Blog archive: January 2013

If you’ve never experienced the awesome power of a Vitamix blender, you’ll wonder why aficionados shell out around $500 in the US, or £450 in the UK. What could possibly be that amazing about a blender??!

Pure. Pulverizing. Power.

It will demolish anything, from grinding coffee beans to liquifying smoothies.
Your kitchen will never be the same again.

So why am I going to recommend you buy an Omniblend instead? Well, it’s a new brand of high-power blender that pulverizes just as effectively… but for half the price!!!

The Omniblend is a beautifully-built machine. It has a “built to last” feel about it, with excellent attention to details like the housing for the components, ergonomics of the pitcher, and all-round professional feel.

There are three controls on the front panel: “Low,” “Medium,” and “High.” There’s also a “Pulse” function, and three timer functions so you can pound your ingredients hands-free for allotted increments of time.

The Omniblend takes whizzing to a new level, way beyond anything a regular blender does. It’s not just for smoothies (although it totally handles these with ease). My first task for my Omniblend was to transform a bag of raw mesquite powder from a roughly ground texture to a superfine powder.

The brand of mesquite powder I’d purchased wasn’t as finely powdered as my regular brand, resulting in my recipes having a less silky texture than my regular brand. Instead of discarding a whole package of raw mesquite, I tried pulverizing it in the Omniblend.

It worked perfectly! The mesquite was utterly power-pulverized, resulting in a completely different texture, and also a perceptibly sweeter flavour profile… The tiny particles are now so teeny they’re able to sink into the tongue’s taste-buds. An amazing transformation from a slightly sub-standard ingredient into a truly gourmet experience!

Job number two was to micro-chop a bag of dried dulse so that it can be sprinkled onto fresh salad greens, without the need to soak it. In the US, there are a few brands offering dulse flakes that are fine enough to use in this way, but in the UK, I’ve yet to find a ready-made packet of dulse flakes that’s ready to use as a garnish straight out of the packet.

And so, I poured a packet of raw dulse into the Omniblend, hit the “High” function, and about 3 minutes later… dulse flakes! Ready to be sprinkled, no soaking necessary. Like gomasio, but different. Delicious!

The texture of soaked dulse is nice, but it functions completely differently to little dried flakes.
This is fun. I’m loving my Omniblend experiments!

And so at this stage, I figured it’s time to do some more standard raw fare:
a hemp mylk smoothie.

1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
a ripe banana
1 litre water
1 teaspoon maca
1 tablespoon cacao
1 fresh date, pitted

Whizzed it for a couple of minutes. Silky smooth. Ready to rock in no time at all.

And so my honest opinion?

A Vitamix is perhaps 5% more powerful than the Omniblend…
But as the Omniblend costs about 50% less than a Vitamix…

Without a doubt, I recommend getting the Omniblend. It’s a serious blender, beautifully made, will last you for decades, open whole vistas of new recipes and food experiences, and is incredible value for money.

And if you’d like one in the UK, visit Omniblend Kitchen Blenders or Raw Living