111 out of 111 people found this review helpful.
When only small amounts of chopping is needed, this is perfect.
Date of Review: Apr 5, 2001
The Bottom Line: When a food processor is too large, this mini chopper is very useful.
I purchased the "Cuisanart Mini-Mate Plus Chopper/Grinder many years ago from QVC.
At that time I had 2 Iguanas that eat zucchini every day.
I always had trouble chopping this vegetable as it is so watery and would end up as mush.
This little appliance was exactly what I needed as it would chop the zucchini course and still leave this vegetable in pieces that my Iguanas could enjoy.
Although I don't have my Iguanas anymore I still use my Cuisanart for all my chopping and grinding.
The Mini chopper has 2 speeds for 1 when you only need your food chopped, but still left in pieces.
The second speed is used for finely chopping and this is self explanatory.
The blade reverses from a sharp side to a blunt side.
This blunt side comes in handy for mixing as well as for course chopping.
I especially like the pulsating action, this can be used when you do not want the food chopped or ground too severely and still lets the texture of the food remain.
You only have to press the button on top a few times and your food will be chopped exactly the way you want it to become.
This action is very helpful when baking especially for chopping nuts.
I like to leave the nuts in larger pieces when I make chocolate chip cookies and this is perfect for doing that.
Also great for making pesto as the basil leaf will not become wilted and watery and the garlic can be added right in the same cup and pulsated making it chopped well without becoming too watered down from the basil.
The cup that holds the food is a clear plastic, this is important because as you are chopping or grinding, you will always be
able to see how your food is progressing.
I use this for grating Italian cheese which is quite hard and this has enough power to grind the cheese perfectly without having left hard pieces that will not grind up.
This chopper is excellent for grinding small amounts of food, it holds 1 cup of food.
It is very useful for chopping onions when you only need them chopped slightly without extruding all the water they contain and therefore they will not become mushy.
Clean up is very easy, all it takes for you to wash the plastic cup and the blades in hot soapy water.
The cup comes away from the motor so you don't have to worry about getting the motor wet and ruining the chopper.
I have a Hamilton Beach food processor, but this is too large to use when I have small amount of food to chop and they usually end up stuck to the bottom and difficult to get out.
The mini-chopped will not do this making it very useful to me.
I would recommend this chopper to anyone who doesn't need large amounts of food chopped as this will accomplish that in a very sort time making chopping and grinding an easy task.
