J.A. Henckels Twin Pure Garlic Press

There are large number of garlic presses sold on Amazon. It seems each has issues, except this one!

The Henckel Twin Pure is Completely stainless steel, very ergonomic, feels great in hand, garlic comes out easily, and relatively easy to clean.

$10 cheaper than the Kuhn Rikon Epicurean, and no issue of jamming fingers like the Kuhn.

Oxo, good price, but water seeps in the handle.

Zyliss, not stainless steel. Chrome corrodes.

models with lots of plastic is just not the same.

Have used this quite a few times so far. Its very sturdy, and presses garlic with ease. Only the thinnest layer of skin is left to clean out. Well worth the little extra money this costs knowing it is 18/10 stainless, will never rust, and has no coating to chip off.

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I was looking for a "super duty" garlic press to supplement my old, "made in Switzerland" Zyliss aluminum model, which has performed admirably for me for many years without fail. However, sometimes I'm in a hurry when cooking and often when I go to reach for my Zyliss, I find it's sitting in the sink under some dirty dishes forcing me to take a precious few seconds to clean it.

So after many years of being a "one garlic press chef", I thought I'd get a second one and splurge on a stainless steel, high-capacity model. After reading through dozens of reviews for the Oxo, Kuhn, Rosle, WMF, etc., I decided to get this Henckels due to it's great reviews (although there were only 6 when I purchased this in January, 2012) and the fact I own several of the company's 4 Star German-made flagship knives, which I love. However, this press has some issues, mostly due to poor design, and is going back to Amazon a first for me, as I have never returned anything that I have purchased from them.

First off, I was disappointed to find the press was made in China. Not in itself necessarily a bad thing, but for a $30 press I would have expected a German-made unit, and I don't think that is mentioned anywhere in the description.

Second, and the worst thing, there is a seam on both edges of the sieve hopper where it is folded up to form the back side; the garlic skin and pulp will wedge into these crevices and are impossible to remove with your finger, so you are forced to use one of your good knives to clean out the residue a very poor design and a good way to damage the edge of your fine knife if you use it for this purpose. You could try a toothpick, but it would probably break off the tip in the crevice and then you'd have to remove that, too.

Third, the item is stainless steel which is nice but it is stamped metal, not machined, so it has a cheap feel to it. (The sieve is particularly thin metal.) The top handle is rounded and comfortable, but the stamped design of the bottom handle and other parts gives it dull edges that are not at all pleasant to the touch.

Fourth, the design gives it many parts, grooves, and surfaces that can collect food and debris, making it time-consuming and hard to clean.

Overall, I am very disappointed in this "designed in Germany" Henckels product and would have expected much better from them. Evidently this "innovative, highly functional design by Matteo Thun" was never actually used by him.

Save yourself some money and get a simpler but well manufactured press from another company.

Read Best Reviews of J.A. Henckels Twin Pure Garlic Press Here

This garlic press gets the job done it does kind of "juice" the garlic in that it squeezes the moisture out of it (and sometimes on me rather than into the pan/pot if I'm not aiming it carefully) but it also doesn't leave any unpressed garlic in the chamber so overall I am happy with it! It also cleans up well and can be put in the dishwasher.

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We were looking for a top-notch replacement for our old Michael Graves press (from Target), which worked great for about 8 years, but the hinge finally broke. We love garlic, so having a good press is well worth it in our house. We purchased this one from Amazon about three months ago and have used it perhaps three dozen times.

Pros:

1. It crushes garlic.

Cons:

1. The garlic press is actually made of fairly lightweight metal with no coating or texture on the surface. When your hands are wet (as they often are when you're cooking, or when peeling/rinsing garlic cloves) it's harder to get a good grip on the handles.

2. The lightweight metal also means that there is greater hand strength required to actually crush the garlic. The best presses I've ever used have heavy, solid cast metal anvils and baskets that reduce the effort required because of the weight of the frame of the thing.

3. The basket "swivels" upward around the hinge. It is not fixed to the lower handle; it does not press in place or have a latch or anything. Every time you press a clove then lift the upper handle to load another one or scrape out what's left, the basket sticks to the anvil.

4. This is truly the most baffling: The basket is not a single piece. It's a piece of metal sheeting folded up on all four sides, like assembling a flat cardboard box. The sides are not welded or otherwise joined along the four edges. So, there is a small gap around all four edges of the basket, around 0.5mm, which do flex a bit wider when pressing garlic. This means that garlic gets stuck in these gaps, the worse so because it gets stuck when there's pressure in the basket and the edges are flexed outward ever so slightly, then return to their typical gap when you open the thing and attempt to wash it. No amount of soaking, dishwashing, picking at it with a knife, etc., gets the garlic out of these small gaps. So you just kind of... live with it. Put it back in your drawer with garlic stuck in the edges.

Conclusion:

The 1 star rating may be harsh, but there is a reality to things here. You can pick up a competently-designed press at Target or even Walmart, for $15 or less, that addresses ALL issues with this press. These are actually some pretty serious and silly design flaws given the purpose of the thing; doubly so at its premium price point. I'm not entirely certain whether the other reviewers received a different, revised version of the thing, haven't thought about these issues completely, or just haven't had the pleasure of using an excellent press, but in any case, take it from a family of garlic lovers: this press is NOT RECOMMENDED. You have lots of options at or below this price point. We will be purchasing another kind.

My wife insists (and I agree) that a cheap "OXO" brand press we purchased from Target to tide us over until we found a good one, although certainly not an excellent press, is better than this one. We're switching back to the cheap-o until the next one arrives.

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