The performance you get from the device really depends on what you're doing with it. Here is my experience, item by item, followed by some general observations:
Hard Cheese (Pecerino Romano, Parm, Reggiano): Shreds with no problem unsing the regular or fine shredding wheel. Comes out of shoot with no problems.
Cheddar Cheese: Again, shreds with no problem, but does collect in shoot on the way out. I usually get around this be operating the unit horizontally in mid air, with the shoot pointing straight down into the bowl. If you do this, make sure the shoot is below the edge of the bowl, so that any cheese getting flung out sideways hits the bowl and not everything else in you kitchen.
Potatoes & Cucumbers: These both handle the same, so I've listed them together. They shred with no problem on the regular shred wheel, but they have a real problem coming out the shoot. I just use a small rubber spatula to pull it out as the drum rotates. I got good at it and it really isn't a problem anymore for me. I make hashbrowns all the time with this thing.
Chocolate: Fine shred wheel works well for this, no problems.
Bar Soap: Yeah I know it sounds weird, but we shred a particular variety of bar soap for use in our homemade laundrey detergent. We use the regular shredding wheel and it works great. It comes out of the shoot with no trouble and makes cute little curly q's out of the soap. We've tried many various processors taht will immediately overload if we try this on them, but this shredder powers right through even the older harder bars with little effort. People say they are getting smoke from theirs, but all I can think is maybe they need to slow down. If you're using a lot of muscle to push the item through, you probably need to slow down.
Stuff I would NEVER try on this thing: Some stuff just turns to mush. I would not use this for any cheese softer than sharp cheddar, and definately don't use this for meat --its just not sharp enough for that.
General Obesrvations:
It can be a pain to clean, so I don't pull this out for anything but the bigger jobs where it is worth it. The parts are dishwasher safe though, so it's not that big of a deal. The hardest part is cleaning the nooks and crannies of the unit itself. That could have been designed better. The retractable cord does need a little shoving, but still, I love that it retracts at all. I wasn't expecting that. I have not tried the slicer wheel yet. Just haven't had a reson to so far. A lot of people complained about food getting lodged between the drum and the feed shoot housing. Yeah, it happens. but we're talking about a tiny amount of food. If you're doing cheese, you'll get a very thin (1/8") slice of cheese stuck to the inside of the housing. Not that big of a deal and far less than I would have left shredding by hand. Someone said they kept taking off the houseing and cleaning out the trapped food. Why would you do that? Just leave that there to prevent more food loss and get through the rest of your batch before cleaning it.
In summary, I have very little counter space in my kitchen, so for appliances it is certainly a survival of the fittest mentality. This one has made it six months on my counter, so I must feel the work it saves me outweighs any shortcomings. I like it.
Product Features
- 220-watt handheld food processor for grating, slicing, or shredding
- Simple, single-button activation on the handle; retractable cord
- 3 stainless-steel cutting drums, each measuring 3 inches wide
- Dishwasher-safe food chamber, pusher, and drums
- Measures 8 by 3-3/4 by 12 inches; 3-year limited warranty
Product Overview
Cuisinart added to its signature food processor line the Handheld Food Processor. A comfortable handle allows users to pick it up to grate, slice or shred ingredients directly into a bowl or pan. Stainless steel accents make it an elegant addition to Cuisinart's food prep collection.
Favorite Kitchen Utensil at Porklet - Gina Rey Forest - Kingston 10, JAMAICA
I purchased this item locally (in Jamaica) for my staff to reduce Preparation time for salads. The product is such a hit with them that there is competition to use it. I am disappointed that it does not seem to do onions, lettuce and cucumbers without turning them to mush, also the chute could be bigger. But that is only a small thing compared to the time it saves us
Handheld food processor - L. Townsend - Osage, WY
I LOVE it! My old one had plastic cones, and they cracked after just a few uses. This one has metal cones and it works great. Lots of power, several choices of cutting cones. I sure wish they hadn't discontinued it!
Messy and ineffective - kitchen wiz -
We agree with the negatives mentioned here in the other reviews. Certainly not up to the manufacturer's normal standards. There is a lot of waste. Cheese, forget it. As others state, it's a design flaw. The gap between the housing and cutting drums is too big. Shredding meat is impossible, so forget making ham salad. The ham wads up in the gap and the motor just can't take it. The one difference in our shredder is the cord. There is no lock on our cord. The cord is in constant retraction mode meaning, we have to keep pulling on it while trying to use the machine. I can't imagine how others have entered favorable ratings for this unit. Maybe it works well chopping walnuts. I wouldn't know, I don't like walnuts. This was not the most inexpensive shredder on the shelves. We placed our trust in the brand name. We are less than pleased..
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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 15, 2010 20:23:07
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