# Salad spinners



## Caslon

I buy packaged salad bags.   I've never needed to rinse packaged salads until recently. I find that now, if you don't, they may have a dirt taste to them.  They stopped fully rinsing them. 

Anyways...salad spinners. Suddenly, I want one.
Ikea has one for $4.99.  There are lots of others.

Pull string types, jack in the box handle types, press down on button types.

Would a thorough rinse and spinning save one from a batch of salad bag containing salmonella?


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## GotGarlic

No. You can't wash all the bacteria off of produce. Bags of mixed salad greens are more likely to be contaminated because the greens come from many different sources. I buy romaine hearts because they're a single thing.

A cheap salad spinner is not likely to last very long. I bought a cheap one and the string broke within a month. I bought a better one and I've had it for probably 10 years.


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## Caslon

GotGarlic said:


> No. You can't wash all the bacteria off of produce. Bags of mixed salad greens are more likely to be contaminated because the greens come from many different sources. I buy romaine hearts because they're a single thing.
> 
> A cheap salad spinner is not likely to last very long. I bought a cheap one and the string broke within a month. I bought a better one and I've had it for probably 10 years.



Ok. What about the $4.99 one from IKEA ?,  

Salad spinners price from $4.99 to $34.99. I didn't have to use a colander until recently. My bagged salads never needed a rinsing before.   I think that bagged salad makers have now skipped a fresh water rinse to cut costs.


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## Andy M.

We have been using an OXO salad spinner for years.  America's Test Kitchen recently rated them tops again.


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## GotGarlic

I don't know anything about the one from Ikea. I've never been in the store and I don't own anything from there. 

I also use my salad spinner to make cole slaw and to clean herbs from the garden. I think it was $15 or $20. I bought it at a local kitchen shop.


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## Aunt Bea

I think I would try the IKEA first, by the time you wear it out you will know exactly what features you want or need in a replacement.

Best Salad Spinners | eBay

You could also go low tech, wash the salad and roll it up in a clean dish towel to dry it.

Good luck!


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## Caslon

Patting   leafy vegs with a paper towel. I will never be into that.  I use those green bags! 

 I need to wash all my produce more.  Starting with salad bags.

Salad bags used to not need rinsing,  now they do in order not to get a dirt taste.


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## Kayelle

Like GG, we buy only Romaine hearts for our salads. I do have a giant salad spinner I use only for making salads for more than two people. I don't know the brand but it has a crank on the top that does a great job.

I don't like those packaged salads with all those miro greens that stick to your teeth when you smile.


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## Dawgluver

I too have started buying a head of iceberg or hearts of romaine.  The bagged stuff has been scaring me.

I have a 20 year old salad spinner with a crank on the top, no string.  Takes a bit of elbow grease but it works well.


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## Cheryl J

Dawgluver said:


> I too have started buying a head of iceberg or hearts of romaine. *The bagged stuff has been scaring me.*
> 
> I have a 20 year old salad spinner with a crank on the top, no string. Takes a bit of elbow grease but it works well.


 
Me too, Dawg.  Too many recalls for salmonella, not to mention dead frogs and snake heads found in the bags. 
I've thought about getting a salad spinner, but I wonder how often I would use it since I almost always just make a salad for one.  They're kind of bulky to store and I'm already kind of pressed for cabinet space.


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## Dawgluver

Cheryl J said:


> Me too, Dawg.  Too many recalls for salmonella, not to mention dead frogs and snake heads found in the bags.




I know!  There was even a lady who got a free live frog in her salad bag!  No extra charge!


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## Cheryl J

Ewww!


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## GotGarlic

Aunt Bea said:


> I think I would try the IKEA first, by the time you wear it out you will know exactly what features you want or need in a replacement.
> 
> Best Salad Spinners | eBay
> 
> You could also go low tech, wash the salad and roll it up in a clean dish towel to dry it.
> 
> Good luck!



Mine is the Zyliss.


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## GA Home Cook

Andy is spot on.  I always look at ATK evaluations.  I have the same one

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Sal...=1458671021&sr=8-1&keywords=oxo+salad+spinner


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## Kayelle

*OMG....
	

	
	
		
		

		
			



*


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## Zagut

Cheryl J said:


> Me too, Dawg. Too many recalls for salmonella, not to mention dead frogs and snake heads found in the bags.
> I've thought about getting a salad spinner, but I wonder how often I would use it since I almost always just make a salad for one. They're kind of bulky to store and I'm already kind of pressed for cabinet space.


 


Dawgluver said:


> I know! There was even a lady who got a free live frog in her salad bag! No extra charge!


