Customer Reviews

Zyliss 12040 Jumbo Garlic Press with Cleaner

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I gave up on garlic presses after dealing with so many that just send smashed bits of garlic pieces up behind the plunger. It was easier just to chop the stuff with salt (messier, stickier, and stinkier, but easier). I was quite hesitant to buy this after my past attempts at garlic pressing but the review in Cooks Illustrated convinced me to give it a try. What can I say, I'll never use a knife on garlic again!

Pros:
It's big enough to easily squeeze two or three cloves at once.
The vast majority of garlic is squeezed through the holes into garlic puree (only a little slips up behind the plunger).
The cleaner stores cleverly in the handle (so I haven't managed to lose it yet which is quite a feat).
The cleaner stores cleverly in the handle AND its quite a useful little cleaner too!
Rinses clean very easily after use and the time I kind of set it to the side and forgot and let the garlic in it dehydrate in to hard little cementy blobs, it came clean just fine in the dishwasher.

Cons:
I have little hands (I never really knew this until I tried to squish three cloves of garlic). I couldn't get one hand around the handles to do the squeezing.
It can be hard to press (of course, as mentioned before, I have little hands - so maybe a big strong manly type man, or a women with a grip could do fine).
The handles become slippery if they get at all wet making it even harder to press. As long as I keep it to two cloves (hard to do because it would EASILY hold three or four and I'm lazy and impatient), I don't have any trouble smushing the garlic into submission.

I have been using this garlic press for over two years now and consider it to be the best press I have ever used! The well for the garlic is very large, accommodating more than one garlic clove at a time. When only pressing one or two cloves, you don't really have to peal the cloves, the pressing action does it for you! A little more hand pressure is required when pressing more than two cloves at a time. Cleanup is a breeze with hot soapy water.

After reading Cook's Illustrated's recommendation of this press, I was all set to love this press and tried several times to change my mind, but I just didn't. Instead, I bought a Calphalon garlic press that I think is a much better one.

Pros of Zyliss:
(1)It does press most of the garlic out. Slightly more if the cloves are prepeeled.
(2)It can press a few cloves at once.
(3)It comes with an attached cleaner, which is hard to lose.

Cons:
(1) It is hard to squeeze multiple cloves, especially if the cloves are unpeeled.
(2) If you want to press multiple batches, you have to clean out the peels from the previous batch before proceeding.
(3) You do need to use the cleaner (or a bamboo skewer or other pointy device) to get the smashed peels out of the hopper.
(4)If the cloves are unpeeled, the garlic left behind is particularly tough to clean out because the holes are slighly recessed on the inside of the hopper. It is difficult to get anything in there that is effective at scrubbing the garlic out.

The Calphalon garlic press has built in spikes on the plunger. It pokes through the garlic skins and makes it easier to press the garlic. The skins stick to the spikes so when you open it back up, you just peel off the skins and move on to the next batch (or leave them, add more garlic to the hopper and keep pressing.) It doesn't allow garlic to squeeze up past the plunger. However, IF you decide to peel the garlic first, it does leave more behind than the Zyliss and it is then harder to clean the remaining garlic off the spikes. (Unpeeled, both the Calphalon and Zyliss leave a similar amount behind.) Not being willing to do any more work than is required, I simply solve that problem by not peeling first. A toothbrush works great to clean off anything stuck in the spikes. The only other down side to the Calphalon is that the hopper is a bit smaller (normal size as opposed to Zyliss' oversized hopper), so you may need to do multiple batches if you are pressing a lot of garlic. But it is easy and in the end, less time consuming to use and clean than the Zyliss.

Although the product does a good job at pressing garlic, the nonstick coating peels off very easily. After a couple months, it was coming off the interior of the garlic chamber. This seemed to be from friction during regular use. Then I noticed it was bubbling and peeling off various places around the handles. And all this just a few months after purchase. Disappointing.

The large size means you can press lots of garlic at one time. These are very well made. My only gripe is that the blue plastic cleaner was eaten by my dog, and you can't buy a replacement. Even without that cleaner, the Zyliss is easy to clean.

Take a look at the images I uploaded that show the coating flaking off. I started out as a big fan of Zyliss products, but having used them for a couple years, I've realized that some of the products are poor quality due to the cheap matte metallic finish that wears away with regular use & hand-washing. This garlic press is one such case. I always use scrubbers intended for non-stick pans, but this wear still occurs. And who knows what kinds of chemicals are in the cheap finish they use? Looks great out of the box, but they show their age before long. I notice this particularly on this product and on the ice cream scoop. If Zyliss used the identical design, but made it out of plain stainless steel, I'd be thrilled and would give 5-stars. For comparison, their pizza slicer and peelers ARE stainless steel and are fantastic 5-star products.

This works better than other presses I've used, but there are several things I haven't enjoyed.

First, after five months, the non-stick coating is beginning to wear off. Although the blackening on the pressed garlic is apparently not dangerous, it's unattractive.

Second, the design of the press is such that it requires a fair bit of muscle to work even two cloves through.

Third, I found it hard to get to grips with the cleaning attachment. It is a fussy little thing and not safe just to throw in the dishwasher, where it will not stay safely on the top rack.

Finally, although it is now a fairly quick process for me to use this, it did take a number of weeks before it became comfortable.

In all, it is a serviceable gadget, but the wear and the learning curve are real downsides. When something better becomes available -- and Cook's Illustrated says something better is now available (Kuhn Rikon 2315 Epicurean Garlic Press ) -- I'll switch.

I always check Amazon reviews before I buy a product and have found them generally accurate. So why did I not listen to the several reviewers who said that arthritic or small handed people should avoid this press? COOKS magazine got me, plus all the 5 star reviews. BUT PLEASE LISTEN UP if you are afflicted with either condition. I could not get any garlic out of this press. The OXO leaves residue but is much easier to squeeze. Should have stuck with what I had.Mickey Dachs

This is a sturdy garlic press with a chamber large enough for 2 or 3 cloves at a time. The only issue with this press is that the piston is a bit smaller than the chamber, which allows some of the pressed garlic to leak back past the piston.
This is my second Zyliss garlic press. I lost my other one, the smaller version of this press, in a recent move. It had the same issue with garlic getting past the piston, and it was so small that even a single clove of garlic would have to be cut to fit.
I recommend the larger one with the caveat about the poor piston fit.

I bought this press when i lived in Ireland and have used it incessantly for 3 years - sooo easy to clean and pressses the garlic perfectly. Good grip to it, easy to squeeze, fits the hand well. had to write about it - can't say enough about how great it is.