Since becoming a member here at the Living & Raw Foods Forums, & regularly visiting the Juicing & Blending forum; the most commonly asked questions are always--- How much blender, juicer, food processor, dehydrator (read power & price) do I need??..

These questions can be applied to any of the appliances, both mechanical & electrical, but especially the electrical ones; that raw foodists desire & or need in their kitchens..

I am going to address the balance of my comments to blenders, although to some extant or another the following words & principles may apply to all electrical appliances that might be found in a raw kitchen..

When someone approaching the raw lifestyle comes to any of the numerous raw forums dotting the web they are inevitably confronted by the overwhelming fact that to equip a raw kitchen from scratch with the full compliment of top-rated & recommended appliances is a seriously expensive proposition..

For those people, such as myself, who have had the extremely good fortune to have grown up in a home where there was a long-standing tradition of cooking good tasting food from scratch (albeit cooked food); it is sometimes easy to forget that the average young person in the USA that is graduating from high school or college in the year 2008 & is living on their own for the first time DOES NOT have that experience to fall back on to..

While I am not belittling those young people fortunate to grow up with similar experiences to mine (I come from a long line of very good SAD cooks), it has become increasingly apparent to me that lately more & more households, both single parent & two parent families, are using already prepared foods, both frozen & fresh; as well as take-out food that is delivered to the home as the primary means of feeding their children..

For many families this is so common that a home-cooked meal made from scratch is an event to be celebrated..As opposed to the daily occurrence that I experienced growing up..

The point that I am convolutedly getting around to expressing is this..If you don't grow up in a home learning to prepare good tasting food from scratch, then you will not have the knowledge & experience to judge for yourself exactly how much appliance that you will need to purchase in order to accomplish a given task in any kitchen, raw or cooked..

Because I grew up extremely poor, my mother had only two electrical appliances in her kitchen, other than a refrigerator..They were a Hamilton-Beach stand mixer, & years later a Hamilton-Beach 2-speed blender..Every other task was accomplished using hand tools or one's hands..

When you learn this way you quickly come to understand that ALL electrical appliances are merely labor-saving devices, nothing more..Every task that a year 2008 electrical appliance is designed to accomplish can be done by commonly (and some not so commonly) available hand tools..Although a LOT more time & physical effort IS required..

So, the aspiring raw foodist that has no real cooking background to guide them comes to forums like this one where they are bombarded with opinions on what to purchase..They hear everything from "You MUST purchase a 3 horse power blender" to "Don't waste your money on a expensive blender, because my $29.99 blender from Costco does EVERYTHING that a Vita-Mix does, it NEVER fails, & I've used it to prepare ALL kinds of raw foods for 10 years"..Yadda, Yadda, Yadda!!..

There are certain raw food tasks where power IS going to be needed..Certain juicing, blending, & food processing jobs ARE going to require A LOT of power from the machine..Trying to use a food processor where a blender is called for, a blender where a twin-screw juicer is called for, etc. are several examples of where the wrong tool can lead to thinking more power is needed then may actually be the case..

IMO, fifty percent of appliance failures are directly related to using the improper tool for the job..Trying to use the only tool that you have available for a task that it is completely unsuited for..So people trash a blender, food processor, or juicer thinking that "If I only could afford the more expensive one, then I would be OK'..

With more & more people purchasing appliances that have limited knowledge of food preparation & or appliance savvy, the level of appliance failures today compared to the recent past is leading to a power war, especially by blender manufacturers..

A lot of raw foodists are convinced that ever more powerful blenders will solve ALL their blending woes.."If I ONLY had a 5 horse power blender, then all would bre right in my world!!"..

IMO, the current crop of blenders, the Vita-Prep 3, the BlendTec Total Blender, & the Waring XTreme are already powerful enough..They are also TOO loud..Blenders have always been TOO loud..Put a decibel meter on virtually any blender made in the past 80 years & it will probably exceed 80 decibels; the threshold for damage to human hearing..

Why do people feel the need, indeed the absolute necessity, for blenders even more powerful & noisy the the three listed above??..

