The reason I purchased this Fullstar Vegetable Chopper / Mandoline, was that I suck at dicing. I also suck at slicing. You, too, may feel the same way unless your name is Jacques Pépin or Julia Child, or you simply have incredible knife skills. Don't feel bad if you don't—very few people have the knife skills (or courage) to dice an onion or other vegetable in ten seconds flat (without severing several fingers in the process). Even fewer have the skill needed to dice a vegetable into UNIFORM chunks, which is what REALLY matters. But even legendary master chefs can (and often do) benefit from the time savings and consistency a food chopper and a mandoline offer.
Let's talk about the mandoline part, first. Mandolines were invented in the late 1700s by the same guy that invented the guillotine (you know, the thing that used to chop peoples’ heads off). I kid you not! Be that as it may, for many years, I’ve owned a full-sized professional-level “V-blade” mandoline. I found it useful and versatile around the kitchen. I also found it scary as hell, especially after I sliced the tip of my pinky finger off one day. That's been the trouble with mandolines—no matter how much care you exercise, it's easy to have an accident if your attention wanders off for even a second or two. Many people forego the convenience of a mandoline simply because it’s scary to use. There have been many attempts to make a safer mandoline (look up “DASH DSM100GBGY04 Safe Slice Mandoline” on Amazon) but these often have serious compromises I wasn't willing to live with.
I started researching food chopper / mandolines on Amazon for weeks. That's right, FOR WEEKS! Do you know how many there are on Amazon? DOZENS and DOZENS! I meticulously read the descriptions, then the questions and then every review on every product offered. I eliminated the ones that were food choppers but did not include mandolines. Then I eliminated the ones that were mandolines but did not include food choppers. What I was left with was a drastically reduced number of qualifying products.
I whittled the list down even further by introducing one of my most important criteria: The mandoline had to have a slice thickness adjustment and, boy, are those hard to find! Why the slice thickness adjustment? Well, if you think about it, you don’t want your slices to be just one thickness all the time. Many professional-level mandolines have a slice thickness adjustment knob or lever or tab because (A.) it's a very convenient and time-saving feature and (B.) it eliminates the need to handle additional blades or plastic inserts—either of which can be inconvenient, time-consuming and potentially dangerous. This Fullstar Vegetable Chopper / Mandoline has a slice thickness adjustment tab way down at one end of the mandoline (thankfully far away from the blade). Furthermore, it was one of the sturdier adjustment devices I could find. In addition, the moveable “floor plane” was solid, not loose or cheaply made and could withstand a fair amount of pressure. I was legitimately able to get thin, medium and thick slices from this adjustment device. Yippee! Thanks, Fullstar. Now, why don’t you have this on ALL your mandolines?
Something I was wary of, was that this Fullstar Mandoline was tiny compared to my pro-level mandoline. Smaller mandolins can be trickier and more dangerous to use than larger examples. However, I’m happy to report that the Fullstar functioned flawlessly. Part of the reason why it worked so well was that the blade was so sharp, it cut through vegetables like a hot knife through butter. It worked so well that my confidence—(respectful, cautious, unarrogant confidence)—was instantly boosted. In fact, I found the experience enjoyable! Fullstar thoughtfully included a cut-resistant glove, which they recommend using in concert with the included finger guard. Still, I would exercise caution as cut “resistant” is not the same as cut “proof.” Restaurants don’t use “cut-resistant” gloves. They actually use chain mail gloves…that’s right, just like medieval knights used to wear. No knife can cut through a chain mail glove, that’s why butchers, in particular, use chain mail gloves. You can buy them on Amazon.
Another problem solved by the Fullstar is food collection and, frankly, this was the feature that drew me away from my full-size, pro-level mandoline. With full-size mandolines, you have to position a plate under the mandoline (as long as it’s relatively flat to fit underneath the mandoline) in order to catch the food slices. This can be an awkward proposition as the slices (which are often coming fast and furious), frequently fly past the plate and end up on the counter or, worse, on the floor. The plate has to be small to fit underneath and that means it won't hold a lot of food slices. With the Fullstar, however, there is a 1.5L clear tray already underneath that securely catches all the slices. Unlike most other products in this category, however, you don’t have to pull the mandoline or chopper part off the tray (and look for a place to put it) to get to your food slices or dices. That’s because the catch tray on the Fullstar is actually a convenient little drawer you can pull out any time. This reduces time handling potentially dangerous parts.
Now, let’s talk about the food chopper part. In more precise terms, it’s a vegetable (or fruit) DICER. The Fullstar comes with a coarse dicer blade and a fine dicer blade. I was hoping the Fullstar also had an even coarser dicing blade, but two out of three on this nifty little kitchen tool ain’t bad. I, again, have to caution: exercise care when handling the dicer blades—they’re a bit awkward to handle, (especially when wet), so the tendency is to handle them somewhat haphazardly, which could end up cutting you (believe me, I found out the hard way). When Fullstar cautions that their blades are extremely sharp, believe them! In fact, I would go even further and characterize their blades as being a level or two BEYOND “extremely sharp.” Think I’m kidding? Think again!
Now, anyone familiar with mandolines knows that a julienne blade can “dice” food if it’s used properly. The Fullstar does come with a julienne blade, so why have a dicer? Not all of us know how to use a julienne blade properly. The dicer allows you to dice food quickly into very UNIFORM cubes or chunks. It’s this uniformity that is paramount. Uniformly diced vegetables will yield consistent results if the food is fried, baked, steamed, parboiled, blanched or otherwise “cooked.” Even if the vegetable or fruit chunks are not cooked, they will provide a similar “mouth feel” if the chunks are all the same size—something very difficult to achieve by hand with a knife.
In conclusion, I give the Fullstar Vegetable Chopper / Mandoline four out of five stars. I deducted one star because there are other improvements that could be made, but this review has already run too long to elaborate. This is a cute and very handy little kitchen tool that makes food prep fast and efficient. I wouldn’t call it a “kitchen gadget” because it’s not gimmicky in the least, but rather a legitimate kitchen utensil as valued as a microwave oven or your cooktop. It also uses a minimum of real estate on your countertop and in your storage areas. It has a more well-balanced feature set than other similar products and is not likely to disappoint. Thanks for reading!
UPDATE:
Upon reading some of the other reviews on this product, I noticed that some people were having difficulty slicing hard vegetables. This is less an issue of blade sharpness and more an issue of technique and inexperience with mondolines. Don’t start slicing at the blade. Begin as far away from the blade as possible in order to give yourself a “running start.” Use long, fast, consistent strokes (your strokes can get shorter and faster once you’ve gained some experience) and ALWAYS, ALWAYS wear that protective glove. Beginners can further benefit from spraying some Pam or other food spray directly onto the mandoline bed plane as well as the blades. Of course, practice makes perfect and if you can afford to throw away a few sliced veggies, a little practice wouldn’t hurt and might actually make you much better before you tackle that make-or-break dish. Once you “get the hang of it,” you’re gonna wonder what you ever did without this invaluable kitchen tool.
Another suggestion: watch a few instructional videos on Youtube (How to Use a Mandoline). Notice that for longer or bigger vegetables, the demonstrators begin by gripping those vegetables by hand and once they’ve sliced off enough, switch to the finger guard. Some of the more irresponsible demonstrators forego use of the protective glove. They might have experience that allows them to do that, but they are demonstrating for inexperienced users, so SHAME on them! Sooner or later, even a highly experienced expert will wish they had used a protective glove, believe me! As someone once said, “let safety be your highest priority.”
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