Mandolin

Above is a picture of the one I ended up getting. It was around $25 at Walmart.

The blades are really sharp and it has sliced everything I’ve thrown at it. From paper thin to around 1/4″ or so. It has four settings but to be honest, I’m not sure what they are. I generally use the first and thinnest.

After I got more serious about dehydrating and fermentation, I decided I needed a better way of slicing my produce.

Yes a good sharp knife works well and I could have continued on indefinitely using the knives I have. I even bought a couple of the crinkle cutter knives for making pickles.

I however, wanted a faster more uniform slice and I suppose looking back I could have used the meat slicer the wife had bought me for making jerky with.

But that isn’t practical for smaller items. A mandolin works perfectly and I can slice up a 10lb bag of potatoes or a 2lb bag of carrots, or anything really, in short order. I haven’t timed it but it takes seconds to process a large potato.

A word of caution though, get some Kevlar gloves. It may seem silly, you normally have a guide that you hold onto which easily keeps your hands away from the blade. So why waste more money on something you don’t need in these tough economic times?

One little slip and you will quickly realize like I did, the gloves are great advice. More than likely given by those who know all to well what it feels like when you run your knuckles across the blade. It will happen sooner or later, if your fingers will be protected or not is ultimately up to you!

If I was to go back in time, I wouldn’t touch my mandolin until after I got some Kevlar gloves. My fingers healed in about two weeks and it turns out the chunks of flesh you chop off will probably grow back but it’s gonna hurt for awhile until it does!

I haven’t quite mastered making waffle fries or potato chips yet and may not. I don’t have a lot of patience when I’m wasting food. Of course anything that doesn’t turn out isn’t truely wasted, it goes into the compost pile but still.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a mandolin to make life easier I say go for it. They generally aren’t overly expensive and thet are extremely handy to have.

May your ventures be met with success!