The Kuhn Rikon Cheese Grater and Chocolate Shaver, Epicurean Garlic Press and the Safety Lidlifter Can Opener are some wonderful and great performing kitchen gadgets from the Swiss craftsmen.
The company may not be known for little kitchen gadgets like these but they all work so well and any kitchen needs some really outstanding gadgets to run well. Kuhn Rikon has been manufacturing quality kitchen products for over 70 years and quality Swiss craftsmanship is an integral part of their products.
I take a look at three kitchen gadgets, one of which I read about in an America’s Test Kitchen cookbook and was intrigued by both the unique design and actually pressing garlic without taking off the peels. I have been using garlic for years and my son even grows the stuff in the back yard, a favorite 4-H project turned hobby.
Kuhn Rikon Garlic Press
A garlic press in my opinion before I started reviewing kitchen gadgets was something that mashed up the garlic so you didn’t have to chop it up. Now after some reading and research I have found how wrong I could be, a good garlic press can save you time, create a wonderful recipe and be a joy to use.
The Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press rates in my book as a Blue Ribbon winner:
- Ease of Use/Performance: 25/25
- Convenience/Storage 24/25
- Appearance/Design 24/25
- How much I enjoy 24/25
Total: 97/100
A definite Blue Ribbon for Excellence winner in my opinion and a winner in others as well, aside from the price America’s Test Kitchen also applauded it as a top performer. The cost of this high quality stainless steel kitchen gadget is around $35 but what does that price get you?
A garlic press can do several things in the same smooth operation that may make your job of cooking easier and can save you time as well. Not only does the Epicurean Garlic Press squeeze the garlic cloves through holes to crush and break apart the garlic into the same sized bits and also squeeze the juice into your recipe you can also leave the peels on.
The Epicurean Garlic Press is a two handled press with a hopper that is created by three pieces of the press, the bottom handle, a metal presser piece and a metal shaped piece with the holes the garlic squeezes through. The metal piece that makes up the bottom of the hopper is actually a nice design and allows for extremely easy clean up.
The handle makes up the two sides of the press while the metal piece with the holes make up the third side and the top piece connect very close to the metal holed piece for the fourth side. The two handles are hinged together in a spot that is about a quarter inch from where the two hopper pieces are hinged.
This design allows for a stronger and smoother action when pressing the garlic for a consistent garlic press as well as not having to press very hard to get the job done. The smooth action and how the hinges are designed lead to a great press and one that squishes the garlic right through the peels in the hopper. This allows you to put the garlic peel and all into the hopper and press it without worrying about the peels going through.
I have used this for a few weeks in several recipes and found that you can press three or four cloves without cleaning out the hopper of the peels and still get all your garlic. The two sections of the hopper that actually mash the garlic come together cleanly to not leave any garlic in the hopper. The sides also come close to the other pieces so not much room is left for garlic to squeeze out any other parts of the press.
All your garlic goes out the holes and not where you don’t want it to so you get the maximum garlic into your recipe. The hopper can hold one large clove or two smaller ones and to clean out you simply open the handles and the two handles form a V. The top piece is attached close to the top handle and the bottom piece is in a straight line with the top handle leaving all the parts open and vulnerable to easy cleaning.
The Epicurean Garlic Press from Kuhn Rikon does a fantastic job and I can easily see why this garlic press is so well applauded by professional cooks. The stainless steel is a nice touch but it also means no finishes to peel off your kitchen tool and the rust resistant finish makes for a dishwasher safe tool as well.
The Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press is well worth the cost in the efficiency and quick work it makes of garlic cloves, peel and all. I cannot recommend this highly enough; this is by far the best garlic press I have seen.
Kuhn Rikon Grater
The next in my trio of gadgets is the deceptively simple Cheese Grater and Chocolate Shaver with the following score:
- Ease of Use/Performance: 21/25
- Convenience/Storage 24/25
- Appearance/Design 24/25
- How much I enjoy 23/25
Total: 92/100
The Cheese Grater and Chocolate Shaver is a simple design and yet works so well on hard cheese and chocolate with a large hole design. The holes in the square shaped grater have two designs on each side for a different grate style, one is a hole with smooth edges that come up out of the center of the metal and the other side has four dents in the holes.
These dents are toward the handle and the top of the grater to offer a little breakup of the grates as you run cheese or chocolate over the holes. On both sides these holes have been created with a small lip or ridge coming out of the center of the piece of metal so this ridge or dent gives you the grating of your materials as you run them over the surface of the grater.
