Bento Tools - Nori Punch

Nori Puncher is a very useful tool if you are want to make Charaben (Characters lunchboxes) It comes in many shapes, sizes and colors. Though having a variety makes the bentoing faster and easier, you do not need a lot to get the job done. I will share with you what I own, and give my own reviews on them. I will also share with you on the 2 different types of Nori that you can use.


These are my collection of nori punchers, I keep all of them in a tool box for easy access. hehe, I still have space for 2 or 3 more, but I am trying to control my buying of bento tools. :P


The shoe punchers are my favourite and I highly recommend them. The quality is good, they are easy to use and cuts well.


These are from Daiso, which means they are really cheap, only $2 each. BUT they are not easy to use, and not long lasting, I've one that was spoilt within weeks and I hardly used it. :(


These comes in a set of 3. They are easier to use than the Daiso punchers, but not as good as the shoe punchers. For the price they are worth, I think the shoe punchers are a much better investment.


These are from Carla Craft, they are used for punching paper, but they work well on nori as well. These are good, they punch well and are lasting. They are good when you want smaller cut-outs, as the cut-outs from the other punchers are bigger.


This is a free gift that comes with the purchase of Kaerenmama bento book. I am not sure whether to recommend this, coz even though I like the cut-outs from this very much, the mechanism is not very good and will spoil if you are not careful with it. Er, so you decide for yourself yah. :P


If you are clueless about which one to get first, I highly recommend you to get the multi-face shoe puncher, and maybe one or two carla craft punchers. :)


There are 2 kinds of seaweed, seasoned(the left one in pic) and unseasoned(the big packet on the right). The seasoned ones are more difficult to keep, and they soften really fast once opened. And seasoned seaweed might also kill the lifespan of your puncher. So, most people prefer to use the unseasoned seaweed.


I usually buy both types, that is because my boys like to eat the seasoned seaweed as a snack. For storing, you can keep them in a ziplock bag with the desiccant at room temperature.


As for the unseasoned seaweed, I usually cut up some and store them in an airtight container, with the desiccant. I will store some uncut sheets in ziplock bag as well, as I use them for sushi.


U can get extra desiccant from Daiso. :)

Please note that the above is purely my own personal review from a user point of view, without any sponsorship from any supplier. :)

UPDATE (as of 30 May 2012)

This is the brand of seaweed I usually buy, it's darker than the seaweed I shared previously in this post.

Where to get items seen in today's post: