For anyone thinking of buying a spiralizer….

spiralisedI LOVE a kitchen gadget. My cupboards are overflowing with them and its a habit I blame on my mum and dad, who enticed me with their groovy electric carving knife in the mid 70s (possibly the coolest thing to come out of a kitchen during that decade) and made me aspire to own a Kenwood Chef when every other 17 year old I knew wanted a car.

I’ve owned a number of different machines; fancy juicers (waaay too much cleaning, every one of them), a state of the art ice-cream maker (gorgeous but used once a decade), a jam maker (excellent, I now have a cupboard full of jam which no one eats), a rice cooker (I don’t know how anyone survives family life without one), an oil free chip fryer (great but prone to catching fire), an apple peeler (FFS, use a knife) and a stupidly expensive but used everyday Thermomix (I would grab this first if my house burned down). And that’s just what’s in the cupboard today.

Over the decades I’ve been cooking I have used many more. The less successful (read most of them) have now passed on to my sister/various relatives/children/anyone else who’d take them. I think it’s a rule that 80% of kitchen gadgets have to be used enthusiastically for the first three months, then must sit, gathering dust, unused at the back of a cupboard for another five years before you offload them. Actually, I think we should start a club whereby we could swap kitchen gadgets every three months, I’ll take your unused bread machine off your hands in exchange for my home made yoghurt maker or perhaps you’d prefer the cupcake cooker (yes, really there is such a thing).

spiralizer images

Anyway, all this is a long introduction to my inevitable consideration of the spiralizer, as it is almost impossible to escape an instagram image/weekend supplement recipe/new cookery book that doesn’t mention spaghetti courgettes or noodled carrots. I’m blaming this one firmly on those Hemsley Girls.

But if my long experience with gadgets has taught me anything, it is that it’s probably a fad. Just look at the amount of space the spiralizer machine takes up, and all the blades and twiddly bits that will need dismantling and washing.To say nothing of the expense. So I made a grown up, kitchen-executive decision. I did not buy one.

Instead I read Anna Jones’s new book, A Modern Way to Cook, where she recommended a julienne peeler, at less than £5.00. I bought one, it is AMAZING, requires no effort and has me addicted to courgette salad. I would seriously advise you to do the same if you are considering doing fancy things to your vegetables. Try the cheap option first, it may save you space in your cupboard as well as hours of cleaning time. Sometimes being a wise old grown up is a good thing.

As always, Lakeland has some good ones, I have the Oxo one below and it is strong and comfy in the hand.  You are welcome.

oxo

2 Comments

  • If only I’d thought sensibly like you. I do have a julienne peeler, I’ve had one for years and used it a lot, but it never occurred to me it would do the job of an oh so beguiling Spiralizer. Made more appealing by the fact that I had to go on waiting list for it as it was sold out everywhere locally, even JL. I don’t use it, it’s way too much of a faff and when did I become the person on a waiting list for a kitchen gadget? Note to self, Get a grip! GG

  • Kay says:

    So, I bought a smaller, cheaper spiralizer than the one in the picture, because I could not bear to think of where I would put that thing and all its twiddy bits. The smaller, cheaper spiralize was utter CRAP. It did not spiralize AT. ALL.

    But I need spiralized veg because Whole30, right? So I just went and bought the OXO julienne peeler and now I feel sort of smart if I forget about the cheap spiralizer that didn’t work. I think I’m still ahead of the game. THANKS!
    xoxo

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