7 Slicing Tools That Claim to Be More Effective Than a Knife
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There are an infinite amount of kitchen gadgets out there, but how do you differentiate between the frivolous and the practical? For Epicurious's latest YouTube video, we asked design & usability expert Dan Formosa to test seven slicing tools, from a classic "As Seen On TV" chopper to a whimsical windmill-inspired watermelon knife, and rank them in terms of usability (and buy-ability). Keep reading to see which items he tested and deemed worth buying below; to view the full video, click here.
Pineapple Slicer
This gadget uses a simple screw mechanism to core and slice a pineapple in one motion. Formosa gave this slicer a 5/5 for effectiveness since it produced a “pretty good-looking cylinder of pineapple slices.” Using it is faster than taking a knife to the pineapple—it takes about 40 seconds to get juicy results with this slicer compared to four minutes of labor-intensive peeling with a knife.
BUY IT: Pineapple Slicer, $12 on Amazon
Corn Stripper
This tool was the biggest dud of the bunch. Formosa gave it a 1/5, and a speed test proved it’s faster to strip corn with a knife. “The results are fine, but the effort is excessive...I wouldn’t even buy it for someone I don’t like!” Instead of bothering with a re-design, Formosa showed us his Bundt pan hack for stripping corn, which is pretty similar to our own trick.
BUY IT: Corn Stripper, $23 on Amazon
Watermelon Windmill
This gadget is designed to cube a watermelon, but once you use it, you realize the inherent problem it presents: Watermelons are circular, so it’s difficult to cube the fruit once you get close to the rind. Formosa gave it a 3/5 for effectiveness and a 4/5 for usability—it’s easy to use and works slightly faster than a regular knife, plus, the windmill adds a bit of playfulness and novelty to the messy chore of cutting up a watermelon.
BUY IT: Watermelon Windmill, $8 on Amazon
Clever Cutter
Considering this is an “As Seen On TV” item, Formosa was surprised that the Clever Cutter performed as well as it did. This gadget did a great job cutting zucchini, small potatoes and onions, and an okay job with tomatoes. Overall, the Clever Cutter is easy to use and highly effective, though not a major time-saver.
BUY IT: Clever Cutter $10 on Amazon
Slap Chop
Though infomercial is the first thing that comes to mind when we hear “Slap Chop,” choppers like this are all over the market these days. In Formosa's testing, he wasn’t impressed with the Slap Chop’s performance on herbs, but it did a great job finely chopping carrots and celery, which it cut twice as fast as a knife.
BUY IT: Slap Chop $20 on Amazon
Apple Peeler
Formosa noticed that this combination peeler/corer/spiralizer has some Medieval-looking features, but it did peel an apple in less than 30 seconds. Think of all the time you’ll have to bake pies now! He gave it 5/5 for effectiveness and 3/5 for usability; lots of small parts make this peeler a little tricky to use and clean, but at the end of the day, he thinks it would make “a perfect Secret Santa gift.”
BUY IT: Apple Peeler $21 on Amazon
Strawberry Huller
“If you’re gonna design something as odd as a strawberry huller, it needs to work great,” says Formosa. Luckily, this one does—he even discovered this huller can be used for tomatoes, too. He gave it a Buy Rating of 5/5, whether it’s for yourself or a cute present for someone else.
BUY IT: Strawberry Huller, $8 on Amazon
Originally Appeared on Epicurious
