Lots of manual choppers have you push down to cut food, but the Pull Chop uses a unique method to spin its blades; it's a little like the pull-start on a lawnmower or chainsaw, only on a much smaller scale. After you load the bowl with food and seal the lid, you just pull the handle to chop. A non-skid ring on the bottom of the bowl keeps it from slipping, though you will need to use both hands at once with this model—one on the lid while the other pulls the cord.
The rotating blades work much like a food processor, chopping foods more and more finely the longer you spin them. In testing, the Pull Chop worked much quicker than expected, whizzing through everything from onions and carrots to tomatoes and mushrooms with ease thanks to its razor-sharp blades. It sliced cleanly through bell peppers as well, when many of its competitors simply crushed or mashed them. The vertically stacked blades had a little trouble, however, when loaded with only a few garlic cloves—we found it helpful to hold the chopper at an angle to encourage small amounts of food to fall into the blades.
This model holds about 2 cups, so it’s plenty for making a bowl of salsa or prepping individual ingredients for a recipe. Without any plugs and cords to worry about, the chopper is extremely portable: You can use the whole thing to carry finished dishes, or prep recipes at a picnic, campsite, really anywhere. The lid lifts off easily, so emptying and reloading with more vegetables is a breeze. Everything but the lid is even dishwasher-safe, but we're not kidding about those blades being ultra-sharp. One of our testers sliced open a finger when taking them out for cleaning; be careful!