Smooth: These smoothies blended evenly but still bore a few tiny fruit chunks.Velvety: We awarded 9.5 - 10 points for smoothies with a superior silky texture - the ones with no unprocessed food remaining.Each test used the same recipe so they should taste roughly the same. Note: The smoothies' flavor wasn’t factored into the score. The results always fell into one of four textures: velvety, smooth, slightly coarse, chunky, and/or leafy. Once the machine finished blending, we stirred the smoothie using a spoon to check the smoothness and then awarded points accordingly. The blended result score was marked out of 10 points based on one key evaluation criterion: texture. The cool-down time is not included in the total blending time score but does affect the overall ease-of-use score. Such models usually demand a break every 50-60 seconds to protect their inner components from damage. Most immersion blenders can only run for a limited amount of time before needing to cool down. That's why we gave full marks to any blender that passed the test in under one minute. A good machine usually demands 90-120 seconds to yield a smooth texture. 60 seconds or less: Not every immersion blender can handle the tough job of breaking down solid ingredients in a short amount of time.Here’s how our scoring breakdown was designed: Scoring Breakdown Any blender that couldn’t reach the right consistency within 3 minutes would fail the test. The test ended either when we hit that time limit or when the smoothie had reached the perfect consistency. We allowed each blender up to three minutes worth of runtime. The blending time score was calculated based on how long each blender took to yield a serving of smoothie. The score was the average of two equally-weighted section scores: blending time and blended result. We rated each blender’s performance on a 0-10 scale. We also awarded it zero points in this category. If there was a device whose manual specifically stated not to try this sort of blend, we skipped the test considering that blender had failed it. Note: Before beginning the test, we checked the user manual for any instructions about using the blender with frozen fruit. Sometimes this required a little downtime to keep the motor from overheating. If the drink was still grainy or leafy at that point, we continued blending until we got the best possible texture. Note that it’s important to move the blending wand around, including up and down, to achieve the best consistency.Īs recommended by our chef, we stopped blending after the first 30 seconds and used a spoon to check the smoothie’s consistency. We began by running the blender at its lowest speed and then gradually increased to its highest speed. To ensure equal comparisons, we always added the ingredients in the following order: fruits, kale, and water. Our smoothies were blended in a 24-oz beaker. If we had kept using that recipe, the results we would have gotten from our testing would have been entirely impractical to your buying decision. And this made it very difficult for us to clarify how each blender outperformed the others.Īctually, that was not quite so surprising since immersion blenders are not designed for crushing ice. As such, for smoothie-making, we could barely determine the effectiveness of each machine. Even a heavy-duty hand blender like the Vitamix 5-speed had to put in an intense effort toward doing so. However, very few contenders could pass this test most found it impossible to power through whole ice cubes. It could potentially prevent us from sniffing out problems that tend to crop up under heavy-duty use as well. Whereas, using liquid would be conducive to smoother operation and might, thus, mask some important differences between the blenders. Initially, we used ice cubes instead of liquid as we presumed such solid ingredients would be a real challenge for even powerful blenders, thus helping us to get a clearer picture of each machine’s effectiveness. The results would give us an idea of how long the job should take, how easy the machine was to use, and how smooth the resulting drink could be. Our smoothie consisted of frozen fruits (mango and pineapple), kale, and water. And if you find a machine that can succeed here, this should be one of the most versatile immersion blenders. However, we decided this test was worthwhile because any machine that can blend fiber and solid ingredients won’t have any trouble making other fruity drinks. Not all users want icy blends from their immersion blenders some stick to fresh fruit smoothies for their higher nutritional value and sweeter flavor.
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