Why Everyone Needs a Gilhoolie

“You need a Gilhoolie,” stated my dentist, after I told her that I involuntarily clench my teeth during activities requiring concentrated effort — such as trying to remove a stubborn jar lid.

“What’s a Gilhoolie?” I asked, worried I was in for yet another expensive dental procedure.

“It’s a mechanical jar opener,” she explained.

“I already have lots of those,” I told her. “None of them works.”

When I couldn’t open a jar, I’d first try a rubber jar gripper. If that didn’t work, I’d tap around the edges of the lid with a wooden mallet. If that didn’t loosen the lid, I’d run hot water over it.

Some jars still defied opening, so I invested in an array of gizmos designed to open stubborn jars. Most of them work like a wrench or lever, to improve leverage for twisting off the lid. But the jar lids that most often defy opening have a smooth rim, so twisting merely causes the tool to slip around the lid.

But Dr. Mary assured me the Gilhoolie works. Every time. So I bought one from the only place that still carries them — The Vermont Country Store.

This scary-looking contraption can be used, like a wrench, to twist off a ribbed lid. It can also be used to pry the top off a canning jar. But its best feature is that, when you clamp the jaw onto a smooth lid, and squeeze the handle, the lid releases its vacuum seal with a satisfying POP.

Interesting — because my dentist recommended the Gilhoolie — that this device was invented by a retired New York dentist named Charles W. Fuller. Why he called it a Gilhoolie is one of life’s little mysteries.

Although it was patented in 1954, I never heard of it until just recently. Now I wouldn’t want to be without my Gilhoolie. Plenty of activities still cause me to clench my teeth, but opening stubborn jars is no longer one of them. Anyone who has ever had trouble removing a jar’s lid should have a Gilhoolie.