You can chop garlic into pieces as big or as small as you wish. (Finely chopped garlic is often called “minced” garlic.) You can also mash up your chopped garlic, and turn it into garlic paste.
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Step
1
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Trim off the root end of the garlic clove, being careful to cut off as little as possible. (You basically want to shave off the dirty looking end piece.) This will make it easier to remove the skin. |
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Step
2
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Crush the garlic clove by either pressing on it with the heel of your hand…
…or by placing the side of a large knife against the garlic clove and carefully pounding on the side of the knife with your fist. Be sure to turn the blade away from the hand that’s doing the pounding. |
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Step
3
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Peel off the skin…
…and remove and discard any green shoots. (These green shoots often have a bitter, unpleasant flavor.)
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Step
4
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Chop the garlic. To chop in a faster, more controlled manner, keep your hand (the one that’s not holding the knife) on top of the knife as you chop. Be careful, and always keep this hand flat, as you do not want your fingers to get caught under the blade.
Continue chopping until the pieces of garlic are as small as you want them to be.
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Step
5
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If you want to chop the garlic very finely or make garlic paste, add a pinch of sea salt or kosher salt to the chopped garlic. The salt will help the garlic to release its juices. |
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Continue chopping…
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…and then rub the side of the knife against the chopped garlic, crushing and mashing the garlic against the cutting board. (You can carefully push the side of the knife with the heel of your hand to help crush the garlic. Be sure to turn the blade of the knife away from that hand.) |
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As you crush and scrape the garlic, you’ll be smearing the garlic across the board. The garlic will make crunching noises as you crush it.
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Step
6
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Scrape up the smeared garlic from the cutting board to gather it together… |
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…and continue chopping… |
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…and smearing until the garlic reaches a mashed up, paste-like consistency, as is as chopped up as you want it to be.
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Notes: