Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Kitchen Appliances

I frequently get asked about the usefulness of a grain mill versus a blender. I only own a blender and so have not personally experienced the benefits of a grain mill, but I can tell you what each can do for you. Please read the link about soaking to understand my comments about wet grain.

Blender

Does a wide variety of kitchen jobs including, but not limited to:
  • smoothies,
  • salad dressings
  • salsa
  • soups
  • mayonnaise
  • frozen concoctions (drinks or ice creams)
  • small batches of flour
  • batters for pancakes or breads (*grains can be wet from soaking when making bread batter)

Grain Mill

Designed for one purpose:
  • Turns large amounts of grain (wheat, buckwheat, corn, millet, etc.) into flour (*grains must be dry so makes soaking before milling a lengthy process)


*Why soak

We own a Blendtec blender and it is awesome. I know that Vitamix is also an amazing blender. Costco sells them both once a year about 6 months apart. They are really a whole different animal than a normal blender. They are the type of blenders that smoothie shops use. When we went wheat free and had to start using other grains, our purchase of a Blendtec truly revolutionized our cooking. I don't know what we would have done without it.

It really is comparing apples to oranges in a way. It just depends on what your family needs and what you are cooking. They are both awesome appliances.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, Barbara! This is wonderful. It's already a wealth of information and I can imagine what a resource this is going to grow into as you continue! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. Love, Cindy.

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  2. Cindy, you are the first one to post a comment! Thanks so much for the kind words and I am very excited about all of this too. Love,
    Barbara

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  3. Sue Gregg is the first place I learned about soaking but since then have realized there are a lot of different 'approaches' to preparing grains for digestion so whether whole, cracked, flour, rinsed, blended, etc. here's more info and it relates to the pancake recipe we use.

    http://www.suegregg.com/about/c.htm

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