Morphy Richards 432020 Electric Spiralizer
I bought this shortly after it came on the market in July as having tried and failed with hand-operated spiralisers, this seemed like an (albeit rather expensive) answer to the lack of strength in my joints. It is, to some extent, but not altogether. For me there are some serious drawbacks relating to handling and time taken up, hence the low rating.
It is a solid and neat design, (a complete Kenwood look-a-like apart from the colour, wonder who got their design pinched? ;) ) and as previous reviewers have mentioned, it stores away neatly, stacking into its bowl.The cord will push away into the base leaving the plug protruding, but I found it better to leave just enough out to allow the plug to to pop over the top and into the bowl. This makes it easier to put away on a small shelf.
Not being too clever with instructions, it took me several goes to get the top to fit properly onto the base; it needs a very firm grip to twist it into place. It won't switch on unless the top is properly seated in place. Make sure you have dry hands or you won't get enough grip. The parts are otherwise easy to slot in, though it is disappointing that there are only 2 blades, not 3 or 4 as with the hand operated ones.
Then there is an issue of everything having to fit down the rather narrow tube, it's only 6cm/2.5" across so there's a lot waste from slicing off the sides of too-big vegetables that are not big enough to halve or quarter. This is where the hand operated models score over the electric one. As others reviewers have said, keeping the veg anchored onto the cross at the end of the pusher can be very tricky: so many times it just falls off before it's even seated in the chute. Just the weight of the veg itself seems to pull it off the end. This then means disassembling the top, removing the veg, re-assembling and trying again - except now the top surface is already cut and weakened. More trimming, more waste. I have even resorted to holding the veg onto the upside down pusher, sliding the chute over it and the up-ending the whole thing in one just to get it into place. Time consuming and awkward. Not what I was expecting. Fiddly.
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Once properly in place, the veg travels over the cutters reasonably well, being gathered in the tall bowl underneath. I have used an ordinary jug as well. Some veg are less successful than others. For example, butternut squash is far too big for the chute and needs quartering. This means that it ends up looking half-grated too, as there are lots of little bits as well as strings. It also has a tendency to smash up at the end, which means a far bit of time spent picking out all the stuck bits from the very sharp cutters. There is a surprising amount of waste - see photos. I don't want to be making soup everyday out of all the bits, nor having little bags of bits getting lost and forgotten in the fridge/freezer. And forget about apples - see the photo for the mushy pulp at the bottom of the cutter.
As others have also mentioned, soft veg will not work, as I found out with some lovely big courgettes - all veg need to be solid and hard in the centre or they will not grip and go through. Lots more wastage! Potatoes were ok if they could be kept on the end of the pusher, they made good noodles for rosti - see photo. Carrots were probably the easiest, beetroot not bad but lots more waste trimming to fit the chute.
Washing up was ok, although there are a fair number of parts to clean. I need a small toothbrush to lean out the blades and tip, having learnt the hard way after slicing my finger ends...
I have a feeling that this was a first attempt at this machine, and it has been rushed out to meet a demand. Morphy Richards have lots more design work todo, this is far from finished and not nearly as easy to use as I'd hoped. Feeling let down and disappointed by a normally good brand. No doubt its competitor's product will have the same issues, so this one will stay but just how much it will be used is a good guess.
| Brand | Morphy Richards |
|---|---|
| Model Number | 432020 |
| Colour | Silver/Black |
| Product Dimensions | 7.87 x 5.31 x 10.75 cm; 1.89 Kilograms |
| Capacity | 0.5 litres |
| Power / Wattage | 80 watts |
| Material | Stainless Steel |
| Steam Output | 1.9 Kilograms |
| Auto Shutoff | No |
| Item Weight | 1.89 kg |
