Food Choppers and Meat Grinders

Food choppers and meat grinders are of heavy, substantial tinned iron. The principle upon which they are operated is known as the screw motion, which is used whenever it is necessary to produce great pressure. The food is fed into a cylinder through which a spiral rod the feed screw advances when the handle to which it is attached is turned. The feed screw carries the food to the cutting ends and forces it against sharp knifelike edges with openings between, through which it falls into a receptacle. The screw carries all the food to the cutters and leaves the barrel empty.

The degree of fineness with which the food is cut depends upon the distance apart of the cutting edges. If they are close together the food will be finely cut; if far apart, coarsely cut. Three sizes are usually provided with the chopper, fine, medium, and coarse. Sometimes an extremely fine cutter, called a nut butter cutter, is also added. A chopper should cut rather than squeeze the food apart.

Choppers and grinders have long handles, which give greater power than short ones.

Grinders come in three sizes. The largest size, which will chop two or three pounds of meat a minute, is too large for ordinary family use, and the medium and small sizes are those generally sold.

Grinders should be washed with hot water and soap immediately after use.

Chopping knives and bowls produce the same results but with more labor and time, as half the time and strength are wasted in raising the knife. However, the old-fashioned method is preferred by those who wish to preserve all the juices of meat or fruit. The bowls are made of basswood, cottonwood, and maple, turned out on lathes, and often sold in nests (one inside another). Some bowls are oblong in shape. Bowls should be cleaned as soon as used, and water should not be allowed to stand in them as it will warp and crack them.