The Flavour Shaker

So what do we know about me so far? I like ceramic things in the shapes of animals. I hate plastic bags. I have a lot of coffee mugs. I love Jamie Oliver. I do not like cupcakes.

Wait, rewind to Jamie Oliver.

I've been a fan ever since the Naked Chef. Somehow I feel--even though he is a national institution, an international star and probably a zillionaire--that I know him personally. I know him from the days when he was just bashing together a meal for his mates at his old bachelor flat with the indoor basketball hoop.

So I've been craving one of these thingies that he invented called a Flavour Shaker. It's been available in the UK for quite awhile, but only fairly recently here. Here's what Jamie said about why he invented it:

I was in my kitchen a few years ago bashing up some ingredients in my pestle and mortar and I suddenly thought to myself that even though I love the old pestle, there must be an easier and quicker way of bashing and grinding your herbs and spices together. Some way that isn't messy and doesn't take as much time....

I was sure there was a way of coming up with some sort of gadget where you could put all your ingredients inside it and then just shake it all together. So, I started to put some ideas down on paper, doing little sketches, and from there I got a little model made up to see if it really would work.

What he ended up with was this combination of shaker and basher. A small ceramic ball does the bashing inside the plastic shaker that's designed to maximize the ball's action. If you want to see charming Jamie demonstrate the Flavour Shaker, click here.

The Flavour Shakercomes in a couple of different colors and you can get it for $29.95 from Amazon.

Watch this funny TV spot for the shaker:



Number of times the words basher or bashing was used = 5.