If you are a food lover and if you really like to cook and try out different recipes and different styles of cuisine, you are probably going to be purchasing some kitchen appliances throughout your life, and there will come a time in which you are going to have to choose between one appliance and another. In this article, we are going to be looking at the differences between two major appliances, the food processor and the blender.
These two appliances have been used for years and they might look similar to people who look at them as simple appliances that use their blade to obliterate solid food. This isn’t entirely the case with thee appliances and they are actually pretty different from one another. As a matter of fact, most professional kitchens have both of them, since they have different uses.
Since you are probably not swimming in money ,you are probably better off with a food processor rather than with a blender, especially because the food processor usually has a lot more pieces and as such, it can probably be used for a wider variety of things when compared to a blender.
Generally, a blender is used to process soft foods and liquids, especially because it has blades that weren’t really made to chop down food with higher resistance. On top of that, the shape of a blender usually helps in the task of processing soft food and liquids, but it damages it when it comes to processing harder foods. This is because it has a narrow shape and as such, even after chopping down the harder foods at the bottom, they will still remain in hard bits, and won’t allow the top to go down and get blended as well.
When it comes to soft foods, the blender doesn’t have this problem at all, since the food is soft it is most likely going to be transformed into a liquid (although the consistency of the liquid may vary according to the type of food being blended), and as such, the top is going to fall down into the bottom.
Nowadays, some blenders have evolved to incredible points, but still they are mostly done to be used with liquids and with drinks (this is a general rule that should be considered with blenders). Some blenders nowadays have blenders that are strong enough to crush ice and to blend it so that people can make frozen drinks at home, but this isn’t a general rule with hard types of foods.
On the other hand, food processors are wider and have a different type of blade. The strength of the blade and the shape of food processors usually make it o that these are better for processing pretty much any type of food, and as such, food processors can be used for pretty much any possible type of task that includes processing food. These tasks include mincing garlic, making flour and even shredding carrots.
Since the food processor has the ability to perform a large variety of tasks, including those that the blender can perform, it is usually the best choice whenever you can only buy one of them. It doesn’t, however, perform the tasks that a blender can perform as well as a blender, and as such it is not going to be overwhelming blenders any time soon.
A good food processor should be able to chop food within seconds and it is going to be a great aid whenever you are preparing meals that need a lot of chopped vegetables. For example, if you are making a very elaborate casserole that needs a lot of chopped ingredients, a food processor is going to make your life a lot easier, especially because it will cut the amount of time needed to prepare the meal in a very significant way.
A food processor does have its cons, however, when compared to a blender. A blender is usually pretty small and as such, it usually shouldn’t take up a lot of space in your kitchen, and will allow you to have other tools in there to help you with preparing your food. On top of that, since it is almost always used for liquid and soft foods, it will be extremely easy for you to clean your blender, and in most cases you will need little more than warm water in order to properly clean your blender.
On the other hand, a food processor is usually a little bigger and wider and as such, it is certainly going to be taking up more space in your kitchen, which will either cut your movement space, or it will cut the space you needed for other types of tools. On top of that, a food processor is used to chop and to grind, and this will make it so that there are always food leftover in it, which will give you a hard time when it comes to cleaning up the food processor – and we all know how proper hygiene is important in the kitchen.
Finally, it all comes down to you and to what you do in your kitchen. If you make a lot of soups and sauces that don’t need a lot of chopping and grinding, you are properly better off with a good, cheap blender. But if you do, however, make a lot of other tasks, the versatility of the food processor is probably the best thing for you.