Kitchen Corner: Spiralizer

Regular noodles? White rice? Pshaw. Empty carbs are so out right now.

What’s hot? Adding an extra boost of nutrients, cutting the carbs (not to mention the calories), and adding a whole new depth of flavour. That’s what’s hot.

Enter, the spiralizer. Your fun, easy, noodle-making pal.

Spiralizers work with all sorts of veggies and even fruits, to turn them into skinny strips of spaghetti, ribbons of fettuccine, or even just cute little twirlies. This gadget ranges from pretty basic handheld models, where the user pushes vegetables through a tube while twisting them, to mid-range options that stand on the countertop and users feed vegetables through a grater, using a hand crank. The fancy kind is electronic, (read no cranking required) and has all sorts of different-shaped grater attachments for your every spiralizing need.

The downside of using a spiralizer is that you do end up with leftover cores and ends of vegetables that are too small, but you can always chop them up for salsa, throw them in smoothies, or just munch them while you’re cooking.

If you didn’t want to go down the route of purchasing a new gadget, you can achieve this affect with a little extra effort using pre-cut strips and either a peeler or mandoline to create wafer-thin ribbons.

Here are some yummy recipes to get you inspired.