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Quirls

Every Victorian kitchen had quirls to 'fancy up' the presentation of food. Quirls are

another name for garnishers. They were used for cutting spiral shapes from root

vegetables (e.g. potatoes, beets, parsnips, turnips, carrots), fruit, etc. for ornamentation,

pickling, or frying).

On March 19, 1872 John Blaettler of Philadelphia was

issued U. S. patent number 124,782 for a device for cutting

food into coils. His quirl has a single closed cutting edge

attached to an auger-pointed shaft. Although a circular

cutting edge is shown in the patent, he claims circular,

cross, star, and other shapes, and assigned the patent to

Herman Meyer of Philadelphia.

On February 16, 1875

Aime Vuillier of Newark,

New Jersey, was issued U.

S. patent number 159,869

for a similar tool having

two cutting loops.

With both of these implements, the cut spiral coils itself

up the shaft as the auger point pulls the tool into the

vegetable. To remove the spiral in one piece, the handle

is removed and the spiral slides off the end of the shaft.

The handle, therefore, was made to easily slide on and

off, and therefore often was separated from the tool

itself. That is why these items are usually found missing

the handle.

The top example at right

is Blaettler's patent with

a three-arc cutter and

handle at left. The

middle example is

Vuillier's patent without

a handle. Both are

marked GERMANY. The

bottom example is

Massari's patent and is

marked POPEIL PRODUCT.