot hurt you. I tried them side by side and they produce the same quality and amount of pressed garlic. For less money, less effort and less risk of getting hurt I think the Easy Press version would be a good choice for some users.

I have two Kuhn Rikon's presses. A plastic one, with a built-in scraper Kuhn Rikon Easy-Clean Garlic Press w/scraper, White and Kuhn's Epicurean. There are good and bad things about both.

1. The Epicurean comes with a lifetime warranty. The Easy-Clean comes with a 1 yr warranty. I broke my Easy-Clean after about 8 months and without any documentation, and Kuhn Rikon replaced it in 6 weeks. You can get 3 Easy-Cleans for the price of one Epicurean. I broke mine while trying to press multiple cloves at the same time, maybe 3.

2. Both are dishwasher safe, have a fold-out press plate that allows you to clean it easily. The Easy-Clean has a built-in scraper bar so you don't need to have a handy edge to scrape the extruded garlic off of the press plate. You need two hands to do this, one for the handles and one for the scraper bar, but you need two hands if you need to use a knife to scrape the garlic off the Epicurean, too.

3. Both make pretty good minced garlic, the Easy-Clean, imo, seems to make slightly coarser pieces. Both leak juice on the sides of the press. Both collect bits of garlic on top of the press plate or in the fold mechanism.

4. It is slightly easier to press the Epicurean, though a friend of mine with slight palsy found the Epicurean hard to handle and press partly due, I think to the weight of the device and the excessive curve and the spread of the handles when it has garlic in the chamber. The Easy-Clean is easier to grasp since the handles lay closer and have no curve. Someone with small hands may find the Epicurean hard to use one handed.

5. Excessive juicing of the garlic happens when large cloves or multiple cloves are used in either press. This means that you can have some stray squirts of garlic juice and garlic if you are pressing into a small bowl (like those little bowls used to mise en place on cooking shows).

5. I like the size of the resulting garlic pieces; a very fine mince. I wish they had a way of giving you a slightly larger size with some sort of changeable press plate. You can certainly prepare your garlic in the press, and just squeeze it into the pan when needed. If you are looking to retard the browning/burning effect, a nice trick is to press it into a small bowl and add a bit of water prior to putting it into the pan, the garlic will be so moist that it will not burn in many circumstances giving you more time to saute or be more forgiving of a hotter pan.

6. The Epicurean can juice ginger - it is constructed so well. If the ginger root is very young, and tender, you will get particles, if it tougher, you will be able to squeeze out the juice and leave all the fiber on the press plate. Obviously not for 1" pieces of ginger but a modest coin slice can be used. A Kyocera 3.5 Inch Ceramic Grater still has particles leaving the fiber on the ceramic bumps on the grater. In Asian cooking, particles trump juice. Hence my wish for slightly larger holes.

7. Garlic being what it is in most stores, susceptible to fungus and mold on the paper skins (even if you can't see it), I never use unpeeled garlic, and always cut off the root end. (And I take out any green shoot in the middle since it's bitter.) My opinion. I can't talk about pressing unpeeled garlic.

8. I really like the Epicurean but I also really like the built-in scraper bar on the Easy-Clean. And between my two presses, I think that the Easy-Clean's pressed garlic seems more like little pieces while the Epicurian's results are finer.

I've been managing with a couple of aluminum garlic presses that I've had for years, but they hurt my hands, and they require so much pressure that I have to cut the medium and big cloves up into halves or thirds, or I can't press them at all. One press in particular allows unpressed garlic to work its way out around the edges. And sometimes I wonder how much aluminum ends up in my food, especially when I have to poke and scrape with a knife. It was time for a good stainless steel press.

This little gem is definitely better than any garlic press I've ever used! I am now able to press a good-sized clove all at once. None of the garlic escapes around the edges of the plunger, the pressed garlic is nicely minced, and very little remains in the hopper. The screen part flips out for easy cleaning---no need to poke at the holes with a knife tip, or dig out the bits from between the "fingers" on a cleaner mechanism (like with my others).

My only complaint is that it's still a bit of a stretch to get the pressing started (my hands are on the small side, and using both hands simultaneously works best). But the well-designed handles don't hurt, and the pressing is definitely easier than with the others.

Considering that most garlic presses cost $12 to $15 and don't work nearly as well, it's worth it to get this one instead.

I enjoy using this garlic press more than any other press I've owned, mainly because it's very easy to clean. As a fairly lazy person, I find that appealing. You just flip out the section that collects the garlic detritus and scrape said detritus into the trash. I usually then put it into the dishwasher on its side with the various parts extended for a more thorough cleaning.

Being lazy, I also appreciate that the Kuhn Rikon press makes efficient use of my admittedly limp application of pressure, pushing right through even large cloves. As for the mince produced, I can't say I've inspected it closely for evenness (that would require extra care and effort).

Lastly, it seems to be quite durable and has no scratchable nonstick finish or other ill-conceived "feature."

As my mother pointed out, I probably could just mince my garlic the old-fashioned way, with a chef's knife, but why? She also doesn't see the need for my rubber garlic peeler. I guess I won't bother to show her my onion goggles...

Beautifully crafted, functionally outstanding and easy cleanup. This the last garlic press you'll ever buy and worth every penny!