With the exception of commercial applications, & the rare VERY large raw family (read 8 or more hungry eaters), these blenders make no sense to me..

I don't consider myself to be particularly patient as a person..However, I'm not so impatient that I cannot take the time to use the tamper on my Vita-Prep 3..Or add tough foods sequentially, perhaps scraping down as I add them..Or to make a large smoothie in several batches, as opposed to trying to stuff the carafe completely full all at once..

I ask the members here these questions..

Just how powerful do you think a blender for home use needs to be??..For those of you with a modern, powerful blender; would you purchase a 5 Hp blender if one was available for purchase??..Are the current crop of powerful blenders powerful enough??..Noisy enough??..Do you think, as I do, that more emphasis should be placed on QUIETER appliances, especially blenders??..How do reliability & quality of construction rate with you in considering an appliance purchase??..

Thanks for any & all input..

Bruce

Bruce.....You open up some interesting lifestyle Thoughts and Habits with your question. For me personally, I have to have the Best Juicers and Blender made (as I see it). Juicing and Blending is what I do, and I'll spend any amount of money to get the Best. I am pleased with the Appliances I'm currently using.....Vita-Prep 3, Wheateena Green Label, and Omega 4000 (Yes, I know the twin-gear enthusiasts have their own opinions, but I like to use the spinning basket of my Omega 4000 over any Juicer I've tried so far). Of that lineup, only one (the Wheateena Green Label) is 'set' in Stone. If Vita-Mix or Omega came out with a better product tomorrow, I'm 100% sure I'd buy it to try as a comparison.
How much power is truly needed? That's for each individual to answer. I hope there will be others here who will 'open up', as I just did, and give us some of their thoughts......WY

I have a lowly 2 HP Vita Mix-5000 series and can't imagine needing more power, I also have an old Oster juicer that I no longer use.
I'm one of those that stuff the jar too full and I'm working on being more patient, Anyway I'm enjoying my Vita Mix, I also love reading everything I can on this forum. Thank you all

Phil

phil39845 Wrote:
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> I have a lowly 2 HP Vita Mix-5000 series and can't
> imagine needing more power....I'm one of those that
> stuff the jar too full...
I have the same problem, but I use a 48-ounce
container, rather than the 64-oz. Much less power is needed
to Blend properly if the contents have room to move.
I used a Vita-Mix 5000 for many years before it gave out from
overwork, but that was my fault, not its......WY

Bruce:

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Just how powerful do you think a blender for home use needs to be?

I think it's more based on blade design and speed than power, but I want a blender that will pulverize berry seeds. I have a Waring Xtreme with a VitaMix carafe. This morning I put in two cucumbers cut into roughly 2-inch square chunks and a head of butter lettuce cut to fit the width of the carafe at the top and stuffed in. I forced the contents into the blade with the accelerator tool (plunger) using considerable force. The motor slowed slightly, though noticeably, until it seemed to grab a hold of and chop up those lettuce chunks. That's sufficient power for me.

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For those of you with a modern, powerful blender; would you purchase a 5 Hp blender if one was available for purchase?

If I could stuff one the same way and not have to use a tool, I would purchase one after my Waring blender bit the dust.

Quote

Are the current crop of powerful blenders powerful enough? Noisy enough?

The Waring is plenty powerful enough for me. The noise is less than the Blendtec HP3 that I had. When I compared them with an empty carafe, the noise was nearly the same. However, with the carafe loaded, the Waring is much quiter. The Blentec was uncomfortably loud with my hearing aids switched off, but the Waring is tolerable with them switched on.

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Do you think, as I do, that more emphasis should be placed on QUIETER appliances, especially blenders?

Yes, quieter is preferable to me as well.

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How do reliability & quality of construction rate with you in considering an appliance purchase?

