Good Grips Garlic Press (Good Grips Cooking Utensils)

Member Name: Ric!

Product:	Good Grips Cooking Utensils
Date:	04/01/02 (273 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong, Easy to use

Disadvantages: Expensive, Large

Good Grips kitchen utensils first came about in 1989. They were the idea of Mr Sam Farber. He had previously founded Copco, a cookware company, in 1960. After he retired, he and his architect wife, Betsey, rented a holiday home in the south of France. It was while they were there that Betsey's arthritis flared up. Noticing her inability to use a potato peeler properly, he wondered if it was possible to invent kitchen utensils to help her and the other 20 million arthritis sufferers in the US (why didn't he just peel the potatoes for her and tell her to go and put her feet up?!). So, that is how it all began.

The products became a huge success, used not only by arthritis sufferers, but by people who had other disabilities. But the winning factor behind the designs is that these chunky, easy to use, well-made utensils reached the able-bodied market, too. They were suitable for everybody, and made everyone's life easier. The Arthritis Foundation and the Industrial Designers Society of America have awarded them design prizes.

I had often seen these utensils in the shops, but never bought one. They are generally more expensive and much larger than other products. But when my garlic press snapped in my hands several weeks ago, I wanted a much stronger replacement.

Good Grips Garlic Press looks solid and sturdy. When you pick it up, it feels really meaty. You can see by the thick metal hinged joint at the top that this little baby would take some abuse to break it. You can see a picture of it at the John Lewis website (cut and paste this link: http://www.johnlewis.com/stores/product.asp?sku=23 0133814&str=901). The dimesions of the garlic press, when folded up, are: Total Length 17cm. Handles: length 10.5 cm, width 3.3cm, depth 2cm at its widest. Actual perforated garlic pressing area: horseshoe shape of height 3.5cm x width 2.5cm.

This garlic press really IS the business. You can fit around 3-4 medium
sized cloves in the press, to be crushed all at once. The crushing plate is thick heavy metal.

From a usability point of view, it is a dream. The thick handles are covered in a non-slip rubber sheath which is useful when your hands are wet and slippery from food preparation. It is also very gentle on the hands. The smooth hinged top allows for easy movement so that all your pressure is used in crushing the garlic and not overcoming any friction of the utensil itself. Garlic crushes very easily due to this, as well as the heavy duty flat crushing edge.

One of the big problems I have found with garlic presses in the past is their cleanability. If you don't instantly clean them, or leave them soaking in water, then the garlic residues set rock hard, and you can spend hours with a brush cleaning the thing. Well, with the Good Grips garlic press, once you have finished crushing, you can remove debris from inside by complete folding the garlic press the other way. This will enable some plastic red prongs to slot directly into the perforations and push out any debris. See the picture if you are confused! Not only this, but all Good Grips utensils are completely dishwasher safe.

The price of this item is £8.95, available from John Lewis stores and online at www.johnlewis.com, as well as many other outlets. A typical garlic press may cost you half of this. Yes, Good Grips products are expensive, they are chunky, and they take up much more room than other utensils. I certainly wouldn't buy the whole range, but the Garlic Press is a fantastic product.

(If you want to read a couple of articles on Sam Farber and the Good Grips company, then here are the links:
1. http://www.cdf.org/cdf/atissue/vol2_1/kitchen/kitc hen.html
2. http://www.id.iit.edu/news/farber_atissue.html )

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