Customer Reviews

Benriner Cook Help Spiral Vegatable Slicer

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I wish I could reverse my rating of this device from one star to 5 but I am not able to- please keep in mind that I no longer want to rate this 1 star when you read this review.

At first, I bought this product and got nothing but frustration from it. Usually my entire family can figure out new methods and ways to use things, even if hardly anyone else can figure it out.

I had given up.

I had gotten nothing but frustration with the Benriner Cook Help, so I wrote a review of it expressing it as such.

After writing the review, I approached the Benriner as someone who never saw it before and I started experimenting.

My problems had been due to miscommunication on how to use this unit. There is not a whole lot out there about the Benriner Cook Help, so I was depending on the few directions out there, and none of them worked.

Here is what I figured out:

Although it is often told that you can make angel hair noodles from zucchini, I was always told that you have to use the smallest blades to do this. That is not true.

The key to using this device is that the softer the vegetable, the larger the blade attachment that you need to use.

The result is to have very long spaghetti style noodles just like you would cook, but they are raw. Then you made raw tomato sauce by processing tomatoes, herbs, and veggies and use it over top.

I have not been able to get carrots to work with this yet, but I have been working most intently with zucchini because that was my biggest goal in using this device.

However, I have found that if you apply pretty solid heavy pressure on the unit with one hand and the handle while you crank it with the other, I can get most of the zucchini to spiral out in perfect noodles. My family loves it and I could not be more thrilled.

At first, I was using the smallest blades for things- but they would not work, and I got frustrated.

If you have hard seeds in the vegetables, you will also find that they will clog up the blade area in any size and make it so you can not spiralize as well.

If you work with it and learn what size works for what- you can get a lot of excellent performance from the Benriner Cook Help.

Lastly, take the blades out BEFORE you wash it, and it will clean up very easily.

I regret that I can not reverse my previous rating, but at least I got another chance to do a follow up review to let you know the update about what I have discovered!

I primarily eat raw /living foods. When I asked the chef at our Whole Foods supermarket how she gets the zucchini into angel hair pasta and some other attractive cuts to the vegetables, she/the chef recommended the Cook's Help. I was surprised to see the price however I have not regretted the purchase. In the two months I have had this item,it works every time for me and I am not exaggerating. It comes with a little brochure of an instruction booklet, but it is a very smple machine and not hard to figure out. I feel like a little kid with a great toy. When you are finished cutting your vegetables be sure to clean all the little crevices of any food particles to keep the blades clean and sharp. So far I have been using it to cut my vegetables into angel thin hair pasta or into thin sliced spiral ribbons. I never have a problem. I always need to cut my vegetable to size to get between the blades and the gripper, and always have some leftover chunk of vegetable that cannot be sliced, I just save these chunks and chop them up and use them in a mixed greens salad. It is not a big deal as far as I am concerned. You need to be sure the 3-4 prongs/teeth of the gripper sinks into your vegetable so the gadget can twirl and slice your vegetable at the same time. Turning the handle slowly or at a moderate pace helps. I keep an eye on the vegetable strands that are coming out from under the teeth,and keep a clearance to avoid the teeth or my vegetable getting jammed up. It is merely being conscientous. As long as I do this, slicing the vegetable is pretty easy. The hand held machine dos not require anything difficult. The end product looks just like the pictures in the instruction brochure that comes with the Cook's Help as well as the angel hair pasta and spiral cut vegetables in the Living Food Section at our Whole Foods Supermarket. The sliced/cut vegetables are quite pretty and makes eating raw vegetables easier to chew, to digest, and even quite enjoyable. I went back to the chef at Whole Foods Supermarket and thanked her for the suggestion. She uses it all the time to make prepared living food dishes in the deli section.

