[Sca-cooks] Vita-Mix Review

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

The Vita-Mix super blender came up in the list not too long ago.

I just picked up a copy of the June 2002 issue of Cook's Illustrated
at the supermarket. In an article on making a good smoothie (they
include bananas, ugh, if i get one at a smoothie shop i always ask to
leave out the banana - i like bananas, just not in smoothies) they
also review the Vita Mix in a comparison test with a blender.

----- Cook's Illustrated -----
----- May-June 2002 -----
----- page 21 -----

Testing Equipment: The King of Blenders

If you've ever ordered a smoothie at a juice bar or coffee house, it
was probably made in a a Vita-Mix. With a powerful motor and a price
tag of about $400, the Vita-Mix is both the ultimate blender and the
trophy appliance of any well-equipped kitchen. But how does this
souped-up blender compare with the $40 Osterizer, which won our
blender testing (see the May/June 2000 issue)? I set up a strenuous
course of blending exercises to see just what this machine could do.

The Vita-Mix quickly ground 4 cups of roasted peanuts into 2 cups of
smooth peanut butter, while the Osterizer choked, its overworked
motor spewing out fumes, and produced only finely chopped peanuts.
With the Vita-Mix, I was able to blend 1 pound whole frozen
strawberries along with 2 cups ice, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 cup
half-and-half into soft-serve ice cream. The blades of the Osterizer
simply got stuck and refused to cut anything. Both machines were able
to produce fine crumbs from several slices of bread, but only the
249-mile-per-hour blade tips of the Vita-Mix could produce hot fondue
from cold ingredients in a mere four minutes.

A powerful 2-horsepower motor is behind the Vita-Mix's superior
capabilities. To put its brawn into perspective, consider that an
average food processor runs at 1 horsepower, a chainsaw at 3 to 4
horsepower, and a push lawn mower at 4 to 6 horsepower. Running at
0.60 horsepower, the Osterizer simply didn't have enough power to
compete in the tough tests I had designed. But, then again, the
Osterizer costs a tenth of what the Vita-Mix costs, and it works just
fine when making smoothies and a handling other tasks you expect of a
(mere mortal) blender - Julia Collin

----- end article -----

Remember, this was a review within an article about making smoothies,
which is why the last sentence of the review. The Vita-Mix really can
do stuff a standard blender cannot.

I used my house mates Vita-Mix (when i was subletting in Dec and Jan)
to grind a whole horseradish root finely - i cut the foot long or so
root into 4 inch lengths and dropped them in the Vita-Mix - it didn't
take long to make grated horseradish.

It's a whiz for making ground almonds for almond milk and almond
paste for marzipan. I suspect that listees would find a multitude of
other uses for one as well. It certainly takes the place of a
half-dozen minions.

I don't own one - i still use the Osterizer i bought in 1968 or 69
and the Cuisinart my mother bought about 20 years ago. The Osterizer
takes longer to grind the almonds and doesn't do it uniformly, also
has to be done in numerous small batches. Won't reduce almonds to
paste, and didn't handle the horseradish very well.

Anahita