Ever wonder what difference a salad spinner can do? Is it a necessary tool or just one of the redundant items in the kitchen? If you’re keen to keep your kitchen minimalist and intend only to get the necessary stuff, it is worth asking, “What does a salad spinner do?” By doing so, you get to be sure you only buy valuable tools that can honestly help you out in the kitchen.
How Does a Salad Spinner Works?
To help you decide if you should get a salad spinner, you need to know what a salad spinner does. Drying out the salad greens after they’ve been washed is a crucial step in ensuring the dressing sticks on the veggies instead of diluting in the water. We often use the colander for draining or leave the veggies on the countertop for the excess moisture to drain. But this can be time-consuming, and to those who do not have the luxury of time in the kitchen, a salad spinner may provide a practical solution.
A salad spinner or tosser is used to take extra water from your ingredients by using centrifugal force. It is composed of an outer bowl with an internal strainer and a cover that features a spinning mechanism that rapidly rotates when engaged. This movement drives the water out through the openings, thereby drying your veggies just enough for it to be salad-ready.
Too much water in your veggies opens up the dressing, prevents it from fixing onto the salad, and dilutes the taste. Hence, the salad spinner does a good job of keeping your salads in good shape. So, what does a salad spinner do? It keeps your salad looking great.
What Other Things Can You Do with a Salad Spinner?
If you’re still not solved on whether you should get a salad spinner due to practicality concerns, here are more uses of a salad spinner that might convince you:
Remove Excess Liquids from the Pasta
We’d typically use a strainer for this task, but if you have a salad spinner, you can always use it for draining the pasta quickly.
Process the Beans
After washing your beans, you can always toss them into the spinner for a quick spin to take out too much water. This is especially useful for more solid beans as softer ones may disintegrate with spinning.
Soaking and Drying Berries
Washing berries can be cumbersome due to their delicate nature. You can use the spinner to wash berries by filling it up with water and soaking the berries. Remove the strainer after that and allow water to drain.
Getting Rid Of Seeds from Tomatoes
Canned tomatoes make great ingredients for various dishes, but we’re often bothered by the seeds that could produce a bitter taste. Draining is not enough to remove them, but a salad spinner makes the task a breeze. To get rid of those seeds, open up your canned tomato and pour them in a strainer to drain excess fluids. Toss the tomatoes into the spinner and break them open. Spin it away to separate the seeds from the paste.
Wash Delicate Fabrics
People often complain about the bulkiness of spinners until they find it an advantage. It can surely fit some fabrics with its size and do some laundry, just like your washing machine. Add water and soap and spin to wash. Remove soap water and fill up with fresh water, and whirl again until soap is completely removed. Keep turning to remove excess water before line drying.
Bakeware
Nothing beats home-made cookies as you can customize the ingredients to your heart’s desire. So when filling up your kitchen with tools, don’t forget to stuff it with baking tools, including wooden spoons, spatula, pastry brush, whisk, rolling pins, fine-mesh sieve, paring knife, and baking pans. A mixer is also a handy device to ensure every ingredient is mixed well without straining the hand. So, what do you need in the kitchen to bake? These tools are all you need for a good start.
Now that you know what a salad spinner does aside from draining your salad veggies, you should already have a clearer picture of how this tool can help you in the kitchen.
Types of Salad Spinners
If you’re close to deciding on buying a salad spinner, here are more spinner info to consider:
Materials
Some spinners are made from various materials. Some are made from plastic, while others are made from glass or stainless steel. For heavy-duty use, a stainless spinner may serve you best as it lasts longer and doesn’t break. Plastics are not very durable, with some concerns over the plastic material used.
Mechanism
As to the systems used to spin the machine, there are four types, the crank handle, the pull-cord, the push pump, or the electric means.
Crank or Handle
Salad spinners first came out with this design, where a crank is rotated to produce the spinning effect onto the strainer. But the handle method is tedious and may require more effort to spin the bowl.
Pull Cord
It operates by pushing down a button to start the basket spinning or to stop it.
Electrical Spinner
It is a powerful spinner best used in commercial or industrial settings rather than at home.
Is a Salad Spinner an Essential Tool?
While salad lovers would undoubtedly find the salad spinner a tool worthy of having, others think any kitchen can go perfectly well without it. One of the reasons is that there are other means of drying out the veggies without keeping a bulky container in your kitchen. Some others consider it as just another space-consuming gourmet device in your kitchen cabinet without real value.
But preparing food has always been a personal experience; what others may think of as unnecessary maybe someone’s hero in the kitchen. You’ll never know which side are you on if you don’t get one. Who knows, you’ll be one of those people swearing by the value of a spinner as a kitchen tool. Find out more about kitchen utensils.
Conclusion
Salad spinners intend to make working with salads a little more convenient, and if you feel like you could use one, nothing should hold you back. After knowing the answer to “What does a salad spinner do?” you can now decide if you truly need one in your kitchen.