I Finally Got my Blendtec Total Blender – a Review and the Wildside Jar
I joined the latest bandwagon and got myself the irresistible Blendtec Total Blender.
Their humorous marketing ad really worked for me and it really stirred up my curiosity.
Lately, my wife has been bombarding my ear to buy her a kitchen mixer for the Holidays, and I really think that buying her one would result to a complete waste of money since it only does one thing.
Imagine a bulky appliance that only does one particular thing and more likely to collect dust on the top of your counter.
I persuaded her to buy a Blendtec instead which is available here. Since I juice up veggies and fruits on an above average basis, it would be wiser if we could share the use of one appliance (great thinking don't you think?). Glad she took my point and then we went off buying our newest kitchen appliance…
[amazon box=”B00TKRQWS8″ template=”horizontal” image_size=”large”]
Unboxing this wonderful machine
The first thing I noticed about this machine is that it is quite heavy, maybe 3 times heavier than my old low end blender (and the Nutribullet).
It weighs 7 pounds and around 11 pounds including all its boxed contents.
The box is neat the machine is well packed.
The box comprises of 1 wildside jar, the base (main machine), 1 rubber cover with a square hole and a square plastic that covers up the hole, 2 recipe books (1 in english and 1 in french), 2 mini instruction manuals (in english and french) and 1 dvd.
Our Blendtec Total Blender comes with a wildside jar. I can say that the wildside jar is very wide and sturdy. It is designed with 5 sides compared to another Blendtec jar called four side.
The wildside jar also boast a larger blade (4 inches) compared to the older jar models. It has a strong feel and it has a neat design.
The blender base is located at the very bottom of the box. I really liked the design and feel of the machine itself, for it looks tough, modern and minimalist. It comes with 9 different functioning buttons and a blue lighted led display.
The buttons are flat and modern no crevices and such which makes this appliance easy to clean.
The base is quite heavy and uncomplicated. I also like the fact that they have provided a velcro strap for the power cord.
It was neatly packed and tightly fit.
After taking everything out of the box there is a little leaflet placed inside the jar with a few instructions before use.
It is essential to wash your jar before use. Pour enough water to it and add 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. You can now press the button pulse 2-3 times and rinse the jar and it is now ready to use.
My first green smoothie consisted of the following:
- 2 cups of spinach
- ½ of banana
- 1 rind of pineapple
- 2 slices of apple
- 2 tsp of flax seeds
- ½ cup of water
I pressed the smoothie button and it does it’s job. The result is great, it is really smooth and silky.
I also own a nutribullet machine and I blend the same recipe however, the Blendtec made smoothie turned up to be more smoother and silkier than of the nutribullet.
It surely pulverizes fruits and veggies in a matter of seconds. The blender has a rubber cover that has an opening that can be used for adding more solids or liquids.
You can also adjust its speed by operating the up and down arrow located on the upper left side of the base. Using the arrows gives you the complete control on how slow or fast you want the machine to run.
Next thing I made is the butternut squash soup. So I placed my simmered squash inside the jar and pressed the button soups/syrups/fondues.
It mixed everything in a snap and I am really satisfied with the result. The soup is warm as you pour it out of the jar. No bizarre crumbs whatsoever, the soup is smooth and perfect.
There’s this distinct burning smell as you break in your new Blendtec and this is something that you don’t have to worry about. It’s just the new motor getting warmed up. The burning smell should go off after a few more uses.
*However if the smell persist you must try to remove the jar and run the base alone, if its smelly still then you have to call Blendtec, maybe the motor needs fixing.
The third thing I did with my Blendtec is something my wife would prefer which is baking related stuff.
Since I convinced her to buy a Blendtec instead of a kitchen mixer, the machine has to please her as well.
So I tried her chewy cookie recipe.
The recipe consist of the following ingredients:
- 1 cup of unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cups of flour
- ½ tsp of baking soda
- ½ cup of sugar
- 1 cup of light brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
In this particular task I decided to utilize the up and down arrow button to test its full power.
I first dropped the butter and sugars in the jar, I chopped the butter in four parts to ensure that it will be well mixed.
I noticed that the butter stayed on the side and won't gravitate downward, so I turned off the machine and used a baking spatula to place the mix in the center.
Maybe the combination of butter and sugar are just too sticky for the wildside jar to slide down back in the blade.
However, as soon as I put the eggs and vanilla the mix became loose and stirred perfectly.
Now the time has come to pour down the flour mix. Adding up the flour made the mix super sticky so I have to use the spatula again.
Once I distributed the concentration of flour the machine worked it’s magic again. So in less than 5 minutes I was able to pull off a cookie mix using my Blendtec.
Quite a success in my opinion. I have saved over $350 by buying this little but useful kitchen appliance instead of a stand alone kitchen mixer. My wife is quite happy with the result. The cookie batter turned up to be smooth and well mixed.
The next day she created pancakes.
She never used any spatula because the pancake mix is more loose and liquidish compared to my cookie batter. I can’t wait to try all of the recipes written in the free recipe book from Blendtec.
So let me summarize the pros and cons of this powerful blender:
Pros:
- Well built and Uncomplicated interface
- Sturdy Jar and Base. The machine is very steady when in use, no matter how fast the blade runs it remains steady.
- Very powerful motor, 13 amps and 1560 watts
- Easy to use. No brainer buttons and settings
- Silicone rubber cover with a hole and a plastic lid that serves as an enclosure. You can easily take this plastic lid off and add more ingredients may it be liquids or solids.
- Easy to clean, This is a major factor for me, I dislike vigorous and complicated cleaning. Just pour 1-3 cups of water and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid will do the trick. As for the base itself, just wipe the drips with a damp kitchen towel and that’s it! There is no hard to clean crevices.
- Could easily fit in your kitchen cabinet, so less clutter!
- Could perform a lot of kitchen task, it could literally replace your low end blender, food processor, ice cream maker, snow cone maker, mills, kitchen mixer and so much more.
- It has a velcro strap to tidy up its power cord.
- 7 years warranty for its motor and base
Cons:
This machine is kind of loud, I guess too much power means too much noise, I really hope that Blendtec will be able to solve this issue. My son is a little scared whenever the machine runs.Comes with a price tag. Make sure you make the most out of this machine. Don’t let the dust sit on this powerful machine, it can really do some amazing tasks.
After I used the jar with the cookie batter I noticed some hairline scratches on it. It’s not broken but my wife is a kind of particular when it comes to appearance and such, so it bothers her seeing those hairline scratches in the jar.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day we will all have different opinions in things and stuff. As for me, the Blendtec total blender is an awesome machine. It is worth it, from smoothie to baking, because it really delivers on its promises. Love my Blendtec to the bits.
[amazon box=”B00TKRQWS8″ template=”vertical” image_size=”large”]