"Although it's convenient, a garlic press makes a brutal attack on the poor garlic," declares Jane Rodmell, co-owner of Toronto specialty food store All the Best Fine Foods and author of Cottage Life's Summer Weekends, More Summer Weekends, and Best Summer Weekends cookbooks. "First the juice gets squished out, and then the pulp, and you're left with all those bits inside the press that are so maddening to clean out."

The best way to chop garlic, Rodmell advises, is to use a chef's knife with a sharp blade. If you're right-handed, use that hand for the handle while your left holds the knife tip steady. Chop the cloves with a rocking motion, using the top, tapered part of the knife. When you first try this, you may end up with garlic bits from one end of the kitchen to the other, but with practice the job becomes neater - and faster. If you want the garlic flavour to disperse through the food quickly, you can then gently purée the chopped pieces by pressing on them with the flat side of the knife.

Whatever you do, try to avoid using chopped garlic from a jar, advises food stylist Ruth Gangbar. It has a processed flavour that's easily detected.