When was the garlic peeler invented?
I've just discovered today that there is an instrument used for peeling garlic - it looks like a simple tube made of silicone or rubber. Here's a sample video with it.
I have the feeling that this is something kind of new (decades), I think a century ago everyone was peeling their garlic manually, using a knife.
My question is: when, approximately, did this device first appeared in shops? If there was any other garlic peeling device before this one, when it was invented?
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An article on Never Too Curious states that the silicone garlic peeler was patented in 1998.
From the article:
However, I have a neat workaround in my kitchen, a silicone garlic peeler. It is essentially a rubbery tube that comfortably houses a clove of garlic – roll it back and forward on the counter a few times, and the garlic skin slides right off. Genius. The thing was patented in 1998, and the invention “aims to allow the skin to be removed from the individual garlic clove in a safe, speedy, hygienic and odour-free way using, if necessary, only one hand.” I peeled my 20+ cloves in mere minutes. Thank you genius person who invented it. In fact, I know exactly who that is.
The silicone garlic peeler was invented by Ben Omessi, a retired American architect who had taken to designing home items for people with disabilities. When he was recovering from a major operation in 1991, he found he was too weak to stand and peel the amounts of garlic his wife used for cooking. This lead to the idea that handicapped people would have trouble with this task, too. A few years later the E-Z-Rol garlic peeler was born.
I have to admit that I thought it had been around longer.
Edit: Per this article in The New York Times from Feb 1996, the garlic peeler was available for sale at that time and had a patent pending.
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