My friend suggested getting a hand cranked food processor to save time. I'm skeptical of if this a good idea due to the possibility of the blades wearing out.
Is this a justified concern? If so, is there a fix to resharpen the blades?
Thanks.
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You'll use it twice, then never again. you can get a cheap electric for the same price as those. I got a full-size one for 30 & a mini for 8. Both been good for years. – Tetsujin Aug 12 '23 at 13:20
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Now why'd you say that @Tetsujin – Reine Abstraktion Aug 12 '23 at 13:31
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2Because I had one - used it twice. You need three hands, two to hold the darn thing still [without hitting your thumbs] & one to crank. They're an inherently unstable system. – Tetsujin Aug 12 '23 at 13:39
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I have seen Tammy on Collard Valley Cooks use one of the pull-string choppers occasionally. It seems to work fine for her, although I have to admit to wondering what the benefit is over an electric one whenever I see her use it. Portability might be part of it—it lets her easily carry the entire chopper over to her work table in one step. – Jerry Stratton Aug 12 '23 at 20:06
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1@JerryStratton slap choppers work well for some things as well, but all the successful manual devices I've seen are optimised for smaller quantities than a typical electric food processor – Chris H Aug 13 '23 at 11:17
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1Even new, food processor blades aren't all that sharp, not like a respectable kitchen knife (and my knives range from supermarket own brand to Victorinox, so aren't anything special). You should be able to restore a blunt edge with a small diamond file or stone, even very fine silicon carbide paper can be used and works quite well on curved blades – Chris H Aug 13 '23 at 11:23
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Get tools, not toys if you want something that gives you long lasting productivity. In my experience these cheap plastic gadgets are poor to use and likely to break rather soon. If you are looking for manual food processing with high maintainablity and reparability a professional mandoline like the Bron Cuocke might be for you. (High price tag, sure, but also a good chance to pass it on to your grandchildren.) – J. Mueller Aug 13 '23 at 15:29
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This depends entirely on the blade materials and construction, so you'll want to explore manufacturer/sales info to find one with superior blades. For models where there is no info, you can assume that blade quality is very low.
That said, my regular powered (Cuisinart) food processor has probably processed 200+ gallons of various things, and I have yet to think seriously about replacing the blades. A hand-cranked FP would presumably put less stress and wear on the blades. On the other hand, it's more dependent on having sharp blades, because it doesn't have the same speed as an electric one.
The blades on most of these products would be difficult-to-impossible to sharpen due to the design, and manufacturers do not sell replacement blades.
In sum: if you are used to using very sharp knives and keeping them sharp, a hand-cranked food chopper is probably not for you. These products are mainly targeted at folks who don't like chopping things with knives.
FuzzyChef
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It‘s all about what you want to do with it.
If you want not yet another electrical device and want to chop up some onion, celery and carrot for a roast or Ragout, it is probably fine.
If you want to use it for making smoothies or oat milk on a daily basis it‘s not the best of choices.
We have one from Tupper from the time the wife was doing parties, and for us it works very well.
Update Regarding the blades it comes down to construction and brand if there are spare parts available. But that‘s an issue with any device
jmk
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Agreed. They’re okay (other than the stability issues) for a sort of dice/mince, not to try to get things totally smooth. They can be used to make salsa or similar, but they might not have totally consistent size of chunks – Joe Aug 13 '23 at 09:18