To be fair all the spiralizers in our range do a very good job, but once you've used the Chiba Professional Spiralizer, or Tsumakirikun, you recognise the difference between the spiralizer as a simple kitchen gadget and what it can be as a beautifully engineered professional machine. The exceptionally sharp premium Japanese steel blades represent a fair chunk of the investment in this superlative Japanese Turning Slicer, so the less often used 4mm blade cartridge is not included as standard. Most people will use the 2.5mm blade for things like courgette spaghetti, while the 1mm blade is ideal for angel hair noodles from harder ingredients like daikon and carrot. You can of course make flat spiral sliced cuts too. As with our other Chiba model the perfect fine accuracy of the presentation of the smoothly cut ingredients is another sign of Japanese excellence, and of the standard demanded by Japanese Chefs when presenting their culinary works of art.
Once you turn the handle with ingredients in place, the razor sharpness of the blades becomes apparent as they glide smoothly through even the hardest vegetables. By pushing down on top of the large button above the handle carriage, as well as stabilising the whole process you activate the autofeed which evenly feeds the ingredients through with each turn of the handle. Unlike spiralizers without this feature, you don't need to use horizontal pressure on the ingredients which makes the whole task a little easier. If you do want to feed ingredients manually to vary your results, you need minimal horizontal pressure anyway because of the incredibly sharp blades. With autofeed engaged you can effortlessly whizz through ingredient preparation in any restaurant where food presentation takes pride of place. This machine is perfect for restaurants, raw food cafes, salad bars, sushi and sashimi bars, or for anywhere that small scale production of vegetable noodle and spiral slice shapes is needed.
If you like having the best quality equipment in your kitchen, if you are a raw fooder, or if you want to quickly produce family size batches of healthy spiralized ingredients, the Chiba Tsumakirikun is also the ultimate home Spiralizer.
Brilliant piece of kit!
In a nutshell this is a high quality and very user friendly machine and opens up brand new possibilities for producing and cooking healthy food that looks just great!
This is our first experience with a spiralizer and opted for this top line model as we are a fan of Japanese kitchen knives and their renown high quality and sharpness. Likewise the blades on this machine are extremely sharp and cut through even the toughest of root vegetables with no effort at all. This is made all the more effortless when using the auto-feed system which is the main reason we bought this model. This produces a very even cut and doesn’t require any lateral force to push the vegetable through as you are only required to put a downward pressure on the top button which engages the drive gear to push through the vegetable being cut. This downward pressure is sufficient to keep the machine securely in place and you don’t need sucker feet like cheaper models without the auto feed to stop it slipping on the work surface.
Setting up is straightforward and the blade can be changed very easily by slightly squeezing the blade support frame and it just pops out. If you prefer slices then the comb blade can be removed simply by turning the two plastic topped retaining screws securing it with your fingers
This machine is constructed from high quality plastic that seems to be robust and very well finished as are the metal components. The whole thing just shouts ‘quality’ and we’d recommend this to anyone. We’ve only been using this for a few days but we are now hooked on spiralizing due to the simplicity and ease of use of this machine which is totally fuss free and can produce cut vegetable quickly and in volume if required, thanks to the autofeed system.
Cleaning is a doddle as the whole blade unit that includes both the comb blade and slicer blade together can be removed and rinsed off. Likewise the rest of the machine can be rinsed off and dried very easily. We like to dry off the blade unit on top of the kitchen central heating radiator for a few minutes before storing away in a plastic storage box for safe keeping as it is definitely not something you want to leave loose in a draw! (The machine does not have an integrated blade storage system).
From a safety aspect, when the machine is not being used and has a blade installed, there is a removable plastic guard that clips into place, a useful feature if there are inquisitive little fingers around the kitchen! The guard is removed before use. However, you still need to be aware of the three sharp blades at the rotary end that are used to retain the vegetable in place in the horizontal position for cutting. These are probably a lot more efficient than plastic spikes, particularly when using harder root vegetables.
All in all we are very pleased with our purchase and have also bought the optional 4mm comb blade that can be used with either of the combination blade units supplied with the machine.
Chris, Derby (verified owner) –
Update
Been using this fabulous machine for some weeks now and would like to offer an update. We bought the optional 4mm comb cutter and now find that the two most useful combs are the 4mm and 2.5mm so it is worthwhile going for this option.
Chris, Derby (verified owner) –
Excellent piece of kit
I wanted a good spiralizer because my husband can’t tolerate pasta and I love it, I was sceptical as to whether the cheaper ones I have seen in local shops could withstand long-term use and harder vegetables, and decided to go for the Chiba. I have not been disappointed!
I have tried a variety of vegetables, including hard ones like sweet potato and potato, and softer ones like courgettes. I have made various types of noodles, vegetable spaghetti and rosti so far.
It is easy to assemble, and works well. It is also stable and easy to clean. I find the rack mechanism easy to use, although I also find that for softer vegetables it is easier just to push by hand – the automatic-feed rack is very helpful for harder vegetables to get an even cut. The slide mechanism is very good, and it seems to ride on good quality bearings, rather than slide along bare plastic, giving it a very smooth action.
The cutters are extremely sharp, and also very easy to clean. I opted for the 4mm attachment to make larger noodles, and in fact that is the one I use most.
We will use this a lot to replace pasta and noodles. A packet of ready-made vegetable spaghetti costs around £2, so it won’t take long to make the money back spent on the purchase. I also have confidence that this spiralizer will last a very long time.
docsquid, Staffordshire (verified owner) –
Outstanding product and service
I just had to write a review regarding this purchase. Not only did my product arrive very quickly but having gone through several spiralisers in the past and ending up binning them all because they were too frustrating to use I am in awe of what this incredible spiraliser can do. I have so far spiralised sweet potatoes carrots and a very large celeriac with complete ease. It is quite incredible how impressive this machine is. It is seriously simple to clean – it was something I was wearing about but absolutely super easy. It’s also not as big as I thought it would be which means storing it is also very easy. I also purchased the extra blade although having now looked at it I’m not sure how much I will be using it but it’s good to have. I think the middle blade – the 3 mm blade is the one that I will be using the most. If you’re serious about spiralising and you want to make it part of your life do not go for the cheap ones this is amazing.
Chadders, (verified owner) –