We received a brochure for Vitamix. At such a high cost for one piece of equipment I was wondering if anyone has one and what your thoughts are on it. I don't want to purchase if all it is going to do is the same as my tomato press, etc. What happens to the seeds and skins of such? Thanks for your advice on this ahead of time!

-- SW in SW IA (stephanie.wilkerson@experian.com), February 07, 2002

Answers

SW: I believe that there was a discussion of it by those that owned one not too long ago. You might want to check the older messages at the bottom of the New Question page. Maybe check under kitchen preparation or food preservation? I don't own one, but was watching what others had to say. Marie

-- Marie in Central WA (Mamafila@aol.com), February 07, 2002.

I just posted the same question just two weeks ago. I got lots of good advice. Check out the archives!

-- Sharon (spangenberg@hovac.com), February 07, 2002.

I just read the archived thread responses - they are all correct. I have had my VitaMix for 6 years. I do use it alot. It works great as a regular blender for all the regular jobs. But making smoothies is the best use I've found. Just drop in whole fruits, carrots, juice and ice. It pulverizes skin and seed alike. The result is a thick and very smooth beverage that can be altered based on what you have in season around the farm. I add a scoop of soy powdered protein to my smoothies to help lower cholesterol (soy protein). When canning tomatoes, I blend them briefly to liquify, then pour them through the pulp mill t remove the bits of skin and all the seed. I find that it foams too much if I process the tomatoes until the skin and seeds are liquified. Maybe I should give it another try. I also have the ACME juicer (inherited it from my mother). It works great, it you don't mind dealing with the pulp inside the centrifigal spinner bin. It takes a great deal more fruit or vegetables to make an equivalent volume of juice because none of the pulp goes into the juice. The VitaMix incorporates the entire fruit/vegie into the final product. Therefore, it contains all the fiber and nutritional elements that may be lost in the ejected pulp of other juicers. It grinds grain well in small quantities. I've even ground flax seed into flour by mixing the seed first with 1/2 cup bread flour. The noise sometimes is a problem. I will often carry the unit outside to run for longer periods (2-3 minutes). The company is great for service. They replaced my blade assemblies when the graphite started to come out as a fine powder during operation. That was after 4 years of use. Who else supports their product like that? But they do cost alot.

-- Dwight (summit1762@aol.com), February 07, 2002.

how much are they ?

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), February 08, 2002.