Miranda
A variety of vegetables cut into spirals is a very fashionable trend. First, vegetables are the foundation of a healthy diet. Secondly, there are more and more vegetarians in the world, and they need to somehow diversify their menu. Over the past two years, many models of spiralizers have appeared, and whole series of books with recipes for spiralizers have been published. Many sites and channels on YouTube are dedicated only to cooking with spiral vegetables. So I decided to join this topic.
Kenwood, like many other brands, likes to release the same thing in different trim levels, and, accordingly, with different names. Therefore, they have three spiralizers - FGP200WG, FGP203WG and FGP204WG. They differ only in the number of cone blades included.
But it is easy to navigate, because there is a hint of quantity in the title:
FGP200WG - basic model with two Linguini and Pappardelle cones
FGP203WG - three-cone model (+ Tagliatelle)
FGP204WG - all four cones model
Each country sells its own equipment. For example, only the base model is sold in England. All four blades are available in Australia only. But with three blades, the most common is France, Germany, Ukraine, etc. Well, all options are sold on ebee.
I have a model with three cone blades FGP203WG, but I ordered the fourth one (spaghetti) separately, when she arrives, I will add about her to this review.
Kenwood also recently released a spiralizer attachment for kitchen machines. In fact, it is not much different from a separate unit, so I'll tell you about it too, but at the very end. Because the introduction has already dragged on, and I would like to review and check everything in the work as soon as possible.
UNPACKING
The box, as always at Kenwood, is colorful and informative.
On the front side, in addition to the name and image, below there are drawn how many blades are included. Those. even if you have forgotten which name, how many blades, you can tell by the box without opening it.
On the other hand, it is also colorful and written, how easy and beautiful everything is. The store stuck a transparent file on the box, where it put the purchase documents, could not tear it off completely.
The sides are also bright and with different information
Above the name in different languages, including Russian - spiral cutter.
I didn’t take pictures from below, the print was too small, but it says in Russian that the importing company is Delonghi-Russia, the Moscow address and telephone number are indicated. This surprised me a lot. I asked the manufacturer about a year ago if a spiralizer would be sold in Russia, and the answer was - we are not planning yet. Here is such a strange thing - I bought the device in Ukraine, and the importing country is Russia. Maybe soon this model will appear with us too?
It's time to unpack.
We open the box, instructions are on top.
A thick booklet with instructions in 19 languages, and a separate one in two - Russian and Kazakh. The instruction is small, but informative. In addition to the traditional components of what it consists of, how to use it, possible mistakes and security measures, there is also information about which products are best used and several recipes.
The device is packed in a dense figured cardboard, and inside it is still in a thick, soft protective bag.
I took out the spiralizer, but the unpacking did not end there.
All the constituent elements are also well packed, and for fidelity, so that they do not move during transportation, they are also glued with tape.
Cocoon wrapped on top - pusher, loading tube and holder for the cone blade.
And below there is another cocoon - a bowl and blades.
I really liked how the cone blades are packed.
Firstly, a stand was invented for them, they do not hang out.
Secondly, each cone is in its own protective cover, worn from below, and at the very top there is also a top cap. If they are just one to one, then there is a risk of scratching the upper cone with the blades of the lower one.
My model has three cones included.
On top of each there is information about what exactly the cone is.
2x4mm - Linguini
2x9mm - Tagliatelli
Flat spiral - Pappardelli.
Well, everything is unpacked, my new toy is complete.
And you can store it by turning the pusher inside the bowl in which the blades are folded. Whether to leave the stand or throw it away is everyone's business, I decided to leave it for now.
And looking ahead, I will say that at the very end, I found that the wire was retracted inside. It is very comfortable. The spiralizer is very compact, it has not even begun to clean anywhere, it took up little space on the tabletop. I hope I will use it often.
Specifications
Bowl - 0.5 l.
Dimensions - 14.8 x 20.2 x 36.6 cm.
Weight - 1.85kg. assembled.
Spiralizer power - 70W.
At first glance, this is not enough, but for some reason somewhere around 80% of spiralizer manufacturers make them with a power of 70-80W, and very few do with a power of 100-120W. I looked through many spiralizers on Amazon in different countries, and I only came across one with a power higher than 120W. (Russell Hobbs - 300W.). I am referring to stand-alone spiralizers, not as an option on multi-functional combines / vegetable cutters.
