Return to Posts
In general, I am against kitchen tools with only one designated purpose, such as (and I am not making these up):
garlic press, tomato corer, avocado slicer, cherry pitter, apple corer, mushroom slicer, lettuce knife, pickle picker, potato masher, citrus zester, strawberry huller, orange peeler, cookie dough scooper, chili twister, truffle shaver, ice cream scoopers (that's what spoons are for!), and those little things you jam into the ends of corn-on-the-cob
I will make allowances for pizza cutters and cheese slicers, and I will even condone the use of a vegetable peeler as it is a multi-use utensil. In the past, I placed melon ballers in the former category of needless tools with limited purposes, but now I see it is a tool with immense possibility.
10 things to do with a melon baller:
Scoop melons (duh), as well as soft cheeses, butter, and ice cream (take that ice cream scooper!)
Seed melons, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, peppers, and pumpkins
Core pears, apples, and even pineapples if you try hard enough
Remove pits from peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots
Measure ground coffee
Plant seeds
Create perfect cookie dough balls (talk about portion control)
Make twice baked potatoes
Use as a tool to make sand or snow sculptures
Shape meatballs
And the 11th thing to do with a melon baller...
Stir tea when you run out of clean spoons
Ode to the Melon Baller
Posted on 10/06/07
In general, I am against kitchen tools with only one designated purpose, such as (and I am not making these up):
garlic press, tomato corer, avocado slicer, cherry pitter, apple corer, mushroom slicer, lettuce knife, pickle picker, potato masher, citrus zester, strawberry huller, orange peeler, cookie dough scooper, chili twister, truffle shaver, ice cream scoopers (that's what spoons are for!), and those little things you jam into the ends of corn-on-the-cob
I will make allowances for pizza cutters and cheese slicers, and I will even condone the use of a vegetable peeler as it is a multi-use utensil. In the past, I placed melon ballers in the former category of needless tools with limited purposes, but now I see it is a tool with immense possibility.
10 things to do with a melon baller:
Scoop melons (duh), as well as soft cheeses, butter, and ice cream (take that ice cream scooper!)
Seed melons, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, peppers, and pumpkins
Core pears, apples, and even pineapples if you try hard enough
Remove pits from peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots
Measure ground coffee
Plant seeds
Create perfect cookie dough balls (talk about portion control)
Make twice baked potatoes
Use as a tool to make sand or snow sculptures
Shape meatballs
And the 11th thing to do with a melon baller...
Stir tea when you run out of clean spoons