For crushing garlic before using in cooked dishes or dressings, a gentle tap will separate the cloves from the bulb and a gentle tap release the paper skin from the clove. Once the paper is removed, using more force with the pounder will crush the garlic to a pulp. If doing more than one clove (and don’t we always) its good to place the next garlic clove in a new dry area of the board from the previous smashed clove as it tends to splatter more otherwise.

The pounder is great prep tool for pitting olives; a medium tap will separate the olive from the pit. This is definitely my tool of choice for making the Oil-free Vegan Mayonnaise since there are quite a few olives to pit and the olives don’t need to appear whole as the pitted olives will be blended.

For ginger, scrape the outer skin off with a spoon or peel with a vegetable peeler, then cut horizontally into thin coins which will ensure the fibers are short. To crush with the pounder, put the ginger coins flat on the cutting board and a single bash will make pulp.