Food processor vs food chopper

Some people may say "just learn how to use a knife and you won't need all those gadgets", and naturally I can see some kind of truth in that, however using food processors is a simple and fast way to prepare produce, and is generally a handy tool for healthy home cooking.

There are many items out there to spice up the kitchen such as juicers, blenders, food processors and food choppers, and it can sometimes be a little tricky to figure out what each product is intended for.

I was wondering if I actually got it right... as much as there's any right or wrong I guess..., so I decided to take a closer look.

Things always overlap and some produce can be used in both, but here's a quick comparison of the two and how I use them.

Although big and bulky, my old food processor is still going strong and quickly gets me through the weekly load of veggies.

Food processors are extremely versatile and can quickly grind, shred, chop, slice and puree almost any kind of food. The normal functions of a food processor are:

• Baking - mixing & kneading doughs
• chopping, shredding & slicing vegetables
• Grinding things such as meat and nuts
• Grating cheese or vegetables
• pureeing

Food processors use disks and interchangeable blades instead of a fixed blade, making it capable of doing a variety of tasks.

Food processors are similar to blenders in many ways, except blenders have a fixed blade and require some kind of fluid to process the food. Blenders would be the preferred option for fluids and creamy substances such as smoothies, milkshakes, soups, dips etc.

I don't have any advanced culinary skills, so I mainly use my food processor for the basics, such as cutting & shredding vegetables and the occasional bread making!

Food choppers are much smaller appliances than food processors, and are great for small tasks such as quickly chopping up a few ingredients for use in a salad or dessert (e.g. onions, avocado, chilly, fruit & nuts).

Food choppers have several sharp blades and is handy for everyday routine tasks in the kitchen. They are much smaller and don't require as much room in the kitchen as a food processor.

Depending of the size of the food chopper's ingredient bowl, some of them may be as small as one or two cups!

Chopping nuts in a food chopper works fine for me, but I know of many people who would prefer to run them through a food processor.

So, any major tasks such as bread and pastry making as well as slicing a big amount of vegetables, a food processor would be the preferred option, and for small routine tasks a food chopper would do.

Happy cooking!