My little Chopper just does not perform!!!!!! (James Martin Mini-Chopper)

Member Name: luigi0778

Product:	James Martin Mini-Chopper
Date:	20/03/09 (345 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well designed, easy to clean, cheap to buy!

Disadvantages: Motor is to weak to effectively chop the ingredients! Poor blade fittings!

As much as I hate purchasing celebrity chef endorsed kitchen items, we were in the market for a food processor, and we didn't want to clutter up our kitchen with yet another gadget. So this James Martin Mini-Chopper standing at just over 20cms seemed a perfect size, and reading the specification, seemed more than capable of fitting our requirements perfectly. I mean, all it has to do is chop, or blend a few things occasionally, not a big deal.

Another factor for purchasing this item was the price, we paid around the £20/mark including delivery from an online kitchen shop. Which is a pretty good deal!



+++ THE UNIT AND PACKAGING +++

Firstly I will say congratulations to Wahl, the packaging was brilliantly over-engineered! if your a fan of global warming and killing the environment! This is just for you!! A combination of packing tape, and sticky sellophane that even Houdini would have shyed away from! Only to be outdone by the sturdy corrugated cardboard with metal reinforcing staples, and the overly thick polystrene casing! The unit is only 24cm high, and the box for it is a whopping 80cm! What a waste of materials, and my time breaking in.

Inside this huge box, we found alot of fresh air, the unit, a user guide (about 8 pages, and 4 of them were in hindi or something), and the James Martin recipe book! Albeit the term "book" is loosely used, as it was more of a pamphlet! It did however contain some great ideas.

The actual unit is quite attractive, and modern looking. Featuring a silver and black colour scheme, with the stylish three speed knob on the front base unit, and a snug fitting nicely shaped, clear perspex (I assume) top bowl. This top bowl and the internal cutting blade are dishwasher safe, while the base unit is a easy wipe smooth finish plastic, with rubber feet to firmly attach it to a worktop.

So not withstanding the over the top packaging it was so far so good! I was even impressed that the top bowl had a 350ml capacity, which it doesnt appear to have visually.



+++ OPERATION OF YOUR CHOPPER +++

The actual operation of the mini-chopper is where this Wahl item falls down flat on its face. If I called this unit useless, I would be paying it a huge compliment!

Our first attempt at using the machine, was to create a Gremolata style topping to put on some lamb. Anyway, in goes the Parsley leaves, onto setting one! Few seconds later, shock horror, some tiny chopped leaves, some medium sized pieces of leaves, some whole leaves uncut at all. OK so onto full power, setting three, twenty seconds, an we had the same result. Threw inside the garlic and lemon rind, hoping it would help it to evenly chop it, and what happens?? Crunch, crunch crunch, the blades jam!! Maybe the garlic was too hard?

After switching it off, the garlic which had wedged under the blade was removed, and we tried it again! However the result was just shocking.
It was so unevenly chopped, and after some minute of being whizzed, there was still an unscathed parsley leaf, and a half garlic clove.

I then went onto a mission to see what it could actually deal with, carrots are too hard for it, potatoes either cause a jam, or are cut unevenly. Even the humble onion gets turned into a variety of roughly cut pieces.



+++ WASHING UP +++

The only saving grace for this utterly useless machine, is that the bowl is well designed, washes easily in soapy water, and is dishwasher safe. Although I did have a few problems seperating the metal blade unit with its plastic sprogget from the metal rod which feeds from the motor. I wonder what sense there is, in joining together two dissimilar strength materials, when they almost fuse themselves together!



+++ CONCLUSION +++

So my advice is, if you want a nice kitchen ornament that resembles a kitchen food processor, this is the one to go for!

If you need a large supply of packing materials, this is the one to go for!

If you want to chop, mince, dice, puree or blend any vegetables you will need to purchase a real food processor! Bigger is (as often is the case) definately better! This unit was packaged back into it gargantuan packaging and returned, I was refunded the money (minus initial P&P costs).

Summary: An overly packaged, kitchen ornament! wonderful!

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