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Credit is due for garlic utensil

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published July 20, 2005

Pureeing garlic is messy. At least cleaning the garlic press or grater is. Every cook who ever tried to pick garlic gunk out of a press or avoid nicking their fingers has thought, "There has to be a better way."

There is, and it was in your wallet all along: a credit card.

But it was found first by Herman Rasmuson, a Swedish chef and entrepreneur. He was stuck one day trying to get the garlic puree just right and, for some reason, tried rubbing it on the embossed numbers and letters.

Eureka! (Or its equivalent if Swedish were more demonstrative). It made perfect puree for bruschetta, sauce or soup, washed off in seconds and, given its flexibility, doubled as a spatula.

The smartest idea since the rasp jumped from the woodworking shop to the kitchen and became a microplaner.

Now the Garlic Card, in hip colors with no magnetic stripe and a lot more embossed type (the letters G.C. repeated row after row) is for sale in six European countries.

It arrived in California at a San Francisco shop that offers it as one more piece of small and brilliant Scandinavian design (designer Lisa Flodin).

Cards are $5.95 at Scandinavian Details 364 Hayes St., San Francisco; call toll-free 1-800-928-4010, which plans to sell them through other kitchen stores and eventually online at www.scandinaviandetails.com Read more at www.garliccard.com

[Last modified July 19, 2005, 09:14:04]