This week's One Simply Terrific Thing comes from Simply Recipes Contributor Sara Bir!
Are you nuts for nuts? I sure am, and not above deploying bad puns to prove it.
To aid me in achieving maximum nut consumption, I love the Norpro Nut Chopper ($13 on Amazon). It's a smart upgrade to an old-fashioned gadget you may very well have seen in your grandmother's kitchen.
It's the spitting image of an old relic I found at a thrift store when I was in my 20s that I still use out of stubborn sentimentality. It features a glass jar and stainless steel blades, and I highly recommend it over choppers made from plastic. The sturdy glass jar can withstand the stress from handling, while users report threads cracking in the jars of plastic models. (I remember customers returning plastic choppers to the cookware store I worked at years ago for the very same reason.)
I am usually not a big fan of single-use tools; that this nut chopper has earned a nook in my cabinets for years is a mark of its handiness.
It chops nuts better than either you or your food processor, and the nuts are consistently sized. When you load nuts into the top compartment, depending on which direction you crank the handle, the blade will chop coarsely or finely and the chopped nuts fall into the jar below.
One caveat about hand-cranked nut choppers is they're not that great with almonds, which are perhaps a bit too hard for them to handle with ease. But that still leaves pistachios, cashews, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, and peanuts for hours of nut-chopping pleasure. (PS: kids love using this thing.)
As intended, I use the chopper for nuts only, and thus hardly ever wash it. The jar can go in the dishwasher, if you like, but the top fares best simply wiped off.
Cheers to good tools!
I just love Fried Lumpia. The gastronomic sensation of having crispy fried lumpia dipped in vinegar garlic sauce always makes me salivat...
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