The Benriner Cook Help made in Japan. Finally a reliable spiral slicer which offers true versatility and durability made of ABS and Nylon reinforced resin this spiral slicer is here to stay! Just crank and churn giving you the option of cutting continuous strings, strips or curly strands with four different blades to choose from (1) Flat edged blade, and (3) Tooth edged blades, Coarse, Medium and Fine. This is all you'll need to get you're creative juices flowing allowing you to create beautiful salads, elegant garnishes and main courses if you eat raw. The famous Spaghetti type strands that everyone longs for using yellow squash and Zucchini turn into beautiful replicas of their wheat counterpart. Want to experienment with super thin slices of cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, bell pepper and onions go right ahead because you can't go wrong they'll turn out beautifully each and every time. Cleaning is a snap just use soapy water, rinse well, then dry. Handle with care because the blades are extremely sharp! Also expect to replace your blades after a period of time because they will become dull. Replacement blades are available on quite a few sites I've seen the complete set for around fourteen dollars. Though this item is on the high end it is well worth every penny. Please make sure you shop around when purchasing your Benriner Cook Help, or Benriner Cooks Helper or Benriner Asian Spiral Slicer, to make sure you're getting the best price available!

I must agree with the woman who gave it one star and then said she wished she could change it to five (although I'd only give it four based on the difficulty of the instructions). I searched high and low to try to understand what I was doing wrong and got truly frustrated when I read people saying that using it was intuitive. It SHOULD be intuitive, but there are a few things you need to know to have success with this (and you won't learn them from the instructions which are a poor translation from Japanese to English). 1) There are arrows on the blades; make sure they face toward the vegetable. 2) Make sure the blade is low enough that the vegetable passes over it AND then gets sliced off; it is easy to have them too high which then just creates grooves in the vegetable with nothing coming through except mush. And, as another person said, 3) use the larger teeth for softer vegetables. Carrots are a good practice vegetable.

My take on this product is that if you want to make spaghetti from vegetables, this works and you really have to use something like it. However, I think the price is high for what you get (molded plastic and blades) and the instructions are shameful; this shouldn't have been so frustrating, but until I figured it out, it certainly was. I will use it now that I figured it out and I am sure I will enjoy it, but I took the time to write this review so hopefully others can be spared what I went through (and the vegetables I mangled) trying to figure it out.

I got this spiralizer after a long wait and a lot of research. It seems the biggest problem people have with them is that they don't like the wastage of the food and some seem to have problems using them. I got it out of the box and put in the largest toothed blade and got ready to make some Diakon noodles for my Thai Peanut Noodles dish. It cut so easily that I had to keep checking because I just could feel no resistance on the handle so I was not sure I was doing it right. The noodles came out perfectly and the only part of the veggie that was wasted was a thin silver dollar size piece on the top, which I promptly ate. I thought I was going to have to buy another type of unit to be able to get angle hair size pasta from carrots but with this unit it will not be necessary. I choose this one over the other models mainly because you can order replacement blades for it but am thrilled that it works so well and will take care of all my spiralizing needs. Oh yah, the vender sent it out the day I ordered it.

I just received my new Benriner vertical spiral slicer yesterday (from Cutlery and More with a good price and free shipping ~ my order arrived in 3 days!) and I couldn't be more pleased! This is definitely THE spiral slicer to buy! THE BEST!

I made the mistake of trying to save money and originally purchased the Joyce Chen Saladdacco and that was just a piece of useless crap. (Sorry). It is so cheaply made and inefficient, I kicked myself for a year after wasting my money on it. I was so frustrated after trying to get a satisfactory product. I can't tell you how many times I tried to cut nice zucchini spaghetti and ended up with mush. I finally donated it to the thrift store.

I debated for a long time before purchasing another. I didn't want to throw more good money away but my hunger for that good raw veggie pasta got me motivated, so I did a little research, checked all the reviews and decided to splurge for my 56th birthday and get the more expensive Benriner. I'm so glad I did! I enjoyed a big dish of PERFECT, delicious and pure raw zucchini spaghetti marinara last night! I can't wait to use it again. I'm a raw vegan and I'm sure I can put this baby to good use and often.

