Kitchen Gadgets – Five Neat Gadgets

I love kitchen gadgets. As one who loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen, I have just about every kitchen accessory you can imagine, and I’m always on the lookout for the next cool, innovative culinary gizmo that will enhance my cooking experience. Before I share what I think are five neat gadgets, let me first say that a kitchen gadget should provide functionality that makes cooking easier. It should be compact, because–let’s face it–there’s only so much storage area in the kitchen. A great kitchen gadget gives you that sense of, ‘wow, I can’t believe no one thought of this sooner’ feeling as you use it. And often, a great kitchen gadget solves a problem that has long been a pain in the butt.

Enter my first recommendation–the corn stripper. This little guy rocks my world. I love fresh, sweet corn on the cob. What I could do without is the icky feeling of kernels between my teeth and the catastrophic mess left behind when the juice flies if I use a knife to remove corn from the cob. With this corn stripper I can remove the kernels from five cobs of corn (about three cups of corn) in just under four minutes. It’s easy and it’s virtually mess-free, so I get my yummy, sweet corn, without the hassle.

My second choice is one I found recently while poking around various gadget websites. It’s the utensil pot clip. The reason I like this gadget is because… well, I’m lazy or a neat freak; I’m not sure which. When you’ve stirred the contents of your pot, you invariably have to put your stirring utensil down, and that makes a mess. Even if you use a spoon rest, you have to clean ‘that’. With this gadget, no more. Once you’ve stirred, you place your spoon on the pot clip until you’re ready to stir again. And best of all, any residual sauce, or whatever, goes right back in the pot. Genius.

Number three on my list of neat gadgets is the collapsible silicone measuring cup. Two things about this kitchen gadget make me say ‘wow.’ The first is they collapse so you can tuck them away in small spaces. The second is, because they’re silicone, they easily release sticky contents like corn syrup or peanut butter. When I first saw these guys, I couldn’t believe someone hadn’t thought of them sooner…I mean, how obvious!

When it comes to neat gadgets, my number four pick has got to be the ceramic ginger grater. Lots of people use a regular grater or rasp to grate their ginger, which is precisely what I used to do. However, I’ve got at least four recipes–one for an awesome salad dressing–that call for ginger juice only, or require the pulp and the juice to be separated. Have you ever tried to separate pulp from juice? It’s messy (ok, maybe I ‘am’ just a little bit of a neat freak) and you end up losing half the juice as it rolls down your arm. Anyway, the ceramic ginger grater easily separates the ginger pulp and juice, and has made my life just that much better.

My last neat gadget….isn’t. Well, not really. I came across this slate cheese board on one of my recent retail therapy episodes. I’m a foodie and I love to entertain other foodies. One thing I love to serve before dinner is a little wine and some of the funkiest cheese I can find. What I love about this slate cheese board is you can write the name of your cheeses right on the serving platter. How cool is that? My guests have commented not only on its elegance as a serving vessel, but also on the sheer innovation of it. I love my slate cheese board.

There you have it. Five of my favourite kitchen gadgets. If you’re like me, you’ve likely already got your own, but if not, check these neat gadgets out. They’ll make cooking and serving just a little more pleasurable.