As with anything in your kitchen that has a blade—blender, food processor, silverware drawer— the Veggetti can bite if you’re not careful. The blades are extremely sharp, so you need to be alert while you’re turning your vegetables into delicious, low-calorie spaghetti strands. Most mishaps occur when a hand slips while guiding the vegetable through the blades, or when someone sticks a finger into the blade during cleaning.
Keep in mind that very little force is necessary. All you need to do is gently twist your vegetables through, preferably using the Veggetti’s cap to grip the vegetable while you’re twisting it.
Here’s how to use the Veggetti safely:
STEP 1: Leave the skin on the gripping end of the vegetable. This gives you a more solid and less slippery surface to grip while you’re twisting the vegetable into the Veggetti.
Notes: For most vegetables—such as zucchinis, carrots, yellow squash—I simply grip the end of the vegetable with my hand. However, the Veggetti comes with a “cap” that has little spikes which help to grip slippery vegetables. I find that this cap works well for dense vegetables (carrots), but not for soft vegetables (zucchini). In my experience, the cap will shred the end of soft vegetables, making it even more difficult to push them through the Veggetti. Another option to get the last inch of goodness out of each vegetable, is to stab a fork into the vegetable instead of using your fingers or the cap.
STEP 2: the Veggetti cutter looks like an hourglass with two open ends. Each “funnel” has a different blade so that you can vary the type of vegetable pasta you get—spaghetti-type strands or wider, udon noodles. Choose the width of noodle you want and guide your vegetable into that blade.
Notes: You’ll quickly develop a preference for either the spaghetti or the udon noodle size for each vegetable. I love both, depending on the dish. Generally, I prefer the thinner spaghetti noodles for denser vegetables (carrots, beets, etc). For raw or lightly cooked dishes, I also prefer the thinner spaghetti noodles. However, the thicker udon noodles are great for soups, or dishes with thick sauces.
STEP 3: Once your vegetable is cleaned, scrubbed, or peeled, simply place the end you want to cut into the Veggetti and begin turning it, just as you would when sharpening a pencil. The “pasta” strands will begin appearing as soon as the turning starts. Discard the left over portion of the vegetable or save it for another use, like enriching soup.
Notes: Keep your fingers away from the blades! The Veggetti is known to bite if you’re not careful. The best way to keep your fingers safe is to make sure the part of the vegetable you’re gripping is dry, unpeeled, and firm. Otherwise use the Veggetti’s cap or use a fork to grip the vegetable while you’re spiralizing it.
For zucchini, I like to leave the stem on and use it as a grip while spiralizing. I find this to work so well that I never use the Veggetti’s cap or a fork when spiralizing zucchini.
For carrots, parsnips, yellow squash, and other vegetables shaped like cones, I like to hold the thin end while spiralizing the thick end so I can use more and waste less of the vegetable.
For eggplant, I like to use the thicker cut because the thinner pasta strands are more fragile than the thicker pasta. Keep in mind that eggplant noodles are notoriously fragile and break easily.
One trick I’ve learned is to hold the Veggetti a little differently than shown in the manufacturer’s instructions. The spiralizing process tends to produce a lot of excess “vegetable” matter and it can get a little messy, with bits of veggie goop falling out the opposite end of the Veggetti and into your plate. I like to cup that end of the Veggetti with my left hand when I spiralize with my right hand. This allows me to catch the vegetable goop in my palm so I can discard it easily.