Due to the large holes you will get more food dropping into your bowl or cup when grating and less stuck into the grater to have to wash out. The handle is nice and long for an easy grip and the long design of the entire grater allows for an easy time grating over a bowl or measuring cup.
I found you could easily grate chocolate over a measuring cup with the grater resting on the edges and get all the chocolate inside the cup or even my cappuccino mug. Grating chocolate right into a bowl of ice cream was easy and resting the top of the grater on a cutting board means a steady surface and grate.
The grater does a wonderful job on hard cheese like parmesan and I found both sides give you a nice consistent grate for a bit larger cheese curls. The one side will give you a small curl about like pencil shavings from a pencil sharpener. The side with the four dents in the ridges gives you smaller shavings that work great on top of spaghetti and other recipes for a final presentation while plating the meals.
Grating a whole wedge of parmesan was quite easy and it did not take long like my box grater does and holding the cheese on the flat surface of the grater was simple and not hard to keep my knuckles out of the way. In fact I never had a problem with nicking or cutting myself on the grater at all and you can even run your knuckles on the grater and it will not cut them due to the design of the ridges instead of a cutting edge like many box and other graters.
The shavings of cheese and chocolate are uniform in shape and size on both sides and the Kuhn Rikon grater does a great job at both types and sizes of grating. The Kuhn Rikon Cheese and Chocolate Grater is well worth the low cost of $20 and a great purchase as well.
Kuhn Rikon Can Opener
My third product from Kuhn Rikon and a first for me is the Safety Lidlifter Can Opener, the first safety opener I have ever owned not the first can opener. Opening a can and not having the lid fall in and leaving that sharp edge is now a thing of the past with this inexpensive can opener.
The Safety Lidlifter Can Opener does a great job of that simple task of opening a can, no matter the size I found this a simple can opener that worked very well.
- Ease of Use/Performance: 23/25
- Convenience/Storage 24/25
- Appearance/Design 23/25
- How much I enjoy 23/25
Total: 93/100
The Kuhn Rikon Safety Lidlifter Can Opener is another of those new fangled gadgets that gets noticed due to its convenient way of opening cans and the simple ambidextrous use. The can opener works equally well for either hand and opens cans without any problems, small and large ones alike will open easily.
A tuna can, small tomato paste cans and number ten cans like schools use are all no problems with the Kuhn Rikon opener as the wheel and cutter are on the top inside and outside of the lip of the can. This gives a smooth cut along the lids edge and offers great leverage while opening the can.
To use the Safety Lidlifter Can Opener you open the handles which move the geared wheel out from the larger cutting wheel and close the can opener on the edge of the can with the edge of the can at the arrow on the opener for guidance. The body of the opener will be going on top of the can with the two handles at a 90 degree angle out from the can and parallel to the countertop.
Just this positioning of the can opener means you can easily use either hand while holding the handles and turning the opener when opening a can. The geared wheel goes on the inside of the cans lid and the larger wheel with the cutting edge goes on the outside of the lid and presses into the lids side to cut the top right at the seam of the lid.
The lid is cut off the can in the middle of the lids seam and once you feel pressure lessen while turning the lid is completely cut. You will feel the pressure as a uniform feel while cutting the metal of the lid and when you reach the start of the cut you can feel the opener give and not be cutting the metal anymore so you know when you’re finished.
The lidlifter can opener also has this beak like lid gripper to open the can and get the lid off without using your fingernails or something else. Simply open the handles and set the one half of the lidlifter jaw on the cans edge and close the handles. The other jaw of the lid gripper is on the other handle and will close for a small pliers like grip on the edge of the lid and you can pry up and lift the lid off.
If you want to use the lid again on the can you should not use the lid gripper though as it will bend the lid some when taking it off. You can simply use your hand and gently pry the lid off without fear of cutting yourself. I have opened a few dozen cans of all sizes and found it worked well each and every time and without any sharp edges or points.
The Safety Lidlifter Can Opener is the lower end of the line of Safety can openers from Kuhn Rikon and is made of ABS plastic and stainless steel which costs $16. The can opener is very easy to use and never gets the lid into the can as well as never has a sharp edge on any sized can.
The Safety Lidlifter Can Opener is another fine quality product from Kuhn Rikon and another top kitchen gadget that I recommend.
All three Kuhn Rikon gadgets, the Epicurean Garlic Press, Cheese and Chocolate Grater and Safety Lidlifter Can Opener are fantastic products but the garlic press is the clear Blue Ribbon winner. I highly recommend all these products from Kuhn Rikon and feel they do make kitchen work much easier for the cook.