I'm all for that, but it's difficult to compare them side-by-side without purchasing them, so I have to go by existing online comparisons as well as seeing and feeling them in a restaurant supply store without being able to run them,

Regards,

flash

As I understand it, the no load speed for a 2 hp,3 hp, or 3.5 hp blender will be about the same. The power consumed will be about the same too. The difference will be apparent under load. If you put the same mix in each, the higher powered ones will spin faster,applying more power. The faster it spins under load, the finer the results and the faster it's achieved.

The difference between cheap blender that can't make a smoothie(only a grainy!) and a top of the line blender is considerable. If the cell walls are broken up by the blender, a lot more nutrients are available and digestion is much faster.

One of the reasons people cook food is that the heat breaks down the cell walls, making nutrients available. Cooked carrots provide more carotene than raw carrots for example.

I would like to see a blend off where the results are put under a microscope and compared. Who's the winner?

TruthHunter

TruthHunter Wrote:
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> I would like to see a blend off where the results
> are put under a microscope and compared. Who's
> the winner?
Blendtec says it's Best with it's "Will it
Blend" series on YouTube. I liked this one on the iPhone.
Blind Guru proved on his site that the Waring is the
Best. I don't think Vita-Mix is 'into' advertising this
way, but I'm sure they could come up with something.
Just who are you going to believe? I say test them all,
and decide for yourself.....WY
[www.youtube.com]

The Nike commercial says it best: "Just DO It!!"

In the case of tools for the modern day 21st Century raw vegan, I say 'Just use what you have & stop obsessing about what you don't have"..

One of the photography forums that I frequent has a thread running currently where we discuss using the camera & lens (or lenses) that you own now; & to stop worrying about purchasing the dream lens (or camera) that will instantly turn you from an ordinary photographer whose photographs no one wants to look at into a world renowned photographer that magazines & galleries will scramble to publish & display your work!!..

Just can't happen!!!!..

The same thing holds true for the raw community where people are obsessed, & I do mean obsessed, with the latest & greatest appliances; especially blenders & to a much lesser extent food processors..

Once a person graduates from appliances designed for home use into the level of the various Vita-Mix blenders, the K-Tec blenders, & the Waring X-Treme blender; well I hate to tell you all this but YOU HAVE ARRIVED!!!!!..

How much better of an appliance DO YOU TRULY NEED??..

The way the market is heading there will soon be a blender on the market that will have a sufficiently large carafe as well as the power necessary to put a whole pineapple in the carafe, including the leaves & rind, add water & be capable of blending until the cell walls are completely broken down!!..

Does any long-term raw foodist REALLY believe that they NEED such a blender??..

My Vita-Prep 3 is so loud that I feel compelled to wear hearing protection in the form of shooting ear muffs that completely cover my ears while I run it for the minute & thirty seconds to two minutes that it takes to break down the small seeds in berries..

As soon as I can afford one I intend to purchase an enclosure that will reduce the decibel level to a safe range while I'm using it without the need to protect my ears with earplugs or muffs..

There is a French phrase called mise en place, which literally translates into "put in place"..

In most US kitchens it means that a chef has "everything in place" in order to begin cooking..

For the raw vegan that is blending or using a food processor, mise en place should mean that you have cut the produce that is going to be blended or processed into sufficiently small pieces that the motor of the appliance WILL NOT struggle as it begins to either blend or process that food..

This current & ongoing obsession, with blenders more powerful than the Vita-Prep 3 (& equivalent blenders from other manufacturers) is, IMO, the result of laziness & a general unwillingness to spend time in performing mise en place..

Make no mistake about it folks, the more powerful the blender is the more noise it will generate & the greater likelihood that that noise will permanently damage your hearing unless hearing protection in some form is worn..

Bruce

baltochef Wrote:
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> My Vita-Prep 3 is so loud that I feel compelled to
> wear hearing protection...
I guess I should be wearing something too. Maybe
Ear Plugs with sound baffle chambers? I've never considered it
before, as my Vita-Prep 3 on High has always been Music to
my ears.....WY

I used to have an old $30 blender, and then upgraded to a Vita Mix. The difference is astounding. It does everything I could need. I've written about this here: [www.raw-food-health.net]