Salads are so much more than lettuce! They’re a complex blend of vegetables, fruits, dressings, and sometimes meat to take things up a notch. That said, they can be a hassle to prepare without the right tools. So, instead of making limp lettuce and boring salads, consumers can use these trendy tools to create restaurant-worthy salads in their kitchen.
Ready to attract salad enthusiasts? Then read on to discover six essential salad-making tools that will transform salads from the ordinary to the extraordinary in 2024.
Table of Contents
A look at the salad-making tools market
6 must-have salad-making tools for every kitchen
Bottom line
A look at the salad-making tools market
Salad-making tools fall within the kitchen hand tools market, which reached a value of US$ 786 million in 2023. Forecasts indicate a continued growth trajectory for this market, expected to reach approximately US$ 1.265 billion by 2033, with an annual growth rate of 4.9%. Currently, North America holds a dominant position in the kitchen hand tools market, particularly with the United States representing a significant share.
Projections suggest continued positive growth for the US market in the coming years. Additionally, the United Kingdom has emerged as a notable player, boasting a market valuation of US$ 127.61 million in 2023. Furthermore, experts anticipate a substantial expansion in the US market, with an estimated value of US$ 316.25 million by the end of 2033.
6 must-have salad-making tools for every kitchen
Peelers
Making salad often involves vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, and potatoes, which consumers must skin for a more delicious dish. While they can use knives, salad peelers make this process way faster. They can also create decorative cuts and interesting shapes, like julienne strips, ribbons, or waffle cuts, to make salads visually appealing.
One aspect of making peelers a great buy for every kitchen is how they expand the user’s veggie prep options. Consumers can create veggie noodles (or zoodles) or make thin, delicate garnishes that are difficult with a knife. More importantly, certain peelers prioritize ease of use and grip, which can be safer than standard knives, especially for less-experienced cooks.
Various types of salad peelers are also available. Consumers may want the standard Y- or swivel peelers. While not designed specifically for salads, these classic options may be all consumers need if they simply want faster peeling. Julienne peelers are the go-to for creating long, thin strips for perfect salads, stir-fries, and vegetable pasta substitutes.
Alternatively, waffle-cut peelers help produce unique, crinkle-cut style slices for a more fun texture. Lastly, spiralizers focus more on vegetable noodles, meaning they can also create fun salad additions. Even better, peelers are a popular unit! Google data shows their keyword attracted a whopping 60,500 searches in March 2024.
Food choppers
Why waste time chopping vegetables manually when consumers can quicken the process with food choppers? This tool can dice salad ingredients like lettuce, vegetables, and fruits into uniform pieces in seconds. Consumers can also chop larger quantities of vegetables at once, making it easier to prepare salads throughout the week.
The best part? Most food choppers require minimal effort and come in amazing varieties. Manual pull-cord choppers are the more affordable and compact models, great for prepping smaller quantities. Additionally, manual press-down choppers offer a more satisfying control and often work well on firmer ingredients.
Alternatively, electric food choppers are the top dogs for large quantities or tougher ingredients. In truth, they are the fastest options for consumers who make salads frequently. Specialty salad choppers are also a big hit, with some designs looking like salad tongs with blades while others resemble pizza cutters. These special cutters are ideal for chopping salads directly in the serving bowl.
What’s even better is that beginners or those with less knife confidence can use food choppers safely. If consumers want some variety in their vegetable chopping, these tools have their back. Many food choppers offer various textures or cuts by varying how long consumers operate them—like a quick pulse for coarse chops and extended use for finer dice. These tools are also quite popular, with Google ads data showing they averaged 135,000 searches in March 2024.
Salad spinner
It’s no secret that consumers must wash their veggies before turning them into salads. But they must also dry them to prevent unwanted results. That’s where salad spinners grab the spotlight. After washing the greens, they thoroughly remove excess water, keeping salads from getting soggy and allowing dressings to cling better—say hello to vibrant flavors!
Since excess moisture is the main culprit for greens going bad quickly, salad spinners help them stay fresh longer. Plus, this tool is simple and quick—a few spins of the handle is all it takes to dry large amounts of lettuce, spinach, herbs, and other vegetables with less effort than air or towel drying.
Salad spinners are also multipurpose. Many also use them to carefully dry berries or delicate herbs after washing. Their baskets often double as convenient colanders for rising produce. These tools are also doing great search-wise. According to Google data, salad spinners attracted 74,000 searches in March 2024.
Bowl
Salad bowls go beyond functionality to help enhance the consumer’s salad experience in several ways. For starters, a beautiful salad bowl elevates salad meals to a masterful table centerpiece. How? They come in various materials (wood, ceramic, and glass), colors, and shapes, giving them incredible and visually appealing aesthetics.
Besides that, their larger and often deeper designs make bowls the perfect way to easily toss salads and other ingredients without spilling. These bowls are also versatile! They can double as serving dishes for pasta, mashed potatoes, side dishes, or even popcorn and snacks.
Speaking more on material, each offers a different experience. While wood adds warmth and a natural feel, stoneware/ceramic bowls can introduce beautiful textures and patterns to the table. Similarly, a chilled glass bowl can help pre-made salads stay crisp longer on the table, especially during warmer weather. Salad bowls are trendy, drawing about 74,000 searches in March 2024.
Salad tongs
Mixing and tossing salads can be a hassle with spoons and forks. But that won’t happen if consumers have salad tongs in their arsenal. Their two-part designs offer better pinch and grip on salad ingredients, making them especially handy for slippery or uneven items. Because of this easy gripping, salad tongs will allow consumers to effortlessly lift and turn salad components, ensuring they soak up all those delicious dressings.
Salad tongs can easily handle everything from large lettuce leaves to smaller pieces like cherry tomatoes or croutons. The same tongs can also help consumers serve pasta, grill meats, and complete other tasks requiring a firm, controlled grip. Salad tongs are more hygienic than serving with hands, especially when multiple people are sharing.
Salad tongs offer some variety. There’s the classic scissor-action type, which is the most common type. Consumers can also go for locking tongs if they want something with convenient storage. Salad tongs may have lower numbers but are still drawing thousands of eyes. Based on Google data, these products averaged 6,600 searches in March 2024.
Lemon squeezer
Lemon squeezers ensure consumers extract the maximum amount of fresh lemon juice for their dressings or squeeze directly over salad. Why do consumers do this? It brightens the flavors significantly—far more than using bottled lemon juice. And a good lemon squeezer is way faster and less messy than squeezing lemons by hand.
Another thing consumers hate when squeezing lemons in their salads is rogue seeds ruining their meals. Thankfully, most lemon squeezers retain seeds, preventing them from ending in those delicious salads. Obviously, lemon squeezers are great for other citrus fruits like limes and oranges, expanding their usefulness in any kitchen.
Like other tools, lemon squeezers come in various types. The classing hinged press is the most common type, while reamer-style squeezers are a bit more complicated due to their twisting requirements. Citrus sprayers are the last type—consumers can penetrate the fruit and spray the juice directly on the food. Many people love the taste of lemon in their dressing, as 49,500 consumers searched for lemon squeezers in March 2024.
Bottom line
Salads have moved beyond boring side dishes to full, delicious meals. Creating beautiful, nutritious, delicious salads at home is far easier with the right tools. That’s why consumers are rushing for these six salad-making tools to bring function and style to their kitchen. Each one of these items helps make meal prep faster and more enjoyable and adds a touch of gourmet flair to their everyday routine. So, don’t hesitate to stock up on these tools in 2024!
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