Any tips to make peeling foods like onions and garlic easier?

I always cut the ends off and sometimes do a cold water rinse to help with easier peeling but I am still stuck hovered over the sink going ocd, so to say, trying to get the leftover peels off by hand. Sometimes I use the edge of a knife to help but that still doesn't get it all - only pieces. No one ever showed me, I just assumed this is how it was done...but there's got to be an easier method out there. How do you all do it to make it more hassle free?

bb, you're pretty humormous ... ocd over onions and garlic ... 

For onions, I usually cut the onion in half and then peel the skins off.  By cutting the onion in half you have the edge of the skin to grab onto and it pulls off easily for me.  I also run the peeled onion and my knife under cold water before I start to chop/dice which helps the teary eyes affect.  And then I wash the knife and my hands again when I'm done chopping. 

For garlic, I take the clove (or however much you are going to use) and smash it under my knife.  Lay the clove as flat as possible, put the knife flat side down on top of the garlic and hit the knife with your hand to smash the garlic.  This will easily loosen the skin and you can completely remove the skin.  Then I continue to chop/dice the garlic.

Karen K - thanks sweetie but I do that too with the onions. I cut the head and tail off and then cut the onion in half but it's still hard to get all the peels in even strokes... I get stuck with bits and pieces and yes it drives me OCD nuts because I'm bent over donkey style in front of the sink or chopping board trying to get all the peels off. As for garlic though I always like to leave the entire clove in tact especially if I am roasting so smashing my anger of peeling to it wouldn't work LOL Thankfully I have a garlic press that takes garlic whole, skin and all but there are times where I need to peel fresh cloves and leave them in perfect state with being smashed up... I have a little more luck with garlic peeling than onions but still no perfect shabang.

I peel onions by cutting off both ends, and then using the knife to peel off the outer layers of the onion before I cut them in half. Sometimes I slice lightly into the first several layers of onion (down to the lowest layer I want to remove) rather than start from one of the cut ends.  I don't usually run them under water until I have them cut in half, because for me, it makes the outer skin damp and more likely to stick to the rest of the onion, which makes it harder to peel.

For garlic, I've never tried this, but I saw it on the news - if you have a couple of metal bowls, it might be worth trying:

http://www.saveur.com/article/video/video-How-to-Peel-a-Head-of-Garlic-in-Less-Than-10-Seconds

BB,

I do my onions the same way Karen does and I don't put them in water until after they are peeled also. For garlic I place the cloves on a cutting board lay the side of my knife on the garlic clove and press down gently. The cloves will be intact this way. It just loosens the skin then you can peel. Don't place under running water until you have all of the skin off. Another way is to place a few cloves in the microwave and nuke them about 10 seconds. The skins peel right off.

BargainBinge:

Karen K - thanks sweetie but I do that too with the onions. I cut the head and tail off and then cut the onion in half but it's still hard to get all the peels in even strokes... I get stuck with bits and pieces and yes it drives me OCD nuts because I'm bent over donkey style in front of the sink or chopping board trying to get all the peels off.

When the onion isn't cooperating, I sacrifice the outer layer of the onion and slip it off with the skins.  If you keep a container of your vegetable trimmings for making stock, then you don't lose any of the onion with this technique.

Elsi:

If you keep a container of your vegetable trimmings for making stock, then you don't lose any of the onion with this technique.

Yes, I neglected to mention I do this as well.  I keep a freezer baggie with all my "offs" and then when it's time to make stock, boil a chicken, etc ... in it goes!

Knife to onion or garlic helps, yes - I had better luck this evening when chopping onion. I never thought to save that little extra "sleeve" of skin, great idea. Thanks again everyone!

BargainBinge:

Knife to onion or garlic helps, yes - I had better luck this evening when chopping onion. I never thought to save that little extra "sleeve" of skin, great idea. Thanks again everyone!

   I save the ends that I cut off as well.  And last night I added the parings from the potato I peeled to make cottage fries.  Right now, however, I have *way* too much celery tops & trimmings in my freezer.  I think I'm going to have to make a celery stock and then I can turn it into cream of whatever soup when making casseroles.

If you are going to have to peel a LOT of garlic (as in 2-4 pounds when you are canning pickles or some type of sauce) break the heads into individual cloves.  Dump all the cloves into the bowl of Kitchenaid mixer, with the paddle on.  Run it on low for a minute or two.  You can then fish out the peeled cloves and just do a little trimming.  Sure cuts hours off your time if you have to do a lot at once.

A few of the cloves will be bruised, but not many, and if you are making sauce or pickles it won't matter at all.