Okay, I can't wait to try it out
IN WORK
First you need to collect everything. This is not difficult.
Rather, I washed everything first, and then collected it.
1. Install the cone blade holder. A gear goes from the motor, which will push the holder with the blade.
2. Then we install the desired one on the cone blade. The blade has grooves, you need to twist the cone until everything matches. Very easy.
3. Then install the lid with the loading tube.
There is a not very noticeable triangle on the lid, which must be placed opposite the open lock and turned towards the closed lock. The turn is a little tight, when brought to the end - a slight click.
4. At the end of the pusher there are blades on which you need to plant the vegetable.
The blades, by the way, are made of plastic, but very strong.
5. The pusher has runners on both sides, which must match the projections in the tube. If the vegetable is longer than the tube, for example, a very long zucchini, this must be borne in mind.
Potatoes
I'll start with potatoes.
First, the potatoes will not be as sorry as zucchini if something goes wrong. Secondly, there is a lot of it, and you can try all three blades. Thirdly, it is quite indicative, an average between too hard foods and soft ones.
From thin to flat strip.
I put it on the pusher.
It cut everything so quickly that it did not have time to photograph in the process.
It seems 70W. really quite enough!
That's how beautiful it all came together in a bowl.
The instructions say that crescents are obtained when the product is too small. But I would also add that when you stop the car in the middle of the process, the spiral can also come off. There are few crescents here, but the rest are very long spirals. Another small residue on the pusher and a round long piece from the center.
Small residue in the cone. He almost always stayed with the following products, except for the cone, where there is a wide strip.
I change it to a 9mm blade.
And I even manage to photograph a little in the process.
These spirals are the same thickness, but wider.
The remains are the same.
And the last cone is a strip.
The width of the strip depends on the width of the product.
Here I stopped, hoping to photograph how beautifully it folds in the bowl, and the spiral came off. I didn't stop other products anymore.
All three options.
I immediately put the chopped potatoes on a non-stick mat, because I was going to lightly sprinkle with vegetable oil, sprinkle with spices, and send them to the oven for 25 + - minutes. Which she did right there.
Apple
I specially bought small apples in advance. Large ones would have to be cut to fit into the tube. There are a lot of apples, so I will also test all three blades.
The instructions say that you don't need to peel the apple, because the pith with bones will still not be cut, but will remain.Well, let's do it - a whole small apple.
And so it happened - the bones and other core did not fall into the bowl.
The spirals broke a little. But there are also quite long pieces. Although, I think that if the fruit salad is mixed with a spoon, they will still break.
But I liked this version of the apple more than the grated one. When I rub on a grater, juice is released, especially on a fine one. There was no juice at all, as if cut with a knife. And one more moment - one of the spirals is a thinly peeled skin. Those. peeling the apple is not necessary, you can then simply remove the spiral-peel.
Let's try the second blade.
In principle, everything is the same, only the strip is wider.
But I really liked the third blade.
It folded beautifully into a bowl, which reminded me of apple roses - cut into long slices and then wrapped.
You don't even need to wrap it up here.
So I put it in a mold, added cottage cheese, sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
All three options.
It was necessary to sprinkle with lemon juice, then it would not have time to darken slightly.
Zucchini
I didn't need a lot of zucchini, so I cut it with just one blade.
It is not for nothing that they show zucchini and cucumbers in commercials.
Excellent Linguinis, now I look forward to when the fourth cone arrives, so that there will be absolutely spaghetti.
Simmer lightly in a skillet, add tomatoes, chicken, herbs, sprinkle with sesame seeds (whatever) - and a great dinner!
CONCLUSIONS
I really liked the spiralizer.
I will definitely use it often.
There are not so many main products that we use in our daily life. But their taste is determined not only by the methods of preparation, but also by the method of cutting. Elementary fried potatoes will be perceived by different dishes if the potatoes are cut into cubes, in a rustic way with half moons, thin circles, spirals.
Children eat spiral vegetables / fruits better as the food becomes interesting. Well, and what to hide, it looks like your favorite pasta
Spiral salad will decorate the festive table.
For spiral vegetables, a little heat treatment is needed, because that with steam, that during cooking, that during frying, thin strips will cook very quickly, which means that more useful things will remain in them.
