Necessity may be the mother of many an invention, but it was irritation that inspired this credit cardsize garlic grater. After shredding his fingertips one too many times while grating garlic and ginger, a Swedish chef cast aside his metal grater and tried rubbing a clove of garlic over the embossed surface of his credit card. Pleased with the results—a smooth purée, no scraped fingers, and no pesky crevices to clean—he teamed up with a designer, and the rest is history.

The GarlicCard (which grates fresh ginger, too) comes in an array of colors and sells for $6 atScandinavianDetails.com.