Some small appliances do one job and they do it well- single cup coffee brewers brew up a hot beverage, ice cream makers make ice cream, juicers juice fruits and vegetables, and so on. For a long time I thought blenders were also a single purpose small appliance, and that all they could do was blend up drinks or crush ice.
But as I found out after trying the Kenwood Blend X-Prolast week, I was completely wrong about blenders. The latest blenders have more functions than almost any other appliance in my kitchen, and now that I’ve tried out the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender, I’m really in awe of how far blenders have come.
Take a look at the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender right now.
Appearance
The Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender comes with a main unit that connects to a wand. The surface of the main unit is easy to grip and even when you’re creating a Vine video with one hand and blending with the other, you won’t feel as though you’ll drop the blender.
Although the box says that the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender has 23 different functions, I was still surprised at all of the parts it came with. It has two beakers, one tall for drinks and one short for the chopper attachment. Each of the beakers has grip on the bottom to keep it from slipping across the counter when blending.
Features
How much speed do you need from your blender? With the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender, you’ll have options to spare. The main unit has a dial so you can turn it up or down depending on the speed you’d like to blend at, and there’s also a turbo button you can use to give the blender a shot of power when you need it.
There’s no shortage of things you can blend, but if you stick to just making drinks, you’ll be missing out on everything this blender can do. It has 23 different functions and can puree soup right in the pot on your stove, whisk your cake mix or eggs, mash potatoes or baby food, make quick drinks, or attach the wand to the chopper and use it as a food processor.
You won’t find yourself wishing for a cordless immersion blender either-the cord on the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender is long enough to easily function in the kitchen, and you won’t feel as though you’re tethered when you’re using it.
Test
Before I tried out the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender, I laid out all of the pieces and tried to figure out how I would test them. First up was making a smoothie, and my main goal was to see if it was just as easy to blend up a quick drink in the beaker than it was in the glass container of a countertop blender.
After adding the ingredients to the beaker, I turned it up and let it blend. You’ll have to move the blender around a bit to make sure you blend everything up, but it did the job quickly and easily. My favourite part of smoothie making? You can just pop a straw in the beaker and drink it. There was no pouring out of large containers and then having to clean up the blender. Everything happens in one glass, so clean up was a breeze.
Next up I tried out the whisk. I absolutely loved how fluffy the whisk made the eggs I was beating, and I like the idea of using the whisk to blend up a quick bowl of whip cream instead of setting up my stand mixer.
I didn’t have time to make a big pot of homemade soup like I wanted to, but I did throw on a pot of cheddar broccoli soup. Instead of chopping the broccoli or throwing it in the countertop blender, I let it simmer in the pot until I was ready to blend, and then used the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender to disperse the broccoli. Although the pot was hot, the blender handle didn’t heat up. It was easy to grip and cool to the touch. Given the choice, I’d always use a hand blender to puree vegetables in a soup. Letting them simmer in the soup before blending really enhanced the flavour.
By far my favourite function of the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender was the chop function. You can put anything you’d like in the beaker, add the wand, and hit the power button. It chops almost instantly. Take a look at this Vine video for a look at how fast it chops almonds.
Cleanup
Because the main unit and the wand are separate parts, it’s really easy to clean the Kenwood Triblade Hand Blender. Just pop them apart and wipe down. I hand washed the beakers and all the parts I used, but the Kenwood website says that everything but the main unit is dishwasher safe.
Evaluation
I’ve never used a hand blender at home before, and I have to say I liked having one around. There are so many practical uses for the Kenwood Triblade, and for a quick beaker of whip cream, smoothies, or to make an instant batch of salsa, it’s definitely an appliance I can picture using on a daily basis.
Speaking of salsa, the Kenwood website has a lot of great recipes you can create with the Kenwood Triblade Blender. You’re in for a treat if you try this salsa recipe with your hand blender:
Kenwood Triblade Salsa
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Ingredients: 1/2 small tomato |
Directions
Fit the blade into the Chopper attachment and add all the ingredients to the bowl.
Fit the lid to the bowl and attach the Triblade Power Unit. Blend on the standard speed or speed 4 depending on the model for approximately 20 seconds stopping and scraping down if necessary until well combined. The longer you process the smoother the salsa will become.
Carefully remove the blade and then serve with nacho’s.
Remove the rubber mat from the chopper bowl and use as a lid for storage. Consume within 24 hours.
Countertop blender or hand blender—there are a lot of pros to both, and testing out two Kenwood blenders in the past week has given me a greater appreciation for how far blenders have come. Take a look at all of the countertop blenders and hand blenders right now on Bestbuy.ca.
