Tuesday 19 May 2015

Froothie Optiumum 9400 Blender: review and recipes

In September last year, I bought myself a new high speed blender.  A Froothie Optimum 9400 blender.  It was a major kitchen purchase and I wanted to write about it once I had used it for some time.  I paid for it myself and love having it, but it has both good and bad points.  I will write about these here for those who might be considering buying a new blender or just interested to know how I am using it.

I was keen to buy a high speed blender after burning out the little blender attachment of my hand held blender.  I wanted a blender that would make creamy sauces out of nuts, blend up kale into a smoothie and make smooth nut butters.  After all, I have made some pretty lumpy sauces, grassy smoothies and poor attempts at nut butter in the past.

I have found the blender great for velvety smoothies and sauces.  I have had a little more trouble with nut butters and dips which require more scraping down.  One of my first nut butter attempts resulted in me overheating the motor. and having a greasy little knob of cashew butter (which tasted really good but was more cashew candy than cashew butter).  I thought I had ruined my nice new blender.  Once it cooled it was ok.  I checked the instruction booklet and found I should be blending nut butter at a higher speed.  A quick internet search also told me it is easier to blend roasted nuts into nut butter than raw nuts.

Since then I have made quite a few lovely nut butters (with the tamper).  I have learnt with the blender generally that I need enough ingredients that the blades don't whizz around with nothing to hit.  The thicker the mixture the more likely it is that I need to scrape down the mixture a few times.  If there is enough in the blender, using the tamper to push down ingredients is a great help.  I love that I can make cashew sauces without having to soak the cashews though sometimes I need to add a little water to compensate.

Above is a selection of some recipes I have made with the blender:  From Left to Right here are the links to the recipes (I am particularly excited at how easy it is to make a vegan cheese spread and the Finnish pate):

Top: Cashew cheese stuffed dates,   Super smoothie with berries,   Chocolate lime avocado mousse
Middle: Buffalo hummus,   Kale cheesecake surprise choc mint cupcakes,   Finnish green bean paté
Bottom: Balsamic garden salad with cashew cheese,   Avocado hummus,   Tropical orange and carrot smoothie

Other recipes using my blender:
Basil pesto
Cheesy cauliflower and rice soup
Chickpea and carrot patties with Cashew cream
Chocolate cashew butter 
Green smoothie
Hurry up pumpkin alfredo pasta sauce 
Kale scones
Vegan haggis (NB it was tricky to get all the ingredients chopped evenly but worked)
Vegan mayonnaise
Vegan peach cheesecake
Vegan salmon pate  

I have made lots of recipes I would not have been so confident attempting without a more powerful blender, though I also still make lots of smoothies that I could easily make with my hand held blender.  Above is a creamy Vegveeta cheeze sauce that I made to bake on a pizza with kale and tomato sauce.  Below is a chickpea and kale sandwich spread that, while a little chunky, was far more blended that my previous blenders would have done.

There are some aspects of the blender that I am not so keen on.  There are three controls: an on/off button, a 1-10 dial, a pulse button.  It seems counter-intuitive to have to push the on button up rather than down to start it and quite frankly that button seems redundant.  I don't understand why the instructions say to always start the blender with the dial on low but you also need to hit the on button.  I also don't find the lid easy to take on and off and end up popping it rather than screwing it.

One of my other problems is a double edged sword.  The bottom of the blender, unlike other blenders I have used, does not screw off for washing.  I guess this is for sealing and because the blade is very sharp.  The instructions say to put in water and a drop of detergent and blend.  It is fine for a smoothie but when I make a nut butter I find it is best to soak or needs a lot of blending to clean it.  Even with all the blending there are times I find to properly wipe out the blender.  Especially when it is wet and I want it straight away for dry ingredients but have to wait for it to dry.  On the up side, cleaning the blender this way means it is easy to clean quickly after I use it. 

My biggest problem is that I am not confident enough in the blender being completely clean.  This is a big issue for allergies.  I would love to make home made peanut butter but am worried there will be traces left that will get into Sylvia's food and set off her allergy.

Overall I am delighted with my purchase.  It has given me an ability to make foods I couldn't previous and more confidence with recipes.  If I need a nut butter for recipes I can make my own.  I can also put a greater mix of fruit and vegetables in my smoothies (though not pomegranate arils).  I have ground nuts, oats and dried chickpea into flour in the blender.  And I love being able to make such smooth sauces and nut butters.  I use my blender a lot, if not daily.  Thanks to Jac of Tinned Tomatoes for her recommendation.  I would definitely recommend the Froothie Optimum 9400 blender if you are looking to purchase a new blender.

To see what others are doing with their Froothie blenders, check out these recipes:

Basil and cucumber gazpacho – Amuse your Bouche
Beet and chia raspberry jam – Veggie Desserts
Carrot ketchup – Allotment 2 Kitchen
Cauliflower coconut and lime soup – Coconut and Berries
Green passion smoothie – Food to Glow
Roasted beetroot and raw cacao nib cupcakes – Elizabeth's Kitchen
Spicy red falafel – Tinned Tomatoes 
More vegetarian recipes at Froothie website

26 comments:

  1. Great fair review. I'm surprised the base doeesn't unscrew. My parnets have a soup blender a bit like that. The best way they find to clean it is to put a little bit of warm water in at the end and whizz it with just the water, that usually cleans it well.

