The Vasta Sheet Slicer from Tryazon
I was very lucky to be able to host another party from Tryazon, this time featuring the Vasta sheet slicer.
Working with Tryazon has been very rewarding and I was excited to try the Vasta, but then I read reviews on Amazon and I hesitated because they were not very good. Well good thing that Tryazon didn't hesitate and they sent me my Vasta, in fact I received two.
When I opened the box and saw two I was really quite happy. You see we had just moved and my sister and her husband helped us tremendously, she had also just started a bariatric reset group a few months later and was doing food videos for that, so I knew if it worked well she would find a good use for it. I called her up and asked "Sis have you ever heard of the Vasta, I get to do a party review for one." She responded, "Yes, I have actually been looking at those, thinking of buying one." Well, it was fun telling her that I had one for her.
So we pulled mom in and the boys and got together to try the Vasta. Since I had read the reviews I wanted to try a couple different things. Zucchini was a big veggie being used on these and I saw that in the ads apples were also mentioned.
So as Kris, my sis, was pulling hers out and trying to figure it out, mom pulled mine out. I tried to film mom unboxing but she was shaking so bad but trying so hard to help. We watched the videos on how to use the Vasta and then tried our with zucchini. We cut our zucchini to size which was about 4-4 1/2" and then loaded our slicer up. Now Kris and I each had different zucchini's and we each held our slicers differently, thus our results were very different. Kris's zucchini was a bit more firm and a little big narrower, thus a younger zucchini. Mine was a bit rounder and softer. I also set my directly on the cupboard like the video shows with theirs flat on the cutting board. Kris, held hers up off the cupboard in her hands.
The results....Kris had a wonderful result of nicely sliced zucchini and went through her whole piece beautifully. Mine, on the other hand......well total flop! It was too soft to move and the holder mushed up the inside preventing anything from slicing. We found that a smaller rounded vegetable with some firmness works much better and holding it up also seems to help control the slicer much easier.
With that being said I then tried apples. We used a couple honey crisp apples for this experiment. The apples were much harder to get the skewer into and much harder to get it out also. This is due to the core so can be expected. Always make sure blade guards on on when adding or removing vegetable or fruit. The apples were already at a good size to put in the slicer so we didn't have to cut or trim them. We did place our fingers on the non cutting edge of the slicer to hold the blade firm against the apple (you can do this with any of the fruit or veggies your slicing to help get a nice sheet if need be). We both ended up with beautifully cut apple slices.
The one thing to remember is even if you lift it up off the board keep it low so that your slices can fall on the cupboard if need be so they do not break apart. Also keep the vegetables and fruit fresh and firm. Do not cut too small or too large, this will hinder the ability to rotate the fruit or vegetable as you slice it. Don't give up, keep trying and experimenting because this really does work.
The sheets cut about 2 1/2 - 3" wide slices and are barely 1/8" thick. There is leftover remains on the skewer and on the sides of the blades, this is ok just cut it up and use in your recipe.
Kris was really excited to get to use and keep one of these and we had fun trying these together as a family. With Covid out there we kept our group really small but shared the bounties with many. Kris kept the apples for a delicious dessert and I made zucchini lasagne.
This Vasta also came with the linguini blade and so I did try that out using and apple. It worked really well other than it was a smaller and not as crisp apple so the apple 'noodles' broke as they were coming out.
I do recommend the Vasta for some fun and healthy meals. It is a decent price for the make of the product and how it works.
Remember:
1: Always put on the blade guards when placing fruit on and removing fruit cores from equipment.
2: The springs adjusting the blade holder are strong so be extra careful when lifting it. These have to stay tight so that it can have good pressure and lay proper against the fruit or vegetable.
3: Use firm and not overly big fruit and vegetables.
Quick tip: Zucchini Lasagne: I used a regular lasagne recipe but used zucchini in place of the noodles. Place zucchini on several layers of paper towel or on regular towel and sprinkle generously with salt on both sides. Let sit out for several minutes so the salt can release some of the juices. Rinse and dry off your zucchini thoroughly, then use in place of noodles. This will prevent the zucchini juices from making your food mushy or overly juicy.
To get your Vasta click here
To apply for an upcoming Tryazon party click here.
