My wife is a great amateur chef and keeps both white heads of Garlic and Purple heads of Garlic handy.
She stores the heads in a big wooden salad bowl covered with an inverted funnel over each head.
She separates a clove or more when she is prepping dinner.
Then, she separates the skin and uses the flat side of her chef’s knife to smash each clove before using them on a wooden cutting board.
If she uses olive oil, the Costco Virgin Olive oil is her standard if she doesn’t have any donated and raised olive oil from some friends’ home grown Olives.
(Trust no one, who is not a proven and valued/trusty one or a family member or a long time friend! )
I used to have a coffee cup that read: Trust your Mother but cut the cards!
Good story!
I told a friend about smashing a clove with a chef’s knife and she cut herself!!!!!
Tonite I had roasted garlic in our sauteed onions! YUMMM!