Brieftons 5-Blade Vegetable Spiralizer: Strongest-Heaviest Spiral Slicer, Best Veggie Pasta Spaghetti Maker for Low Carb/Paleo/Gluten-Free/Vegan Meals, With Extra Blade Caddy, 4 Recipe Ebooks

The media could not be loaded. A Compact, Responsive, Easy-to-Use Workhorse & Travel PartnerBrieftons has super-fast shipping, outstanding products and customer service, and this BR-5B-02 spiralizer is a joy to operate. It is: easy to use; ultra-responsive, fast-working; compact enough for travel; and bundled with 5 super-sharp Blades. This might be their best spiralizer yet!A. GENERAL NOTES:1. Take the spiralizer out of the box. Note that it is small, compact, and easy to store, with the 2 extra Blades held in the plastic Blade Storage Caddy/ container, while 2 other Blades are kept under the unit and a third is in the Blade Rack. Because this unit is small and compact, it would be easy to travel with – fully assembled.2. Wash the unit and all 5 Blades in warm, soapy water to remove industrial manufacturing residue. Then, dry fully before using.3. Note that the unit comes fully assembled to save time in having to match up the different steps on the instruction sheet with graphics.4. * Optional: I flipped over each of the 5 Blades after having arranged them in size from: 2 mm, 3 mm, 5 mm, 5.5 mm, to Flat. I took a permanent/ indelible marker and wrote the sizes on the flat bottom tab that inserts into the Blade Rack. This saves me lots of time in having to match up Blade sizes to the instruction sheet with graphics. You may choose not to do this.5. Some olive oil should be rubbed on the Platform slide and then, the slide tracks should be oiled to eliminate squeaks and to allow constant ease in spiralizing. Reapply when needed.6. For spiralizing, I don’t use the light-green Side Handle because it is more comfortable for me to use my left hand, instead, to hold the Blade plate secured into the Rack. Some people, however, may find that using the side handle is more comfortable for them.7. To more securely grasp the food, always stab/ poke food ends before inserting them into the Holder on one side and the small, round, metal Spindle core on the Blade plate, on the other end.8. Use a large square plate or rectangular baking dish to collect food.9. Brieftons spiralizers typically produce 3-4 foot-long food spirals, which are beautiful to see coming out of the unit, and are great for dinner party guests to see to go ‘ooh and aah’. I take kitchen shears, however, to cut down the lengths, to make them easier to eat. Using these shears is a safe activity that children could do to help out their parents when they spiralize.10. Always peel hard foods like sweet potato, first, to make them faster to spiralize. I use the Brieftons super-sharp Vegetable Peeler (also with Japanese #420 stainless steel blades) when I peel any food. I then toss all peels into our food (as well as cores, etc.).11. Note that there is a Platform slide safety mechanism, which stops this slide slightly before reaching the Rack (with Blade in it), preventing the Platform slide from running into the teeth of the Holder and damaging them; this is one feature that many spiralizers don’t have, and it is an important one to have to save time by not having to think about when to stop working. In essence, the user starts, uses, and stops with ease and speed throughout the entire spiralizing process.12. Blade insertion and removal is a dream – so easy, yet the Blades lock securely into the Blade Rack base on the Body, to protect the user and surrounding people who are nearby, from having unsecured blades pop out and do injury.13. Note that the Blades are super-sharp, so they must be handled with care. As a precaution, the user may want to wear special gloves that are: cut-resistant/ cut-proof, ‘no-cut’, safety (stainless steel) when handling and cutting with sharp objects like knives and blades.14. When the unit is flipped over, there is 1 big rubber Suction Pad on the right side, under the Lock Lever, with a rubberized light-green bumper on the edge under the Rack; both are needed to secure the unit down on the counter/ marble cutting board. Watch my vid and note that this spiralizer (like all Brieftons tabletop units) picks up my 11.25 pound (5 kilo) marble cutting board with ease. This means that the Pad is strong enough to do work. Thus, it is imperative to keep the Suction Pad and the cutting board surface always clean before doing any work.15. When securing the Suction Pad onto the marble board/ non-porous counter, be sure to firmly grasp the unit Lock Lever to be able to have adequate shoulder/ arm strength to push the Lever DOWN to secure the Pad. (Raise your body up slightly