So I say spend the extra money and buy the best. This one is worth every penny. It's sturdily built yet lightweight and the perfect size. It's very easy to use and clean-up is a breeze. It doesn't take up much storage space either. I even had fun reading the box and the instructions-the Japanese translations are a hoot!

Shop around for the best price. I didn't buy at Amazon or their third party sellers but I did use one of the Amazon links and I'm very satisfied.

I recently bought this tool a Benriner Cook Help and how I have loved it. Now I am into making Brocolli Spagetti with the stems, cutting up carrots in the same manner and having a meal you wouldn't believe. Going on a trip last week I took this gizzmo with me and was well fed! Even my cousin who didn't want anything to do with this had to buy her own cutter. I keep the blades in a plastic sandwich bag in the box so they are not lost. Watch out for your fingers however they are very very sharp!

I have spent time with many kitchen gadgets and am pretty good at putting things together so I was feeling confident that I would be able to use this easily even after reading the mixed reviews on how easy (or impossible) it was to use. I was wrong. I completely destroyed my first 2 zucchini halves and I'm not into wasting food (yes, it will go in soup, but I wanted pasta!). I went online to look, retried, went online again, retried, etc. Here is my advice: Start with a carrot (I used a baby carrot) & only the straight blade. Cut each end off so it is straight (not only straight, but straight in comparison with one another), stand it vertically on the stand so the top piece is centered on it & make sure the top teeth sink into it good (this is what turns the vegetable so it can move across the blade). This way you can play around with how much pressure to use (& it is WAY less pressure than I thought) without wasting your more expensive produce. Once you have a feel for that, then try the largest blade with teeth to do your zucchini. I found that if you go really slow & give just enough pressure to slice it won't crush the zucchini (I actually crushed my zuchinni). I also found that having the teeth dug in really well helps A LOT. On the bell pepper I found that I used my thumb to help guide it around (you use only the straight blade for this). Also I found that it did work better (as others have said) if you stabilize the base with one hand while you turn clockwise with the other hand (you can't turn counterclockwise-it doesn't work). Go slowly at first so you can watch it with every turn to get the feel for it, then you can speed up to a moderate pace. Good luck. Once I got the hang of it, it was really fun! I can't wait to show my kids tomorrow what I can do to their carrots! You do need to rinse it out after each segment you cut so the blades don't get clogged as this will result in poor cuts and maybe even mush. I am giving 4 stars. I really like that you don't have to cut your veggies into multiple pieces as you do with some spiralizers - you just cut the ends level & make them about 3-4" tall, which turned out to be cutting my zucchini in half. I don't like that the instructions aren't very helpful & it took me an hour of trial & error & searching online to figure it out! I thought it was easy to clean with a brush. I LOVE that I don't have to push very hard at all (I'm shocked at how little you have to push). Hope this is helpful.

to date, I have owned 4 spiralizers (it was all about getting the cheapest one to do the job, but I ended up spending 3 times more than the cost of this machine to find out that the others just do not work for me) - first the Spirooli, then the Joyce Chen spiralizer, then the Benriner spiral slicer (which is very similar to the Spirooli, but requires hired help and a screwdriver to clean). At last I have found my spiralizer in the Benriner Cook Help. It makes very fine "angel hair" vegetable "pasta". The Cook Help works basically like the Joyce Chen spiralizer but without so many parts that can break. It is a little challenging to clean (the instructions suggest disassembly with a screwdriver, but I use a toothbrush to clean the blade ) Unlike the Joyce Chen, this machine is quite sturdy - I have even dropped it a couple of times without causing any damage.
Although the price is higher than the Spirooli and Joyce Chen, it is worth the cost, as you will not have to replace it within six months.

But I'm finding it's really a very nifty tool! I'm really tight on money in my spending habits, but I've been playing around with raw food and decided to give it a whirl. Between the raw spaghetti (made from yellow squash) and "pasta" (made from turnips), this gadget is honestly easy to use and worth it! I am impressed.