Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

A Compact, Responsive, Easy-to-Use Workhorse & Travel Partner Brieftons has super-fast shipping, outstanding products and customer service, and this BR-5B-02 spiralizer is a joy to operate. It is: easy to use; ultra-responsive, fast-working; compact enough for travel; and bundled with 5 super-sharp Blades. This might be their best spiralizer yet! A. GENERAL NOTES: 1. Take the spiralizer out of the box. Note that it is small, compact, and easy to store, with the 2 extra Blades held in the plastic Blade Storage Caddy/ container, while 2 other Blades are kept under the unit and a third is in the Blade Rack. Because this unit is small and compact, it would be easy to travel with – fully assembled. 2. Wash the unit and all 5 Blades in warm, soapy water to remove industrial manufacturing residue. Then, dry fully before using. 3. Note that the unit comes fully assembled to save time in having to match up the different steps on the instruction sheet with graphics. 4. * Optional: I flipped over each of the 5 Blades after having arranged them in size from: 2 mm, 3 mm, 5 mm, 5.5 mm, to Flat. I took a permanent/ indelible marker and wrote the sizes on the flat bottom tab that inserts into the Blade Rack. This saves me lots of time in having to match up Blade sizes to the instruction sheet with graphics. You may choose not to do this. 5. Some olive oil should be rubbed on the Platform slide and then, the slide tracks should be oiled to eliminate squeaks and to allow constant ease in spiralizing. Reapply when needed. 6. For spiralizing, I don’t use the light-green Side Handle because it is more comfortable for me to use my left hand, instead, to hold the Blade plate secured into the Rack. Some people, however, may find that using the side handle is more comfortable for them. 7. To more securely grasp the food, always stab/ poke food ends before inserting them into the Holder on one side and the small, round, metal Spindle core on the Blade plate, on the other end. 8. Use a large square plate or rectangular baking dish to collect food. 9. Brieftons spiralizers typically produce 3-4 foot-long food spirals, which are beautiful to see coming out of the unit, and are great for dinner party guests to see to go ‘ooh and aah’. I take kitchen shears, however, to cut down the lengths, to make them easier to eat. Using these shears is a safe activity that children could do to help out their parents when they spiralize. 10. Always peel hard foods like sweet potato, first, to make them faster to spiralize. I use the Brieftons super-sharp Vegetable Peeler (also with Japanese #420 stainless steel blades) when I peel any food. I then toss all peels into our food (as well as cores, etc.). 11. Note that there is a Platform slide safety mechanism, which stops this slide slightly before reaching the Rack (with Blade in it), preventing the Platform slide from running into the teeth of the Holder and damaging them; this is one feature that many spiralizers don’t have, and it is an important one to have to save time by not having to think about when to stop working. In essence, the user starts, uses, and stops with ease and speed throughout the entire spiralizing process. 12. Blade insertion and removal is a dream – so easy, yet the Blades lock securely into the Blade Rack base on the Body, to protect the user and surrounding people who are nearby, from having unsecured blades pop out and do injury. 13. Note that the Blades are super-sharp, so they must be handled with care. As a precaution, the user may want to wear special gloves that are: cut-resistant/ cut-proof, ‘no-cut’, safety (stainless steel) when handling and cutting with sharp objects like knives and blades. 14. When the unit is flipped over, there is 1 big rubber Suction Pad on the right side, under the Lock Lever, with a rubberized light-green bumper on the edge under the Rack; both are needed to secure the unit down on the counter/ marble cutting board. Watch my vid and note that this spiralizer (like all Brieftons tabletop units) picks up my 11.25 pound (5 kilo) marble cutting board with ease. This means that the Pad is strong enough to do work. Thus, it is imperative to keep the Suction Pad and the cutting board surface always clean before doing any work. 15. When securing the Suction Pad onto the marble board/ non-porous counter, be sure to firmly grasp the unit Lock Lever to be able to have adequate shoulder/ arm strength to push the Lever DOWN to secure the Pad. (Raise your body up slightly off of the ground if you aren’t tall. I rise up on my toes because of the added height of