off of the ground if you aren’t tall. I rise up on my toes because of the added height of my marble cutting board.) People who are shorter may need to rise up at least 6” from our standard counter height in order to do this. Conversely, the problem can be solved by using a riser/ box of some sort to raise themselves up at least 6”. Note that for this reason (needing adequate shoulder/ arm strength to lock the lever down), it is advisable NOT to do the following: do NOT spiralize at a kitchen table, desk, or even a coffee table; no spiralizer works well this way. Therefore, always stand but at a height in which the shoulders and arms are ABOVE/ OVER the counter – not straight or even slightly lower. (*Note that all tabletop spiralizer brands and models are affected by user height, in order to have the power to spiralize – not just Brieftons models. You will see this in all professional demo spiralizer vids.)16. Cleaning is done by using a small, soft brush to remove food bits from the Blades, the unit Holder, and the Spirilizer Body under running tap water, and then adding dish soap and baking soda all the while brushing and cleaning them under the tap constantly. For foods that stain (sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.), after removing the food bits with the brush and washing with the soap and baking soda, form a paste with these 2 items: let sit 20 minutes, scrub with the brush, and rinse. Repeat at 20 minute intervals if needed until all stains are removed. Doing this seems to temper the plastic to guard against having to do many future paste intervals. (This is a similar process to tempering a wok [maybe redoing it every so often], in order to create a pan that doesn’t stick in the future.)B. COMMON FOODS TO SPIRALIZE with SOME BR-5B-02 BLADE MM NUMBERS TO USE: (Experiment on your own to find other Blade combinations.)1. Onion: FLAT for spirals2. Zucchini/ Calabazza: 2-3 MM for spirals3. Bell Peppers: FLAT for spirals (Note: Use green, red, yellow, orange veg that are square only – not elongated, twisted varieties that don’t spiralize.)4. Russett/ Baking Potato: 3 MM for spirals5. Sweet Potato: 5.5 MM for spirals (peeled beforehand because this is a hard food)6. Carrot: 2 MM for spirals7. Cucumbers: 3 MM for spirals8. Beets: 5 - 5.5 MM for spirals9. Cabbage: FLAT for shreds10. Potato Chips: FLAT11. V-shaped Chips: FLAT (with 2 ditches, pre-cut at 180 degrees apart: see the brieftons.com demo vid/ instruction sheet with graphics)C. PRODUCT & COMPANY INFORMATION:This Brieftons BR-5B-02 Spiralizer with 5 Blades (the 2nd 5-Blade spiralizer, the 2017 edition) is a strong, sturdy lateral machine workhorse/ travel partner, made of super-strong, long-lasting, impact-resistant, BPA-free ABS plastic and super-sharp (rust-free) Japanese #420 grade steel Blades. The BR-5B-02 hits the ‘sweet spot’ of price points, so that everyone can afford to buy one. This lateral unit is one that will be used in kitchens and taken on the road while travelling for years to come, and it will get more people to change their diets to eat more healthily.Brieftons has very fast processing and shipping times and outstanding Customer Service (the best that I have seen for any online product), with a 12 hour window for them to respond. Buyers can email: [email protected] and/ or call and leave a message: (571)-721-1848; A CS agent will always return an email or a buyer’s call. This company has been forming a strong core of people who spiralize, who want top-quality products, and who will stay with them in the long-term. This can only happen with honesty and transparency toward buyers, and Brieftons demonstrates this.D. THE BOTTOM LINE:The BR-58-02 (the 2017 5-Blade edition) has the following top qualities:1. 5 Blades arranged in size: 2 MM, 3 MM, 5 MM, 5.5MM, and FLAT2. A Blade Rack release, so that the Rack doesn’t jimmy or wobble sideways and pull up to dislodge itself while doing work3. A Blade Plate safety to lock into the Rack for faster spiralizing without having to think about when to stop working4. Easy insert/ release of Blades5. An already pre-assembled unit to use right away (after washing)6. An extra plastic Blade Storage Caddy for 2 Blades7. A small footprint for travelling8. BPA-free, ABS sturdy plastic9. #420 grade Japanese ultra-sharp Blades, which make for super-smooth, fast spiralizing10. A very low price point and a much better quality than almost any other Brand name on the market, making this model affordable for everybodyIn sum, Brieftons is committed to bringing users the best products, and this model is its latest 5-Blade unit. Watch my accompanying video to see how this buyer (me) walks you through using it.

