Skip to main content Skip to accessibility help Sage by Heston Blumenthal £100 - £300  (1) £300 - £600  (3)New year, new you. How do you fashion a fresh self overnight? Some join a gym, sign up for evening classes or quit smoking. And some buy a new kitchen appliance, one they hope will change everything. The January gadget of choice used to be a juicer. I bought one myself, circa 2002. It made frothy apple juice that tasted so much better than anything in the shops. You would drink a glass of carrot, pear and ginger juice and feel completely energised. And then the moment came when the darned thing had to be washed up, and all your new-found energy slowly ebbed away. Now, the action has moved to mega-blenders. Unlike juicers, they are easy to clean. But the real draw is the power. Marketing videos for the Blendtec Total Blender show the firm's founder, Tom Dickson, attempting to blend an iPhone, a golf ball, pens and other unsuitable objects. The slogan is 'Will it blend?'

The point being that almost everything edible will blend in one of these babies. READ: The best blenders You can take an unpeeled crunchy apple, and whizz it into a velvety emulsion. And you get all that under-the-skin goodness. In addition, these gadgets can make nut butters and even turn whole vegetables into warm soup in minutes (the friction created by the blades is so great it generates heat). black and decker blender bl2010bpThe catch – there always is one – is the price. cuisinart sbc-1000 soup maker and blender blend and cook reviewsThe Vitamix – the main rival to the Blendtec – costs £439 from John Lewis.bosch hand blender msm6700gb Not long ago my eight-year-old daughter and I watched one being demonstrated in store by one of those magicians who could sell you anything. vitamix model vm0100 parts

He made the sweetest smoothie, whose secret ingredient was cabbage (you'd never have known). He fed us tiny tasters of soup. And all the while he kept up his patter. We'd only popped in for some school tights. But this shaman almost convinced us that buying a Vitamix would actually save us hundreds of pounds (as well as, of course, making us healthier, sleeker, more virtuous). A buyer for John Lewis tells me that sales of the Vitamix (currently sold only there in Britain) are up 44 per cent on last year, thanks in part to all the clever demos: 'They do sell the health-giving aspect.' People often walk away, I am told, then come back and think, 'Oh, I can't live without it.' Vitamix kindly lent me a machine for a few days. Thanks to its powerful motor it does indeed make extraordinary smoothies. No matter how fibrous the fruit and veg, they emerge as if you had sieved them 20 times through silk. Add ice and you have instant sorbets. There's a kind of magic, too, to making your own cashew-nut butter, though it's hardly money-saving, given the cost of nuts.

Milkshakes are also divine. And you can emulsify salad dressings to a thick gloss. The soup convinces me less. After several minutes of deafening chugging noises what emerges is a kind of warm carrot juice, acrid with raw garlic (I used the recipe in the official manual). It definitely tastes healthy – just not exactly like my idea of soup. The Vitamix could be great if you are an affluent person who currently buys a lot of ready-made soups and smoothies. If money were no object, I'd love one. But I suspect that most of us would get better value from a £25 hand-held blender, the kind you don't expect to change your life. £0 - £100  (18) £100 - £300  (11) £300 - £600  (4)no Quibble 7 year warranty...., 13 Aug. 2012 Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Amazon will display this name with all your submissions, including reviews and discussion posts. As a representative of this product you can post one Official Comment on this review.

It will appear immediately below the review wherever it is displayed.   Make this my Official Comment The following name and badge will be shown with this comment: Is this your product? If you are the author, artist, manufacturer or an official representative of this product, you can post an Official Comment on this review. We were unable to verify whether you represent the product. Please try again later, or retry now. Otherwise you can post a regular comment. Since you previously posted an Official Comment, this comment will appear in the comment section below. You also have the option to edit your Official Comment.   The maximum number of Official Comments have been posted. This comment will appear in the comment section below.   Receive e-mail when new posts are made Track comments by e-mail Sort: Oldest first | In reply to an earlier post on 18 Apr 2013 00:01:23 BDT Ms. Laraine Ward says: 18 Apr 2013 11:18:41 BDT

18 Nov 2013 08:58:27 GMT Ms. S. J. Smith says: ‹ Previous 1 2 Next › Get all the power and function of the Vitamix® Blender for a lower price. This reconditioned blender has been certified to the highest standard by Vitamix®. Don’t think of this Vitamix® as a food blender, but as a centre that juices, cooks, grinds and freezes all in one, making it quick and easy to eat whole foods in one great tasting recipe after another. Its impressive power and laser-cut blade design tears down the cell walls of fruits and vegetables, making vital nutrients more readily available for your body to absorb. With a Vitamix®, even the nutrient-packed peels, pulp and seeds of many types of produce can be pulverized and blended into recipes for some of the most health-protecting, disease-preventing dishes and drinks you’ve ever had. Everything about the Vitamix® oozes heavy-duty build quality, from the poly carbonate 2 litre container, patented spill- proof vented lid and wear-resistant base.

Feel free to push food into the blades without fear of jamming the blades or damaging the tamper. It’s absolutely perfect for processing peanut butter and ice cream, helping you handle ingredients that regular blenders can't even touch! It also lets you perform more than 50 kitchen tasks easier, faster and with better results than you can achieve any other way. The containers, blade base, lids, and seals are all effortless to clean - simply add water up to the bottom of the handle and drop of washing up liquid for 20 seconds before rinsing under the tap. Create delicious healthy ice cream in only 30 seconds Cook steaming hot soup from fresh vegetables in under 5 minutes Blend fresh fruits and vegetables into tasty, fibre-rich whole food juice in 1 minute Grind whole grains into nutritious flours in minutes Kneads dough and batters perfect for baking Dice, chop or blend ingredients into healthy, preservative-free salsas and dips H52cm x W18cm x D22cm