my marble cutting board.) People who are shorter may need to rise up at least 6” from our standard counter height in order to do this. Conversely, the problem can be solved by using a riser/ box of some sort to raise themselves up at least 6”. Note that for this reason (needing adequate shoulder/ arm strength to lock the lever down), it is advisable NOT to do the following: do NOT spiralize at a kitchen table, desk, or even a coffee table; no spiralizer works well this way. Therefore, always stand but at a height in which the shoulders and arms are ABOVE/ OVER the counter – not straight or even slightly lower. (*Note that all tabletop spiralizer brands and models are affected by user height, in order to have the power to spiralize – not just Brieftons models. You will see this in all professional demo spiralizer vids.) 16. Cleaning is done by using a small, soft brush to remove food bits from the Blades, the unit Holder, and the Spirilizer Body under running tap water, and then adding dish soap and baking soda all the while brushing and cleaning them under the tap constantly. For foods that stain (sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.), after removing the food bits with the brush and washing with the soap and baking soda, form a paste with these 2 items: let sit 20 minutes, scrub with the brush, and rinse. Repeat at 20 minute intervals if needed until all stains are removed. Doing this seems to temper the plastic to guard against having to do many future paste intervals. (This is a similar process to tempering a wok [maybe redoing it every so often], in order to create a pan that doesn’t stick in the future.) B. COMMON FOODS TO SPIRALIZE with SOME BR-5B-02 BLADE MM NUMBERS TO USE: (Experiment on your own to find other Blade combinations.) 1. Onion: FLAT for spirals 2. Zucchini/ Calabazza: 2-3 MM for spirals 3. Bell Peppers: FLAT for spirals (Note: Use green, red, yellow, orange veg that are square only – not elongated, twisted varieties that don’t spiralize.) 4. Russett/ Baking Potato: 3 MM for spirals 5. Sweet Potato: 5.5 MM for spirals (peeled beforehand because this is a hard food) 6. Carrot: 2 MM for spirals 7. Cucumbers: 3 MM for spirals 8. Beets: 5 - 5.5 MM for spirals 9. Cabbage: FLAT for shreds 10. Potato Chips: FLAT 11. V-shaped Chips: FLAT (with 2 ditches, pre-cut at 180 degrees apart: see the brieftons.com demo vid/ instruction sheet with graphics) C. PRODUCT & COMPANY INFORMATION: This Brieftons BR-5B-02 Spiralizer with 5 Blades (the 2nd 5-Blade spiralizer, the 2017 edition) is a strong, sturdy lateral machine workhorse/ travel partner, made of super-strong, long-lasting, impact-resistant, BPA-free ABS plastic and super-sharp (rust-free) Japanese #420 grade steel Blades. The BR-5B-02 hits the ‘sweet spot’ of price points, so that everyone can afford to buy one. This lateral unit is one that will be used in kitchens and taken on the road while travelling for years to come, and it will get more people to change their diets to eat more healthily. Brieftons has very fast processing and shipping times and outstanding Customer Service (the best that I have seen for any online product), with a 12 hour window for them to respond. Buyers can email: support@brieftons.com and/ or call and leave a message: (571)-721-1848; A CS agent will always return an email or a buyer’s call. This company has been forming a strong core of people who spiralize, who want top-quality products, and who will stay with them in the long-term. This can only happen with honesty and transparency toward buyers, and Brieftons demonstrates this. D. THE BOTTOM LINE: The BR-58-02 (the 2017 5-Blade edition) has the following top qualities: 1. 5 Blades arranged in size: 2 MM, 3 MM, 5 MM, 5.5MM, and FLAT 2. A Blade Rack release, so that the Rack doesn’t jimmy or wobble sideways and pull up to dislodge itself while doing work 3. A Blade Plate safety to lock into the Rack for faster spiralizing without having to think about when to stop working 4. Easy insert/ release of Blades 5. An already pre-assembled unit to use right away (after washing) 6. An extra plastic Blade Storage Caddy for 2 Blades 7. A small footprint for travelling 8. BPA-free, ABS sturdy plastic 9. #420 grade Japanese ultra-sharp Blades, which make for super-smooth, fast spiralizing 10. A very low price point and a much better quality than almost any other Brand name on the market, making this model affordable for everybody In sum, Brieftons is committed to bringing users the best products, and this model is its latest 5-Blade unit. Watch my accompanying video to see how this buyer (me) walks you through using it.