In The Kitchen – Granny’s Wisdom Rock 外婆的智慧石

Is getting rid of the skin of garlic a pain? Here’s a tip from my grandma. 蒜頭皮很難撥? 我的外婆有妙方~

Garlic is an essential ingredient in cooking, people have come up with various tools to help us get rid of its skin.

 Some of those tools are quite expensive and most of them are not eco-friendly at all. I’m not a chain myself to a tree kind of person, but I feel like most of the time when we buy those tools we’re just experimenting or simply thinking that it’s cute, but not using them a whole lot after the purchase.

Why not get something from the nature and give it back when you’re done with it?

Me and my family were down by a river one day, and my mom picked up a rock and handed it to me, I was confused. She said “It’s for smashing garlic! That’s what grandma uses, she always keep one in the kitchen.”

I laughed about it at the time but I still took the rock home.

The next day I took the rock out and smashed some garlic with it, it worked wonders!

I used to smash my garlic with the side of my knife, but I have a narrow and thin knife so garlic slides around a bit and I would have to smack it pretty hard to get the garlic to open up.

However with a rock, it’s got some weight to it and a sandier surface, so not only does it not slide around it smashes the garlic with ease.

Oh! You also get a sense of satisfaction out of it if you’ve had a rough day at work. I believe it’s a great stress-relief remedy.

How do you pick the best garlic rock?

  1. It should be about the size of your hand.
  2. You can hold it in your hand comfortably. (My mom likes them oval-shaped, but as long as it’s got the right angle for your hand it’s a good rock)
  3. It’s not too flat (so you don’t smash your finger).
  4. It’s got some weight to it.
  5. Smack it around and make sure it’s hard enough so it doesn’t break easily.

Make sure you scrub it around before using it.

Here are a few more ideas of things you can smash up with the rock: nuts, chilly, green papaya salad… etc.

There you go, a eco-friendly tool for your kitchen. Pick one out and try it out, and if you don’t like it, just return it to where you found it.

-Tiffany Alexandria

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蒜頭是很多料理中不可或缺的材料之一。如果逛一圈廚具用品店常常會看到各式各樣的搗蒜頭、剝蒜頭用具,可是大部分不環保而且要價不斐。

我不是一個瘋狂在乎環保的人,可是說真的,我們每次買回來的小道具真的用到的機會有多少?以我自己的經驗買回來的小道具通常是因為覺得新奇想要實驗看看,或是只是覺得可愛,用了一兩次就會被冷落在一旁。

為什麼不使用大自然現存的東西,使用完畢還可以歸還的呢?

某一天,我們全家出遊在河邊的時候,我媽突然撿了一顆石頭給我,說: 廚房用的。

我滿頭霧水的看著她,她說外婆都用石頭來拍蒜頭,超好用的!

雖然有點懷疑,我還是把沉沉的石頭帶回家了。

回家後用了幾次發現真的很好用!

以前在家拍蒜頭都是用我的刀子,可是因為我的刀面不寬,刀片也比較薄,所以拍起來不是這麼不容易,因為刀子會滑而且因為重量不夠的關係,需要用比較多的力氣才能把蒜頭打開。

但是用石頭就完全沒有這些問題,因為它有重量而且表面不平滑,因此不太需要用太多力氣,蒜頭也不會滑掉。

還有一個好處就是– 它是發洩情緒的好幫手~ 心情不好嗎? 拿石頭砸砸蒜頭吧!

那,好的“蒜頭石” 要怎麼選呢?

  1. 大小應該要跟你的手掌差不多。
  2. 手感不錯,只要你握在手上覺得舒服就可以了(我媽喜歡橢圓形的,但是如果你覺得我起來的角度對了它就是好石頭)
  3. 不要太扁,要有一點點厚度在拍蒜頭的時候才不會不小心壓到手指
  4. 有一點重量
  5. 拿起來敲敲看,確定密度夠,不容易碎裂

記得使用前要先用刷子把它刷乾淨喔!

除了蒜頭之外,我有時候還會拿它來把堅果敲碎,拍辣椒,甚至用它來幫助青木瓜沙拉入味!

好啦就這樣~ 去撿顆石頭試試看吧,如果不喜歡的話就把它歸位,還給大自然吧!

-Tiffany Alexandria

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