Manual ways of reducing melon rinds and such involve a heavy knife, or, if you want to take out your aggression on the fruit, a machete. My mother had a manual meat grinder when I was a kid, and I've seen vegetable slicers of the same sort. If one of those can reduce carrots to slivers, it would do the same for melon rinds. Paper can be hand-shredded or you can use a paper cutter to cut it into strips and then cut the strips crosswise. Either way, it's a lot of work, and I don't know if most people are willing to put that much effort into it. Generally, if something requires a little personal effort and a little electricity, it's more likely to get done than if it requires a lot of manual effort and time and no electricity. If that were not the case, "labor-saving" electrical devices would never have become popular. To be completely honest, I do have a powerful blender with a container dedicated to compost. I tend to use it when I'm cleaning out the fridge and getting rid of all the leftovers that are growing green fuzzy things. I'll usually wind up with a bucket full of nasty slurry, which then gets dumped into the compost pile and covered with shredded leaves or wood chips. My blender can handle meat and bones as well as veggies, enabling me to compost things that are usually on the "do not compost" list by breaking them down into tiny particles which rot quickly before attracting flies. Most of the time, however, I just dump things into the compost without shredding. I think that the energy used in shredding is offset by the energy used in manufacturing a black plastic bag, using a big smoke-belching diesel truck to take the bag to the landfill (or the incinerator), and then using a big smoke-belching diesel bulldozer to bury the bag in the landfill (or using more fuel to burn it); either way the organic material will be lost to the ecosystem., and in the case of the incinerator, which is where my trash would go, the carbon is emitted as CO2. IMO, it's much better to have it in the garden nurturing the roses, no matter how it got there.

A hand mixer is more for making batters, whipping eggs or cream, etc. It's kind of an old fashioned appliance. Most people prefer a stand mixer, unless they're short on space or money. A stand mixer is better for doughs and can knead. It has a lot more power. An "immersion" or "stick" blender is basically a blender which uses your own vessel instead of a blender jar. It isn't as powerful as a blender with a base motor, but it's very convenient to be able to put the blender into the pot of soup rather than transferring jarful after jarful to the blender and then into another pot. You have to be careful to keep the blender blades below the surface of the soup (which is lower with the convection of the blades going round) or you'll decorate your whole kitchen with soup. Equally, you can use it for blendering smoothies or mixed drinks in your glass or pitcher. Many immersion blenders also come with separate attachments such as Raro described. I think the whisk on mine is pretty useless because it takes less muscle power for me to hand whisk than to hold the blender and let it go round and round. Additionally, it's the circular or orbital motion when whisking that gets the air in, not rotation, which means doing it by hand is better anyway. The one task I think the whisk might be superior for is frothing, which is a circular motion. I think that's mostly because a cup is too narrow for a circular motion, and also, I think circular might build up more air in the top rather than all the way through (though that's a guess). I love the mini-food processor that came with my immersion blender. I didn't use it for years, but when I tried it I found that it worked really well for herbs because the power comes from above rather than below. I haven't used my regular blender with the motor base and jar since I got the immersion blender. It's even still in the box since I remodelled my kitchen (about a year). I can blend anything with the immersion blender, it's a lot easier to clean up, and to store. But it's nothing like a mixer. I can't imagine how one would use them interchangeably. Imagine doing tasks by hand. Blender tasks are done with a knife (chopping) and a sieve of some kind (pureeing). Mixer tasks are done with a wooden spoon (mixing, beating), whisk or fork (whipping), or bare hands (kneading). The appliance that will do some of both is the food processor. It'll do chopping and pureeing and most also have a dough blade that'll do mixing and a certain amount of beating.

I have a monster Kitchen Aid one that I got because of reviews and because it seemed longer than all the others; I wanted it to be able to work in tall stock pots cause I initially bought if for making homemade cold-processed soap. It did an AMAZING job for that but for all cooking purposes too. Gets things done very quickly cause it's so powerful (has cord too) but it's pretty quiet too. A couple of weeks ago I made mashed potatoes with it cause my electric hand mixer broke. I couldn't believe I've been using a typical mixer all these years when I could have been using the stick blender! What's funny is that I have a potato ricer to get mashed potatoes extra smooth and creamy, and it's kind of a hassle but a nice effect/texture. With the stick blender, in way less time, I had that same creamy smooth texture. All the big brands will be good I'm sure but I recommend you get one that's tall enough in case the gift-recipient uses tall pots!

To dehydrate kale: Wash thoroughly. Remove stems (save to use in another dish, stir-fry, or soup). Cut the kale leaves (kitchen scissors work well for removing the stem and cutting the large leaves into smaller portions) or tear the kale into manageable-sized pieces. (After you've made dried kale once, you will decide what size/s of pieces work best for you and fit in your dehydrator.) Dip the cut pieces in an acidic water bath (1 t. citric acid powder, OR vitamin C powder,OR Fruit Fresh per quart of water). This aids in preventing bacteria growth, helps maintain color, and adds a little vitamin C. Drain (I give the cut pieces a gentle spin in my salad spinner). Place same-sized pieces together in a single layer on a dehydrator tray - or on one side of a tray if you mix sizes on a single tray. Equal-sized pieces will dry in approximately the same amount of time. If you put a combination of large, medium, and small pieces together on the same tray, the small pieces will finish drying first, and you will need to remove them so they don't over-dry - so keep the same sizes together as much as possible. Dry between 105-120-degrees F. until crispy dry (or about 4-6 hours). When crispy, allow the kale to cool to room temperature while on the trays (20-30 minutes). Don't let the dried kale sit in high humidity or it can rehydrate, and if enough moisture is absorbed, it can mold in storage. As soon as it is cool, store in an air-tight container and keep in a dark, cool place. This is a great way to "save" some less-than-perfect kale you forgot in the crisper drawer. -Grainlady