Forum Index
»
Food, Cooking, and Restaurants
Am I just expecting too much from a blender?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I want to be able to toss a cup of frozen strawberries, a cup of OJ, a few chunks of frozen banana, and a few ice cubes into a blender and blend it into a smoothie. (Seriously -- this is one of my favorite things to drink and I make it a couple of times a week). This wasn't easy at all with my old crappy blender. So I got a new somewhat fancy Cuisinart blender for Christmas and I swear it doesn't do much better. Maybe one time in three, it will magically blend it just like I want, and the other times it blends for a while and then the blades start whirring while the food up above stops moving. I stop the blender, poke/stir the mixture, try again... eventually I have to just let it sit there for 15 minutes or so until it thaws more and then try again.
Are there blenders out there that actually, you know, BLEND, even if some of the ingredients are frozen? |
Anonymous
| Vitamix |
Anonymous
My blender would easily do what you described, although our refrigerator's ice cubes aren't real big. Also, it might depend on how you layer what you're blending? I put my ice cubes in first. Also, my banana isn't frozen. (FWIW, my Waring blender is the $135 variety.) |
Anonymous
| My Oster blender does that easily. I am pretty sure it was less than $100 |
Anonymous
| A teeny bit of liquid, like milk or loose yogurt, really helps. Also you might try blending in segments - like the bananas and berries first, then when they're smooth, toss in the ice cubes. Mine does better this way. |
Anonymous
| My Vitamix would blend a steak into a perfect smooth paste. You know, if I wanted it to. Superb green smoothies, though! |
Anonymous
I agree with the others; what you're looking for is a Vitamix. I was drooling over one at Costco last weekend, but couldn't justify spending over $300 on a blender...at least not yet! 
|
Anonymous
| my $40 braun immersion blender does a pretty good job of this - I have to move it around the cup a little (it comes with a big plastic cup, kind of like they mkae milkshakes in at soda fountains) but I get the right result. FWIW, I've been doign this a lot lately and I try to take the fruit out the night and leave it in the fridge (in the blender cup) before so it isn't frozen. |
Anonymous
|
OP here -- HA, the Vitamix. I'd forgotten about that. Some friends of ours have TWO of them and have parties themed around them where they make dips and blended drinks and all kinds of stuff. They are evangelical about those things. How could I forget? I'm not sure I want to spend that much on a blender, although I might give up and go for it. I wish I'd asked for the Vitamix for Christmas instead!
Are there layering tips or is there some trick to this? Ice first, ice last? I usually put the orange juice in first because I can measure it against the side of the blender jar, and then throw in the berries, then the ice... Sounds like one of you does ice first, one does it last... I feel like the more frozen the fruit, the more icy and filling the smoothie is -- so my goal is to not have to thaw the fruit in advance, although that definitely makes the blending work better. Thanks! |
Anonymous
|
I just use a regular blender and, like you,measure the liquid first whenever I make a smoothie. Then I go with the softest, most easily blended fruit...usually mangoes or bananas, blend, then the harder frozen fruits (bit by bit...not all at once), blend, and then add ice cubes if needed. You shouldn't have a problem with this method.
I too would love a Vitamix, but I just can't justify the expense...and the space it will take up! Do it this way, though and you should be good to go! |
Anonymous
| Oh and I alwasy use frozen fruit all the way through, so the bananas and mangoes are frozen too! |
Anonymous
| BTW, the bananas and mangoes are frozen too! |
Anonymous
Whoops...I didn't think it went through the first time  Please excuse
|
Anonymous
| Honestly, the "nicer" the brand, the less likely this is to work (with the exception of a Vitamix). Cuisinart, Kitchenaid blenders... they're all a disaster on this sort of thing. I've been through them all. My Oster beehive is great! The fittings in the glass part are metal and they come into contact with metal in the motor. Metal on metal. That seems to be the trick. The Cuisinart and Kitchenaids I had were rubber on metal or rubber on rubber -- no good. |
Anonymous
| I use a magic bullet and shake it a bit while I blend. |