Ani asked for kitchen stuff for her 16th birthday so we headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to shop. There, I found this cute little Chef’n Garlic Zoom Garlic Chopper set.

We have quite the history with garlic mincers. We’ve never been truly happy with one, not even the Pampered Chef one that cost a fortune and was supposed to be the best ever. So I decided to give this one a try in the hopes it would be better than the others we’ve tried just because it is so incredibly different.

I am happy to say I love it! It’s not perfect, but it’s the best gadget for chopping garlic I’ve ever had.

It came with a little rubber thing that helps you peel garlic cloves easily. You put it in, twist, and magically the peel falls off. It’s great if you only have a clove or two to peel. If you have more, using that thing takes forever so it’s easier to do the shaking method. I just put a bunch of garlic cloves in a plastic bowl.

Then I put the lid on it.

And shake it like crazy. Somehow all that shaking makes the garlic peel fall off.

It’s seriously the easiest way to peel a bunch of garlic cloves at once.

Okay, back to the Chef’n GarlicZoom. So once the garlic is peeled, whether I just do one or two using the twisty rubber thingy or a whole bunch shaken in a bowl, then it is ready to be chopped up and gotten ready to be used. The GarlicZoom is this little wheeled gadget with a removable sharp blade that sits inside. It has two doors. One opens it all the way up for cleaning (and, boy, is it easy to clean – you just open it, take out the blade, rinse both parts in water, and let it dry).

The other door opens to allow you to put in the whole garlic and take it out when after it has been chopped up.

After you put in the garlic clove (or two or three if they are small), you get to have fun running the wheels around your kitchen counter. Car noises are optional, but do add to the fun. If you run it around for a short time, your garlic will be coarsely chopped. Run it around for a long time and your garlic will be chopped nice and fine.

Once you’ve got your garlic how you like it, open the door and shake it out. I usually use my finger to get as much out as I can. And this is the one thing that makes this funny little gadget not perfect: It’s impossible to get all the garlic out of the crevices without washing them out. It’s a small problem, really, and definitely doesn’t make it fall from the #1 spot of all the garlic mincers I’ve used (and, oh, there have been so many!).

Bottom Line: The Chef’n GarlicZoom Garlic Chopper works as promised and is fun to boot. It’s totally worth buying. It runs anywhere from $10-15 depending on where you buy it.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

(Note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. I bought my garlic chopper myself.)