    I love the photo combo of the different coloured blended ingredients. So pretty, I want it as a photo on my wall :)

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    1. Thanks Katie - I wash this blender with some water and detergent but it just doesn't feel as good as wiping it down with a cloth when there has been lots of greasy nut butter in it

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  2. I mostly love my blender (Blendtec) but for some things I find it really frustrating. When I make cashew cheese with recipes that call for one cup of nuts, I have to stop and start a lot so I can incorporate the mixture under the blades. If I use 1.5 cups it's better (but then it means I have to eat more cheese which isn't necessarily a good thing for me!) Your photos are lovely!

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    1. Thankd faye - I know exactly what you mean about quantities - I loved my attachment to my hand held blender because it blended small amounts but didn't blend it smooth enough - I sometimes thing this blender works best with thick mixtures when there is enough to push it down with the tamper stick.

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  3. You have made a fantastic array of dishes with this and it does seem to have some wonderful points - especially the capacity to get things really smooth. I do find the need to scrape down the sides of blenders and food processors a pain sometimes and wonder if any fully avoid it (Vitamix?). Like you, mine require enough in them to allow ongoing effective processing. I also struggle with cleaning them thoroughly, although with the food processor, that's more because it's quite big and our sink isn't!

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    1. Thanks Kari - scraping down is annoying because I never know if I am just keeping on doing it or if it will get smoother - not sure if you can avoid it as I notice cookbooks often suggest scraping down. Our food processor is a pain to clean too and in some ways I like just whizzing up some water and detergent to clean the blender but I do want to get in and scrub and wipe.

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  4. We have a high powered blender that I definitely don't use enough! Seeing all these ways you use yours has inspired me!

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    1. Thanks Joanne - I feel I don't use mine as much as I might but it is helpful to have it out on the kitchen bench

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  5. Thanks for sharing your review Johanna. I have a Froothie Optimum 9400 blender too and love it. I've never seen a blender with a base that screws off! That does sound pretty nifty though I don't find the Froothie particularly hard to clean. I do tend to use it for liquids rather than really thick stuff like nut butters (which I make in my food processor) though. Allergies hadn't crossed my mind but I can imagine you do have to be very vigilant that things are completely sterile in such a situation.
    Glad that you're happy with it for the most part anyway :)

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    1. Thanks Emma - I haven't had many blenders but the ones my mum had when I was growing up had screw off bottoms and seals - I think I inherited one from my mum but can't remember when I last had a blender that wasn't hand held. Your food processor must be much more powerful than mine - I had thought this would mean I could get rid of my food processor but sometimes I think I really need a decent food processor too - argh!

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  6. A great review, i was considering getting one of these...

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    1. Thanks Cate - they are cheaper than the vitamix if you get the discount I got and I think it was worth the money

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  7. Great review. I love my Froothie too.

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  8. I read this with interest as I want a blender that can make things smooth. And there are so many on the market that it's hard to choose one! And over heating is something that I've done in the past easily!

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - it is hard to make sense of all the blenders on the market - I looked around a bit and read as much as possible before buying - these had a good discount and good reviews from other bloggers so that helped my decision.

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  9. Great review. I have always been tempted by a highspeed blender - but haven't yet given into temptation ;-)

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    1. Thanks Sandy - it was worth it for me and I love being able to make my own nut butter and nut sauces that I couldn't make with my other blenders/food processor

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  10. It sounds like it has a lot of benefits but I do like to be able to unscrew the base for easy cleaning. I have a Nutri-Bullet and am very happy with it xx

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    1. Thanks charlie - I hear a lot about the nutri bullet - good to hear you are happy with it

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  11. How awesome!!! Wow this blender looks really cool. I have a juicer but get so sick of cleaning it!

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    1. Thanks Lucy - I've never owned a juicer - and despite my wishing to be able to take apart the base to clean this blender well, it is quite easy to just whizz up some water in it to clean it

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  12. Wow - this blender sounds just like my Vitamix! It looks like it too. They have the same pros and cons. It sounds good overall, which is what matters though.
    I'm glad you shared your tip about making nutbutter as I had the same problem I first made nutbutter and haven't bothered trying since. I'm happy enough buying it.

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - interesting to hear that it is just like your vitamix because I have wondered if vitamixes were more powerful - with a discount this was about half the price of a vitamix - hope you get into trying nut butter - a spoonful of oil also helps but I avoid that if possible

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  13. Great review, I love learning about kitchen gadgets, looks like a goer. I have a nutri-bullet, its great and doesnt do the overheating food thing, which was a huge problem with other products Ive had in the past.

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    1. Thanks Anna - thankfully the overheating only happened once on the froothie and once I checked the instruction booklet it didn't happen again - but it is useful to hear the nutri bullet is reliable

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