 

Well I'd much rather find a live frog rather then a dead one. 
And they say never look a gift horse in the mouth and free is free. 

Hmmm.... Now I need to search a recipe for frog legs. 

I also usually make salad for one so I use the paper towel method or a good shake.

It's something I've always wanted to get but so far it hasn't hit the I need to have button yet.

Go with the $4.99 model. 

You can upgrade if it poops out without spending much and you'll see if you actually need it and what features you might want if you  find it essential in your kitchen.


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## Dawgluver

Wasn't it Julia Child who put her washed lettuce in a dishtowel and just swung it around her head?  Another thought would be to put it in one of those clean mesh laundry bags, and swing that around your head.

Or just spend $4.99 for a salad spinner.  I store mine in the cabinet with my CPs.  Mine is small, and may have cost $10 back in the day.

Zagut, you are correct, I prefer my salad bag frogs live!


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## Cooking Goddess

Aunt Bea said:


> ...You could also go low tech, wash the salad and roll it up in a clean dish towel to dry it...


Cheap, easy, and nothing to break. I'm still using my Mom's old kitchen towels. In fact, I think that some of them were HER Mother's towels that she used. I wash my romaine leaves, and also the head of lettuce through the core opening after I whack the core out. After the iceberg drips a while, I put it into my 30+ year old Tupperware lettuce crisper with a paper towel on the bottom to absorb any extra moisture. My lettuce has stayed fresh in one of those for a month at a time.

I stopped buying "bagged" salad greens when I noticed they had developed a strange smell. I still buy prepped greens, but the only brands I like now are either Northwest or Olivia's in the clamshell containers. Haven't had a frog leg yet.


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## Aunt Bea

Cooking Goddess said:


> Cheap, easy, and nothing to break. I'm still using my Mom's old kitchen towels. In fact, I think that some of them were HER Mother's towels that she used. I wash my romaine leaves, and also the head of lettuce through the core opening after I whack the core out. After the iceberg drips a while, I put it into my 30+ year old Tupperware lettuce crisper with a paper towel on the bottom to absorb any extra moisture. My lettuce has stayed fresh in one of those for a month at a time.
> 
> I stopped buying "bagged" salad greens when I noticed they had developed a strange smell. I still buy prepped greens, but the only brands I like now are either Northwest or Olivia's in the clamshell containers. Haven't had a frog leg yet.



I still use some of my mom's old kitchen calendar towels from the 70's, they were inexpensive little presents that her grandkids would give her for Christmas.  One man's trash is another man's memory! 

The only problem I have had, so far, with bagged greens is musty smelling cabbage.  This time of year you are apt to get a bag or head of cabbage that tastes like an old burlap bag.


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## Dawgluver

Live frog, not a problem.  Partial frog, we have an issue.


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## Aunt Bea

Dawgluver said:


> Live frog, not a problem.  Partial frog, we have an issue.



Pucker up, a prince in every bag!


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## Cooking Goddess




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## Dawgluver

You crack me up, AB and CG!

Trading DH in for a whole frog.

Now I'm off of bagged salad for a very long time.  And will continue to use my salad spinner, my dishtowel, and my laundry bag.


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## RPCookin

Andy M. said:


> We have been using an OXO salad spinner for years.  America's Test Kitchen recently rated them tops again.



I love my Oxo.  It seems to be solid.  Been using it for at least 5 or 6 years.  THIS is the one I have.


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## taxlady

Cheryl J said:


> Me too, Dawg.  Too many recalls for salmonella, not to mention dead frogs and snake heads found in the bags.
> I've thought about getting a salad spinner, but I wonder how often I would use it since I almost always just make a salad for one.  They're kind of bulky to store and I'm already kind of pressed for cabinet space.


They are bulky to store. They are worse in the dish drying rack.

I bought a cheap, all plastic one years and years ago. It doesn't get used very often, but it is still doing fine.


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## Addie

I recently read that bagged greens are lightly dusted with corn starch or a chemical to keep them separate. I recently bought a bag of cole slaw mixture and it was not as fresh as when I grate the cabbage myself. I do believe I will continue to do the grating myself. Considering I have no children to care for, I have plenty of time. One of the things I didn't like about the bagged product is that they put the core in also. I will pass on that, thank you. Knowing about the corn starch, I made sure I washed it thoroughly. Dried it in a clean towel.


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## Andy M.

Cheryl J said:


> ...I wonder how often I would use it since I almost always just make a salad for one.  They're kind of bulky to store and I'm already kind of pressed for cabinet space.



Oxo makes a mini food processor.


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