Favourite kitchen gadgets

I'll have one of those gadget's that AnnieGran has please. Where can I get one and how much do they cost!

Not a gadget as such but I love all my scrappy bits of paper ripped out of magazines which, together with conventional cookery books, make me to enjoy being in the kitchen.

Thanks for the straw tip Ruth, will try that.is that why they are called strawberries?groan.
I have 3 fave things, a small black handled veg knife, the already mentioned Dr Oetker spray for cake release, and the new little tongs I bought recently to get naughty stuck bits of toast/scone out of the toaster , which I think Ana recommended.

Oh and my greengrocer told me to take the stones out of cherries with a beer bottle and a drinking straw.

I bought an Apple corer/slicer a few months ago and wish I'd had one years ago. It sounds daft but we and DGC eat so many more apples now. I think 'they' (not the DGC) have been breeding apples with extra thick skins to last longer and bruise less for the supermarkets.

I have never even heard of most of these gadgets! What am I missing? Is this a secret society?

Anniegran - you have to be the luckiest lady in the world. Where did you find him?

Did you know you can hull strawberries with a drinking straw? Just push the straw up through the strawberry from the pointy end and the green top will pop out on the end of the straw! Genius!

show-off

My cherry/olive stoner is a nifty gadget that also crushes garlic at the other end.

Cherry stoner. If you get the angle right the stones shoot out the bottom of the cherries, making a noise like a little popgun. Good for pies and crumbles.

AnnieGran

I have a mincer that shreds orange skins perfectly for marmalade. I lent it to a friend who broke it and I replaced it from ebay.

Well, somebody has to say it - my indispensable, lovely husband is the one kitchen gadget I depend on absolutely. He is currently in HIS kitchen (he doesn't welcome visitors) making gammon with rice and vegetables, his own recipe, followed by fruit salad and cream. In about half an hour he will be up with my glass of white wine and a bowl of nuts.

No, I'm not making it up. We've been together for 35 years and I'm not swopping him for an onion peeler or a tin opener. Unfortunately we have both put on loads of weight since he took over the cooking. Nothing good comes without a price.

Egg pricker. Prevents eggs cracking when being boiled, which they used to do occasionally even though I keep them at room temperature.

Agree about cake release spray - indispensable for making sponge flan cases (hate the bought ones).

Totally agree -as a maker of loads of lakes - couldn't do with the spray !

I am going to get myself one of those onion combs. What an ingenious gadget

Twostep, I was going to say my strawberry huller is my favourite gadget too! Really makes the job a lot quicker, easier and less messy.

My grandmother's nutcrackers. They are over 100 years old and absolutely invaluable for opening small bottle tops like lemonade or ketchup.

My "jar key" must be my favourite. It releases the vacuum on a new jar of just about anything, when your wrists and fingers are not strong enough. Mine was sent to me by the manufacturer of a brand of chutney, when I couldn't open it, and wrote to them. Bless them, they sent me this gadget, and it's been priceless.

A food processor i bought in a charity shop for £9, bargain , now i can make better pastry, can't use my hands as they are too hot !

A sort of silicone tube that you roll garlic cloves inside and they come out sans skin. Brilliant! It came in a set with a little ceramic plate with spiky bits on that is supposed to reduce said garlic to a mush, but it is useless.

i'm with you there whitewave - have been after one of those for a few years now but just can't bring myself to spend that amount of money in case i don't use it enough to justify it. On the other hand i did go positively mad last night in sainsbury's and bought a strawberry huller - it's shaped like a strawberry, which is nice...but it also means i don't get painful nails from digging our the stalks! which was a pet hate of mine

I am sure if I had one of those Kitchen Aid food processors you see on bake off it would be my favourite

A pair of long tongs for flipping over items in a pan, grill or oven. I bought a new set a few months ago but I still have my trusty pair given to me 40 years ago for lifting spaghetti out of a pan.

My little black knife - just an ordinary kitchen knife bought many years ago, but used and sharpened so often that the blade is thin and flexible but still remains strong.