2 Gizmos Good Cooks Could Use Right Now

The right tools make kitchen tasks easier. Here are two must-have gizmos that infinitely out perform their insignificant price.

Poke, Squeeze, Twist—You can juice a fruit by hand—or by mouth as Oprah did on her now famous televised camping trip with Gayle last October (WATCH HERE)—but a tool devised for this task will extract juice more efficiently.

Stylish low-tech juicers abound, including Philippe Starck’s iconic Juicy Salif, but unless you’re looking for countertop décor, why would you pay a hefty $100 for a Salif, a product that serves but one purpose, when an inexpensive citrus reamer will do the trick and tuck away nicely in a drawer.

The common classic citrus reamer can be made of metal or plastic, but the cheapie wooden one is the cult version everyone wants. The model pictured here is $8.50 at Williams-Sonoma; Lee Valley has a wood reamer for $3.95.

Poke, Twist, Pull— So many kitchen gizmos feel like gimmicks, but the Chef’n StemGem strawberry huller is a godsend for any one like me who is a klutz when is comes to  removing the core and leaves from strawberries with a knife. The StemGem does this job easily and quickly and leaves the berries beautifully intact. I found the StemGem at Bella Vita in the village at Park Royal for $8.97. —Ruth Rainey

Photos: Williams-Sonoma, Doris Cheung