Recently, my husband & I decided to buy a mandoline slicer for our kitchen. He wanted to make homemade potato chips, and I wanted something that could julienne & thinly slice vegetables. I did some research online and ended up ordering the Swissmar Borner V-1001 V-Slicer Plus Mandoline 6 Piece Set . It comes with 3 blades and has the ability to “slice, julienne, or shred”. So far we’ve tried two out of the three – and we’ve both loved the results so far!

When the mandoline first arrived, it was on a Wednesday – which in our house is Potluck Night at the community garden. We had several homegrown potatoes, so we decided to make some hashbrown casserole (my stepmom-in-law’s recipe, which typically uses frozen hashbrowns). After reading the directions, I put the blade that I wanted into the mandoline (shredding), stuck a potato on the safety holder, and began to slice. Shredding is pretty tedious, but it still went faster than using a cheese grater!

I also purchased some protective gloves for my hands. Amazon recommended this as an add-on item and I totally took the bait. Why? Because my husband & I are accident-prone and that mandoline blade is SHARP.

My husband used the mandoline this past Sunday for 1) breakfast potatoes, and 2) homemade potato chips. Once I showed him how to set up and use the mandoline, he immediately got to work. He sliced the last of the homegrown potatoes (save two for a meal) and threw them into the deep fryer. They were absolutely delicious and perfectly crunchy! After he was done using the slicer, I washed it off, turned the reversible plate around for thicker slices, and quickly sliced through the cucumbers that I wanted to pickle. It was so incredibly easy, and much more consistent than trying to cut with a knife.

I think that this is going to be a fantastic tool to make stir-frys with, too.

It doesn’t take a lot of room to store the mandoline, as this one is designed to hold the blades in two small compartments on the back. I typically store the julienne & shredding blades back there so that if the food holder falls off its pegs (during storage), the super sharp, pointy blades are not exposed.

Overall, I’m very happy with our purchase and I think that it’s going to be a very convenient tool in the next few months as we process our CSA vegetables, prepare food for potlucks, and just enjoy cooking in the kitchen together!

* I was not compensated in any way, shape or form for my review of these products. These opinions are soley my own – my goal is to spread the word about products & gadgets that are new to me and that which I find to be convenient & worth sharing. Photo created with PicCollage.