45 Forkfuls of Christmas

Forkful #40: Jaime Oliver’s Flavor Shaker

Another of the many cool things we ran across at this year’s Home & Housewares show was this: Jaime Oliver’s Flavor Shaker (or Flavour Shaker, if you want to be all British about it). It looks a bit like a plastic version of a Russian nesting doll with a heavy ball inside, rather than a smaller doll.

All you do is plop in some herbs and/or spices, drizzle in your oil of choice, close it up and shake the holy heck out of it. The more you shake, the more mixed and pulverized everything inside gets (well, except the ball, of course… that wouldn’t be good eats!). You can make anything from a simple vinaigrette to an herbaliscious pesto in a few seconds, as easy as playing the maracas.

Clean up is a snap – just take it apart (there are only 3 pieces) and give it a wash by hand or toss it in the dishwasher. Pulling out the food processor (or food pro, as the cool kids call it) is such a hassle if you’re only looking to make a little bit of something, and using a mortar and pestle can be both messy and take a lot of brute force. For only a little over $25, it’s certainly also a lot cheaper than either of those options, too. If there’s a certain foodie in you life who needs one of these little guys in their stocking, just grab it on Amazon via the link below.

© 2009 The Foodie Forkful.