**NOTE** I purchased this product from Amazon but received a full rebate from Brieftons as a repeat customer. I was NOT required to leave a review to receive the rebate, and the rebate has not affected my review of the item.This is actually the 3rd spiralizer that I have owned, and by far, the one that I am most happy with. My first spiralizer, which I still have, was a handheld version from another brand, which works very well for making noodles from long, thin vegetables such as carrots and zucchini, but it leaves quite a bit of waste vegetable and gives only 2 options for noodle size. Because I wanted to try spiralizing larger veggies, I purchased a vertical spiralizer model from brieftons that offered the ability to spiralizer larger vegetables such as beets and had a rotating blade adjustment for different sizes. That model is no longer offered, but I had very poor results from it, even on softer veggies. It was difficult to maintain constant downward pressure while rotating the handle, many times I ended up with half moons instead of pretty spirals, and harder vegetables would not turn or spiralize.I had been a bit cautious about the horizontal spiralizer models, as many reviews stated that they were difficult to keep pressure on because of the sideways orientation, and they just didn't look that stable when supporting longer vegetables. So, when I purchased this model, I went out and bought a selection of vegetables to try out as soon as it arrived. So far, I have spiralized zucchini, fresh beets, carrots, red onion, red cabbage, and bell pepper using this spiralizer, and I have been very impressed with it's ease of use and with the results. Zucchini spiralized easily, and at least 90% of the output was long, spiralized strands, instead of the short half-moon shapes. Cabbage shreds quickly and easily. Bell peppers gave me impressive spirals for fajitas, and onions produced very pretty spirals for salads and a stir fry. I was really skeptical of the beets, since they are a harder vegetable, but after the first turn to get it started, the beets spiralized easily and with barely any more effort than the soft squash, and they produced beautiful spiraled noodles that we roasted. Off all the veggies that I tried, carrots were the only ones with which I had disappointing results. Even after trimming off the narrower portion of the carrot, it kept wanting to crack and split when I put in on the guide. Finally, I did get some very pretty spirals from the thickest part of the carrot, and after looking at a few videos online, I discovered that most people recommend veggies of at least 1.5 inches in diameter for spiralizing. Although I bought the biggest carrots that I could find in the grocery store that day, none were nearly that large, so unless I can find giant carrots at a farmer's market, I am probably stuck using my handheld spiralizer for them. I have yet to try sweet potatoes and butternut squash, which would be the best test because of their hardness, but I am the only one in the house who will eat those 2 veggies, and i didn't want anything to go to waste.The spiralizer itself held even the long veggies securely, and lengthwise, it could have held the entire carrot without trimming. At no time, did the spikes to secure the veggies to the handle slip in the vegetable while spiralizing. After the initial rotation of the handle to start the vegetable spiralizing, I was surprised how little forward pressure I actually had to put against the stationary handle. Reviews on other products had always made me think this was rather hard to do, but just light pressure kept the vegetable spiralizing well. My 70 year old mother had no problems spiralizing one of the beets, even with her arthritis. This unit has 1 large clamping suction cup located on the end opposite of the blades. It clamped down securely to my smooth countertops, but I think it would have problems securing against a non-smooth surface. (If you have tiled countertops, for example, I think that grout lines under the suction cup may prevent it from sealing well.). I did watch a video where a woman used the spiralizer successfully by suctioning it to a heavy granite cutting board. When I clamp it down to my counter, the front end (by the blade) will wiggle a bit if I take a hold of it and try to move it, and I was worried at first that this would affect the spiralizer during use. But, since I'm applying pressure away from the suction cup, I've not experienced the device moving at all during use. As you spiralize, the plastic tray will move forward past the blades, so you cannot set a bowl there to catch the spirals. But, a thin cutting board will be able to sit right up against the spiralizer to catch the veggie spirals and keep your countertop clean. The spiralizer disassembles easily for cleaning, and I used an old toothbrush to get in the little crevices, especially after the beets to prevent staining. It would be nice if the spiralizer came with a cleaning brush included.When you purchase the spiralizer, you will receive an email from Brieftons with links for how-to videos and for PDF versions of cookbooks. The videos were fairly helpful, but I also found how YouTube videos for how to spiralize specific vegetables, which were very helpful in regards to the bell peppers and the carrots.

Given as a gift person received it really thought it was a great gift.