Review: Vitamix Blender

It’s hard to know where to begin with the Vitamix, but to call it a blender is underselling it, I think kitchen power tool would be more fitting! Anyway here’s the lowdown on the latest gadget to hit (and revolutionise) the Feeding Boys kitchen.

Looks:  It looks like it belongs in a professional kitchen and could withstand a nuclear winter. Solid and well built – but good looking in a business-like fashion.

Performance: Get this, it has a 1200W motor! The kMix blender was impressive at 800W, but this fairly blows it out of the water, and motors you across the Atlantic and back while it’s at it. And it’s this power that makes the Vitamix worth its weight in gold.

Capacity: A huge 2 litre jug

What can I make in it? A lot! Here’s just a small introduction:

It’s not just a way of blitzing soups, you can actually make soup from scratch in this blender in five minutes. There’s no heat element, just the sheer friction from the fast moving blades.

You can also make custard or even cheese or tomato sauce for a speedy pasta supper. I made a cheese sauce for macaroni cheese using the Vitamix in under five minutes, and instantly knew we were going to be friends. I couldn’t get my head around how it could possibly do it, but it did.

And it’s not just hot stuff, by adding ice or frozen fruit, you can also make ice cream, frozen yoghurt and sorbets. I wonder if i’ll ever get my ice cream maker out again?!

Smoothies and shakes – not just soft fruits but hard fruit and vegetables too. We are big on blended drinks and juices in our house, so the smooth and velvety texture that the Vitamix creates is a real joy. If you’re dairy free you can make rice or almond milk.

Home made nut butters and hummus are normally really dense and tricky to make, but the Vitamix has no problems. It comes with a genius tamper stick that you can nudge the food onto the blade with to make sure everything gets blitzed.

Cocktails – frozen margherita anyone? Ice is no problem for this beast.

There’s even word of creating your own caster and icing sugar from my Vitamix-loving friends out there.  It’s like a religion… once you’re a worshipper there’s no going back.

Nutrition: It’s billed as a Total Nutrition Centre – sounds a bit lofty but when you juice fruit and vegetables in the Vitamix the cell walls are pulverised instead of being strained out like in conventional juicers. This means you get the nutrition of all of the fibre in fruit and veg you use, not just the juice.

Settings & Controls: Large and clear dials and switches. There’s an on/off switch, a high/variable switch and a variable speed dial. You generally start with the machine in variable mode and select a speed using the dial. If you want to machine to really go for it and eventually heat the contents of the jug then you switch it into high mode.

Maintenance: It’s simple to clean. You don’t need to take the blade out or unscrew anything, you can just fill the jug half full with water and a little washing up liquid and run the blender – simple!

Optional extras: It comes with a wet blade container, but you can also get a dry blade container which is good for grinding coffee beans, grains and making your own icing sugar.

Any negatives? It’s LOUD! The boys run out of the kitchen when it’s on, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing…

Cost: It’s a big investment at £459.

Overall verdict: Pricy but startlingly good. Busy family cooks who demand high performance from their gadgets will be richly rewarded with a blender that whips up nutritious meals in minutes, and dips and smoothies in seconds. I’m totally hooked and just want to keep trying out new recipes and making things from scratch like hummus and pesto that i’d normally buy ready-made.

This is just the start of my journey with the Vitamix… I’ll be keeping you updated on my recipe development…

Thanks to Vitamix for lending me a machine to try out! You can get hold of one from John Lewis, Harrods and Lakeland