What Is a Blender?
Introducing the liquidizer, with electrically powered whirling blades that liquefy fruits and vegetables into healthy drinks. It chops vegetables, meat, and chicken into soup meals, purees sauces, whips cream, grinds coffee and spices, and even pulverizes ice.
You've probably seen two or three of these machines in action on a Saturday night at your favorite bar - blending ice and alcohol drinks for friends and strangers who stopped by to indulge in a bit of cheer. Ice cream and soda shops use blenders to whip up malts and milk shakes, and coffee shops to blend smoothies.
For decades the blender has been one of the most popular and versatile appliances. Sold as counter-top blenders and easily stored hand blenders, dozens of manufacturers have loaded today's machines with features that go beyond these indulgences, to cut kitchen prep time in half. Some high-end and commercial electric mixers even include blender attachments in their line of accessories.
Blender Buying Guide
So you're in the market for a blender - for yourself or perhaps as a gift. Blenders have changed from your grandmother's (even your mother's) day. Time is short and cuisines are palatable works of art. The right blender is your kitchen assistant, ready to shorten and simplify your prep time and move you up the ranks to culinary genius.
Blender Brands
There are a lot of blender brands on the market, both for countertop and hand blenders. Each will tell you they are the best, and some are right about that. Before shopping for a blender, check out the speeds, watts, and bonus features. Stick to a brand you know and one that has earned your respect from past purchases.
Hand Blender Buying Guide
The hand blender, also known as the stick or immersion blender was patented in Switzerland in 1950. The blender was called "barnix," abbreviated from "batter et mixer" which means to beat and mix. Although European chefs were using the hand blender in the '60s, the invention did not make its way to America until the '80s.
Blender Care and Maintenance
We're all guilty of it . . . take home a new appliance and think, "Now how hard can this be to operate?" We stuff the instructions in a drawer for future reference. Or, in our haste, we scan through the instructions for the English version and then read only what it takes to get us started. Somehow, we missed the very first sentence of the instructions: READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS!
