Slice Right
The claim: With Slice Right, you can cut and serve perfect slices of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew while leaving the rind behind. Slice Right is dishwasher safe, so cleanup is easy.
Cost: $9.99
Where: Retailers such as Target and Bed Bath & Beyond
My experience with Slice Right didn't exactly match the TV ad. I tried it on cake — what a mess. Unless you can maintain the perfect angle, the unit tears the cake more than slices it, and the “fingers” designed for serving drag through and glob up the frosting.
The box also says it works on any melon, so how about a cantaloupe? Well, if you don't mind either leaving a lot of the fruit behind or having the guide gouge through the rind, have at it.
But the “flip the unit and serve” part? Not all that easy. Even with a ripe fruit, this takes a lot of hand strength to get the first slice out. And you still need a knife to cut the melon in half in order to use the Slice Right. I was really hoping it would be great for small melons because 1. I like them, and 2. I have joint problems that sometimes makes holding a knife and a slippery fruit an issue. But a paring knife would have gotten my cantaloupe table ready just as fast as Slice Right. So what's it good for? What do the commercials show most: watermelon. Testing a hunch, I got a precut half (more like a third) at a store. Zip, zip: slices; zip, zip: slices into cubes. For watermelon, where there isn't a seed-cavity void, the serving fingers worked just fine. So, while the product isn't for me, if you serve watermelon often at cookouts or with kids around and want to avoid having a slippery knife about, I would recommend it for that.
For me, summer isn't summer without delectable, cool watermelon at least three or four times a week — despite the messy preparation as juice runs down the cutting board and onto the kitchen counter. The mess and cleanup are worth it for a watermelon addict!
When I heard about the Slice Right — promoted to cut and serve perfect slices of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew in minutes without the rind and mess — I couldn't resist the temptation to give it a try.
My first experiment was a seedless, circular watermelon. Yet when I made the initial attempt for that perfect, non-messy slice, the Slice Right wouldn't budge from the melon. And when I eventually pulled out a slice, it was mushy and fell apart. I had to settle for chunks — and the mess.
Not to be deterred, I purchased a second watermelon (this time with seeds) two days later. Believing that maybe a melon's shape and insides (seedless vs. seed) were factors, I bought an oblong one. Again, I still couldn't accomplish the feat of pulling out a perfect slice without the watermelon's insides falling apart and coming out mushy. This time, the juice oozed down onto the cutting board and the kitchen counter — even more than the first melon.
To give the Slice Right a third try at success, I purchased a cantaloupe. The outcome was the same as the watermelons.
The Slice Right is a dud. On the bright side, I have lots of watermelon chunks to enjoy for at least a week.
