I rarely have done a product review on this blog except for hiking gear. However, I bought a kitchen toy that I'm pretty darned happy with. The number of times I'm really happy with a new purchase is low. Case in point... just today I returned a lap desk to Amazon because the mouse pad part isn't stuck tight to the surface- the edges curl up, and the mouse pad surface isn't suitable for using a mouse. So I had to pay $5 more to get the one I should have ordered in the first place (Om has one, and it's good.)
But back to the kitchen. This purchase was precipitated by the impending death of my box grater. It's at least 50 years old. It has had a crack in the metal for a long time, and it had to be used carefully. But after grating 2 pounds of mozarella, it's getting really iffy.
I DO NOT LIKE powered appliances that take up counter space and do one thing. OK, one sort of has to have a blender, but I have avoided a lot of the specialty kitchen tools. So I went looking for something that would grate and more, would be space economical, and not powered.
Now, I have encountered this style of chopper/slicer/grater before, but they've been too flimsy, in my opinion. But this one looked pretty good, so I decided to give it a try. Definitely 4 out of 5 stars. Maybe 4.5 stars.
It comes with a tub, an inner tub that will dran, a top/handle which holds the blades, 5 blades for grating, thicker or thinner julienne strips, a crinkle cutter, and a thin slicer, blades for small or large dicing, an egg separator, plus a pusher, and a small "picker" which is a little comb with the teeth the right size to clean out the spaces in the cutters.
I've mentioned a bunch of times that I usually have a big salad for dinner, and I keep a tray of veggies to add to the lettuce. Well, I think this toy is going to make that salad-building easier.
If you want it to dice, you need to cut the veggies in slices the thickness to match the 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch grid cutter. I cut the ends off the (large) radishes and sliced them in thirds. Place on the dicer grid. Close the lid and push down. (I learned that it does better with only 1 or 2 slices at a time)
This is the result of that one radish- just so you can see the pieces more clearly.
Then I diced a half a red onion in the same manner.
The grating and slicing happens on the top of the box. You can see the grater in the first picture above. Haha... the grater is one of the things I haven't tried yet because I just grated a big block of mozzarella on the box grater which is how I knew it was really going bad.
The four slicers are shown in the top picture, and they come with a little storage box. This also shows the underside of the pusher. I tried that and found it very awkward. I think just being careful is probably a better plan.
That said... the directions warned you to be careful because the blades are sharp. Well, yeah... but I still had to learn where one should not grab to pick it up. Cut two fingers enough that they've had bandaids for 3 days. Finally took them off today. (which also means that I could wash dishes today. The kitchen was a total mess because I also made soup on Monday)
And here is my salad fixings box filled with things ready to put on salads, eliminating (I hope) the need to cut up a bunch of stuff except the greens each day. Top L-R is radishes in 1/4 inch dice, bell peppers in 1/4 inch dice, carrots in larger julienne, Bottom L-R is cauliflower in 1/2 inch dice, cucumber in 1/2 inch dice, and grape tomatoes in 1/2 inch dice.
They said it was not suitable for tomatoes, but it did the small ones just fine. Now the question is... can I get away with cutting up the vegetables a few days before they will be eaten or will they get slimy faster? The cucumbers and peppers will be the big test.
And how does this compare to my former salad tray? I always had to chop things up smaller every day when I made my dinner.
The negatives. #1- The directions are just pictures which were largely unhelpful if something was not intuitive. I had a hard time figuring out how to change the various blades. I was afraid of breaking something since it's all plastic. It's really easy once you push on the correct places, but a little more help would have been nice. #2- It only comes with one size of grater. I may have to keep the box grater for doing citrus zest. #3- the egg separator seems silly. I just separate them in the shells. However, Om requires a tool. #4- as mentioned, the pusher isn't great.
The whole thing fit back in the box nicely and will store in the pantry with the hand grinder that I use regularly.
Of course, I'll have to wash this thing about once a week as opposed to just wiping off a knife and the cutting board. But if you are making a big salad this would save a ton of time.
Brand is Mueller Pro-Series 16-in-1 Vegetable Chopper
In other news- I got the big paperwork project DONE. Cleaned up a bunch of stuff, including working on the kitchen although it still has a way to go. Did some errands. I always manage to fill the time.
 | See Kitchen Faucet Replacement |
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