BUYING A MEALS BLENDER: THE LISTING OF PROSPECTS.(Living).

* The classic: The Waring 60th anniversary model's cloverleaf-shaped glass jar, falls base and high-low toggle power switch correspond the 1930s Waring Bar Blender. Reissued models with bright colors, elegant finishes and pulse attributes upgrade the design.
What we thought: The Waring loves a small batch of cocktails, not the hot, messy workaday duties of a busy kitchen (although it did make exceptional mayonnaise). The skimpy 1-cup-capacity limit for blending hot liquids makes tiresome work of pureeing soup. Other models about as good cost $100 less.


* The favorite: The Waring Commercial Drink Mixer adds a streamlined, twist-off jar base to the 44-ounce glass container. A hefty, one-half horsepower motor, brushed stainless steel exterior and high, low and pulse speeds make this model simple but serious.

What we thought: The overall winner. It performed all tasks the best. The wide-mouth container allowed easy access and visibility; the flip-open fill cap opened easily and neat freaks will like a jar base that comes off for cleaning.
How much: $199.95 at Williams-Sonoma

* Ice it, baby: With a wide, squat container and crevice-free speed control pads, the KitchenAid Ultra Power 5-Speed blender delivered a significant design change when it was introduced along with a promise of superior performance.
What we thought: Sure, it looks cool, crushes ice well and doesn't splatter hot liquids, but it's no champion. A trough in the wider container captures ingredients, leaving gloppy, choppy stuff in the bottom. Unless you can palm a basketball, the large jar base is hard to twist off.

Skip it.

* Good-looking: The Toastmaster's flared, frosted-glass pitcher gave us visions of cool cocktails. High design and low technology combine in the inexpensive model's twist-dial controls.

What we thought: With seven speeds plus a pulse, the Toastmaster model 1132 whirled through most tasks with grace and impressive airiness -- but with a fair amount of splattering. The mayo was thin and flat; serrated mixing blades, plus 350 watts of power, chopped ice. The machine is lightweight, compact, easy to operate, reasonably quiet and a terrific bargain.


* Only for pros: The 13-pound, 20-inch tall Vita-Prep 1002 by Vita-Mix Food Service has a generous 8-cup capacity and an enormously strong motor that promises superior speed and pulverizing motion. I have another post on this best blenders issue here.

What we thought: Only serious cooks need apply -- and tall, rich ones, too. The extra power is tricky for a novice. Running on high for four minutes, the metal base and blades became so hot, they cooked the mayo into scrambled eggs.

* Earplugs, quick: With 14 speeds, including easy-clean and pulse, the Oster Designer Thermal Blender packs a lot of features into a compact 14-inch height.

What we thought: Despite a powerful 450-watt motor and 5-cup, wide-mouth glass container, this blender looked better than it worked. The many speeds were overkill; the noise, awful; and the wide-mouth jar didn't effectively decrease the splatters.

The blender bender

Grandma made use of the sturdy one for many years and the chutney was impeccable, yet regardless of how strong a good ol' design is, you won't wish to pull it out in front of your visitors.

KitchenAid, the cool 5-speed American blender, joins community, and it is priced miles above the competitors, starting at Rs 11,900, compared with the normal Rs 3,000-5,000 array. The pitchers can be found in 56 oz (around 1.5 litres) serve-worthy, scratch-and-shatter proof polycarbonate. Which means you could mix huge amounts at a go. Likewise, no haldi-style stains yellowing the physique so you might offer a round directly from it.

A crush ice button allows you to come up with a granita or a gimlet (they claim it can crush a whole tray of ice within seconds), but the problem with that is that you have to always want completely pulverized ice, no midway mashing here. The inner side of the handle enables a non-slip grip.

The patented Soft Start technology pulls ingredients towards the blade rather than away from it, creating an inward whirl, and minimizing splash. The contours of the pitcher are designed to cause movement within the ingredients as they spin. And this is not one of those blenders where you have to clutch on to the lid for dear life, even with hot foods.
It comes with a 0.9 horsepower motor. So it's not a lightweight, merely pretty thing. One of the best features of KitchenAid blenders is that the motor adjusts the machinations to the thickness of the ingredients.

Sure, it's what you go for when you need a jazzy, metallic colour and a crush, blend and serve body for your open kitchen. But what justifies the price tag?

And here's the thing, while its motor and one-piece jar is an amazing strength in the otherwise lightweight American market, in India, mixies have traditionally been geared towards catering to grandma and her chutneys and multiple jars. So the average Indian mixie, from Glen and Bajaj to Havells, Philips and the sturdy old Sumeet, all offer you 750 watts or 1 horsepower, and all are available online on Flipkart or Amazon in the Rs 2,700-5,000 range.

Compared with Blendtec, said to be the best blender you could buy in the world, with built-in blend cycles that speed up and slow down automatically till puree perfection, you'd be starting with a $384.95 price tag and that's without import duties. In the US, KitchenAid retails at $129-199. So if you're into a pretty blender, and an intelligent one at that, the Indian price is still not wildly beyond the cost of asking someone to lug it over when they travel.