Food processor - understand first. Review on Choosing a Food Processor

Choosing a Food Processor

Food Processor is indeed nowadays becomes a must for every family. Instead of buying a Mixie, it is better to buy food processor. There are lot of brands available in India. Let us see the various points to be considered before buying the same.

Functions

This is directly related to the number of discs or blades used in the processor. Grinding, chopping, slicing is common function in all food processor. Where they differ is in offering the other functions like juicing (Both centrifugal and citrus), coconut scrapper and atta kneader.

Discs and Blades

The most important in any food processor is the type of discs they use.

There are two types. One is Fixed Discs i.e for every main function (slicing,grating) there are discs available separately. e.g., Singer, Inalsa, Siemens and Greenline etc. offer fixed disc.

The other one is providing only one disc where in you have to remove and change the blades for each of the main function. e.g., Kenstar, Maharaja etc

Each has got its own advantages. The fixed ones are easy as they can be instantly fixed but occupies more storage space in our kitchen shelf.

Whereas, in the case of removable, they occupy lesser storage space. However, you need to change the blades for each and every function. Moreover, since the blades are resting on a thin line support, as a layman, we have a doubt whether it will brake or it may bend, when using forcibly. One has to decide mainly what type he wants.

Having decided the type, check how many discs (or blades) the sellers offers. It may vary even within the same seller depending on the models. In Singer, model Smart chef , they offer one disc for each of the following:

Thick slicing or coconut scrapper

Thin slicing

Grating

French Fry

Coconut scrapper is not meant for scrapping directly from coconut. It will only give fine grated coconuts from the small pieces of coconut.

Other attachments

The other attachments includes Chopper, Atta kneader and Beater. Chopper is used to chop onions etc. Many functions can be obtained by using the same. In Siemens, they do not supply atta kneader. But all others mostly offer these. The beater can be used for egg beating or for vegetarians it can be used for beating curd to get butter milk.

Juicer

Juicer is offered as an additional device to the food processor in most cases. These are priced separately and can be bought at any time. There are two types of juicer. One is centrifugal and the other is citric juicer. As the name suggests, citric juicer is used for getting juice from lemon, musambi and orange. The centrifugal is used for all others. There is another additional attachment to this on-line pulp removal. If you can afford, yes one may go in for this also. Otherwise, one need not buy the online system, so as to reduce the cost of buying.

Motor

The wattage of motor differs from manufacturer to manufacturer. Inalsa has 450W, Singer is 500W and Siemens comes with 700W model also. For ideal comparison, those who used Sumeet Mixie, it worked on 550W. The functions not only depend on wattage but also the RPM ( Rotation per minute) of the disc. One has to decide what is ideal to their requirements. For me I would say 500W is enough.

Instruction Manual

The instruction manual supplied will be good enough to understand which blade is to be used for which function. The general phamplet supplied by Inalsa is very good one to understand. Singer’s instruction manual is the lowest in its category. ( Though the unit is good). It does not give adequate information and the paper used is much cheap and likely to be torn in a few usage itself. Ideally the manufacturers have to give better manual printed on better paper as it will be used for a long time.

Demo

As we will not know how to use the discs and blades, almost all show the demo at our house. It is better to ask the representative to show the demo of all the functions, even though it would take some time.

Price

Never get cheated by looking on the MRP indicated in the price of the unit. You can get 20 to 25% discount from the price it had been printed. The price range is from Rs2,500 to 4500 on an average. Siemens range is even upto Rs10,000 that too without atta kneader. May be the quality of the motor and blades be better in that. But for middle class family, I would suggest to go in for around Rs 4000 itslef.

Mixie and Food Processor

All the food processor (except for siemens) offer the Mixie and food processor combo only. In the case of Mixie only one jar can be fixed and run. In the case of Food Processor, one side the jar can be fixed and the other side you can fix the bowl for the processing activities. Though both can be run at a time, the manufacturers suggest to use only one at a time.

There is a lock provision for both sides. Unless these are fixed correctly, the food processor will not work. It acts both as a advantage and some time disadvantage. Advantage is that this will prevent the other side will not run and damage us in case we by oversight does not place the jar or bowl.

Disadvantage is that unless this is properly fixed, both will not work. You have to be careful in fixing. But by experience, this problem will be overcome.

Summary:

Please collect all the pamphlets of the manufacturers and see the demo initially at the shop or in an exhibition and make comparison before you buy.