Fun Cooking with Kids: A Salad Spinner

The Simple Salad Spinner

When kids are really little, the pots and pans cabinet is a hit; as they get older, pressing the buttons on the blender is fun as well as stirring and measuring. But what is the biggest “hit” in my house? The salad spinner. Yes, all three fight about who gets to spin the lettuce. In fact, it’s so popular that it even calms my cranky toddler. Yesterday, Stew was just grumpy and started crying for no reason. What made him stop? It wasn’t a hug from mommy: it was the salad spinner. Don’t believe me? Try it sometime and see!

In my opinion, the salad spinner is a brilliant invention! It dries the food using “centrifugal force” and whisks the water away. It may be called a “salad” spinner but we use it year round for a variety of leafy veggies like kale, spinach and chard.

Here’s how to spin your veggies:

1. Cut the leaves away from their base.
2. Fill the bowl with water and swish the greens around with your hands for a few seconds. (If they are from a local farm, you may want to repeat this process to get all the dirt off.)
3. Place wet leaves into the spinner.
4. Follow the directions for using it, but most work by depressing a button in the center of the bowl to make it spin.
5. Check the greens after a few spins. If they are not dry enough, toss with your hands and continue to spin until dry.