And there was also such a plus - the spiral cutting visually increases the volume of food on the plate. Three chopped potatoes from the review barely fit on two plates, and were eaten in two faces with the feeling that they had eaten quite a lot. So for those who are on a diet, I highly recommend this method of cutting
A few tips
1. Vegetables should be preferably firm, but always juicy. Zucchini is not that hard, but juicy. But even a slightly sluggish carrot is already difficult to cut.
I wanted to cut the pumpkin, but I didn't succeed, because although it is well stored just in the apartment, it is warm and dry with me, the pumpkin became sluggish, the spiralizer somehow cut it.
2. Vegetables must either be sized to fit or cut to fit.
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PS Afterword first.
The promised Kenwood kitchen attachment.
It's called Kenwood Spiralizer KAX700PL.
It was released quite recently, and so far it is sold only in Australia (it seems that Kenwood novelties appear first there, moreover, in the most advanced trim levels), and for some reason else in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. Probably, the novelty is being tested, waiting for reviews, and then it will be released on sale in the main countries. In the multilingual manual, which we managed to find on the Internet, there is a Russian language, which hints at plans to sell the attachment in Russia.
Apart from the appearance and, most likely, the price, the nozzle has two differences from a separate spiralizer. The components are absolutely identical and interchangeable.
1. There are five blades included.
Four already known to us + the fifth "wavy cutting".
However, since all parts are exactly the same and interchangeable - blades-cones, pusher, tube-cap, etc.- you can always buy missing cones for a separate one. But you don't have to order with a nozzle and wait, which is a plus.
2. Of course, the motor.
A separate spiral cutter has one speed and one power of 70W, and the nozzle will use the motor and the power of the machine itself - it will be possible to change the speed, etc.
The owners of the kitchen machine have already had a little preliminary discussion of the new attachment in the relevant topic. There are pictures from the Russian-language instructions, including recommendations on what products are best to cut, so the information on the link will be of interest to the owners of a separate spiralizer.
Kenwood kitchen machine: working with attachments # 3387
PS Second afterword.
Since there is no well-established word for this unit in Russian, when searching, you can find not only variants of transcriptions from English, but also other names - spiralizer, spirulizer, spiralizer, spiral cutter, spiral cutter, spiral cutter, spiral vegetable cutter. Or just a name in which there is not even a hint of the possibility of spiral cutting - shredder, grater, vegetable cutter, etc.
Electric spiralizers differ little from each other in external shape.
Basically they are of this shape], a bowl at the bottom, a guide tube and a pusher at the top. Probably, such a practical standard look is also due to the fact that this is a fairly new device, and everyone is in a hurry to take over the market, therefore they are not very original with the design. Even meat grinders, with which you cannot accelerate in different shapes, still have more visual variety.
There are several electrical options on the market and the simplest shape is a container with a blade opening, and the motor and on / off button are in a push handle like a hand blender. Such spiralizers do not have a guide tube and the products have to be supported by hand. Such spiralizers are compact, but less convenient.
Because the external shape and power of all + is the same, the most important difference that you should pay attention to when choosing is the blade. What are they made of, the sharpness of the blades, the spirals of what thickness are obtained (for example, someone defines spaghetti as 2x2mm, and someone 2x3mm, and someone 3x3mm.), The number of blades in the package and the presence / absence of additional ones on sale.
What to choose - an electric spiralizer or a manual one?
Difficult question as each option has its own pros and cons. And each option has its fans and detractors.
Questions of choice and differences can be discussed in the topic
Spiral cutter (slicer) Spiromat for cutting vegetables and fruits "spaghetti"
PS Third afterword.
Spiralizer is a device for people with imagination. But there are also a lot of ready-made recipes in order to awaken imagination, on the web or on YouTube.
For example, on our forum.
Fruit and vegetable salad "Spaghetti"
Vegetable "spaghetti" marinated
Broccoli noodles with pine nuts, garlic and cheese
Glazed vegetable spaghetti with bacon
"Waffles" from parsnip root
Beet spaghetti with goat cheese and pecans
Sweet potato spaghetti with red pepper sauce
Potato spaghetti
Potato spaghetti with green peas and pesto sauce
Pumpkin spaghetti with vegetables and creamy curry sauce
Potato burgers
Vegetable spaghetti with orange sauce
Spicy carrot spaghetti
Zucchini spaghetti
Kohlrabi spaghetti
Cucumber spaghetti
Gruschetti salad with green cheese (sliced in spiromat)
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