The difference between blenders and food processors.

Blenders are gadgets that one cannot do without in the kitchen. It is a big help especially in preparing food and drinks for your family. You can even use it when you organize a party in your home. You can mash vegetables and create purees, crush ice and fruits and turn them into shakes, it can even make coffee by helping crush coffee beans. Most chefs also love their blenders because it can crush hard spices that may be bitter to taste when eaten.

What they do instead is turn these spices into powder which can easily dissolve into the food. That way, they will not only get rid of the bitter taste, they will be able to incorporate the flavor into the dish easily.

Blenders however are often mistaken as a food processor. In fact, a lot of people do not actually know the difference between the two except that one is smaller than the other. In general, blenders and food processors overlap in their functions. Being versatile kitchen gadgets, each can also do the other's job except that of course, it will not be done as brilliantly as when the one with specialty does it.

Blenders are great with liquids, making juices, smoothies, and margaritas. It is often used to mix several liquids. In fact, it is also called a liquidizer. Its blade can turn up to the speed of 18000 revolutions per minute. If you want your food to purely turn into liquid, the blender is the answer. Blenders are great with making purees, in grinding food into little pieces. It is especially useful in mixing alcoholic concoction and fruit shakes. It can also chop ice although not all models are powerful enough to do this. The blender is also use to smooth and emulsify sauces as well as chop ingredients for dishes.

Food processor on the other hand work on solids and can give you semi-solid foods. Between the two, the food processor is often considered as the more versatile as it can also liquefy something when the settings and time allowance are set.  With its interchangeable blades and disks, you can use the food processor in a variety of ways. It can for instance chop ingredients for your dish, slice veggies, shred cabbage for your salad and also make purees for your little tot.

In baking, a food processor is also a huge help as it can help with the mixing of ingredients, kneading the bread dough as well as grinding bread crumbs for your crust. You can even make sure of a strainer which can separate the juice from the solid. There are manual food processors and there are electric. Most models will run in a specific speed. You cannot adjust it anymore.

Whether you buy a blender or a food processor for your home will depend on what you are planning to do with it. If you will use it primarily for cooking, the food processor is the better choice as it can help you in baking and in preparing the ingredients such as chopping, slicing and mincing.

If however, you are buying one to make healthy shakes for you and your family, stick to the blender as it is its job in the first place. If you want to prepare both food and drinks, the food processor is perhaps the better choice.