Food Processor Buying Guide
What's the Difference Between a Food Processor and a Blender?
A blender and food processor are both useful appliances for reducing your favourite foods into a form that complements the dish you’re making. From turning your macadamias into a nut butter, to repurposing leftover carrots as a soup, these powerful appliances remind you that food doesn’t have to exist as you see it before your eyes.
A high-performance blender is your go-to appliance for liquefying, whether it’s smoothies, dressings, or purées. A blender achieves its results with a single fixed blade, and it relies on the addition of a liquid to soften your ingredients to a mushy state. Food processors, on the other hand, use a variety of interchangeable attachments for tasks such as chopping onions, shredding cheese, and even kneading pie crust. Their main purpose is to minimise the time you spend on food preparation, and you will seldom have to slice and dice foods prior to feeding them into the chute. Food processors can also handle wet or dry ingredients.
Things to Consider When Buying a Food Processor
Size does count when using a food processor. More often than not, a small amount of ingredients in a big bowl will not blend thoroughly. Conversely, attempting a large task in a small bowl will take too much time. Bowl sizes can reach up to four litres and some units will have multiple bowls for different loads. You must also consider the size of the feed tube—a larger chute allows food to be easily pressed into the cutting discs and can be adjusted for different food shapes.
The motor is the heart of your processor, and a powerful one will make speedy work of your food preparation. When looking for a powerful processor, pay attention to the unit’s wattage and also look out for processors with load-sensing technology for automatically adjusting power when necessary. Safety is an important consideration as you are dealing with fast-moving blades. The units are equipped with thermal cutouts for motor protection and won’t start unless the unit has been assembled correctly.
Most processors come with a dial control for switching between low and high speeds. Premium machines will have variable speed options and a pulse option, and will sometimes feature a mode for detecting the load and adjusting speed accordingly.
A processor can perform a variety of tasks across all areas of food preparation. With a selection of blades included, you can expertly slice potatoes or make freshly-grated carrot your forte. Food processing is just the beginning—some machines come with additional attachments like blenders and mini mills for spices, for even more versatility at meal time.
Types of Food Processors
A food chopper acts as your small pair of helping hands for simple processing tasks such as garnishes and purées. These little guys either have high/low or on/off speed options for uncomplicated, no-nonsense food prep.
Benefits
- Perfect for baby food, dips, pastes, or for making your own sauce
- Cuts and chops ingredients finely
- Their compact design means any kitchen can accommodate one
A food processor uses a powerful motor to automate the food preparation tasks you find yourself repeating with every meal. They are available in small, medium, and large bowl and feed tube sizes. The interchangeable attachments include thick and thin blades for slicing and grating, dough hooks, and S-blades. Some units come with blenders, citrus presses, and mini mills. You can even use these machines to make small batches of cake batter.
Benefits
- Equipped with a variety of attachments to perform multiple tasks in the kitchen. Achieve a consistency that is more difficult with manual utensils.
- Speed up cooking preparation time with an extra pair of hands
- Wide range of models for any household need
Get Hands-On With a Stick Blender
Some stick blenders come with a food processor attachment, which allows you to shred, chop, or slice ingredients while ensuring everything remains in a bowl. When you’re not harnessing the blender’s power in conjunction with the processor attachment, you can manually use it to crush ice, froth milkshakes, chop almonds, and more.
Discs and Attachments
The standard blade is the S blade or knife blade. This blade will perform most of your food processing tasks, from mincing meat to combining ingredients for a dip. Some brands offer models with quad blades, consisting of two blades down the bottom and two blades up the top, allowing for quick, even chopping without puréeing the bottom of your bowl contents.
What you read on the label is what you get. Most brands package this as a reversible blade, with one side for thick slicing and the other for thin slicing. The other type of slicing disc is a variable one that is adjusted with a turning dial, giving you even more control over the thickness of your ingredients.
Similar to the slicing disc, this attachment is reversible for thick and thin grating. Some brands offer two separate discs for both sizes.
This is a popular tool with people who enjoy fresh bread or who like to make pizzas from scratch. It is much like the S blade in design except it is made from hard plastic. Give your hands a rest and knead dough more efficiently than ever before.
Other optional discs include the fine julienne disc for consistent, delicate cutting; the decorative slicing disc for an artistic finish; the french fry disc for wholesome homemade chips. Some brands come with disc and accessory storage.
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