Rate Food Blendability (does that make sense?)

[Tsurugi_Oni]

Right now I'm kind of in a stump. I really really really love green smoothies, but the only thing that I have available right now is a cheap ol' blender. So I was wondering if you guys could help me out. All you gotta do is list the different foods your incorporate into your green smoothies, and rank them "1-10" based on how easy they are to blend.

I guess an avacado would be "1", the easiest thing to blend to a smooth consistency. While perhaps seeds (what's raw thats harder to blend than seeds?) would be a "10".

Hopefully if I can get a good list I can keep my blender alive long enough to get a Vitamix. Thx!

[AdrienneD]

I just have a my little Magic Bullet, so I feel your pain haha.

My regulars include kale, collards, dandelion, romaine, baby spinach, and celery as greens. With the occasional fresh herb.

Baby Spinach- 4
Kale- 8
Collards-8
Dandelion-9
Romaine- 3
Celery-5

As for fruit;

Banana- 1
Apple-3
Pear-2
Berries- 4 (higher because of seeds)
Grapes- 2
Melon- 1


Other;

Seeds/nuts- 1 ( I say this because as I NEED my blender and want it to live as long as possible, I use a coffee grinder on my nuts and seeds first, MUCH easier!) Soaking them helps too if you don't have grinder!
Prunes- 2
Oils/and honey- 2 (depending on temperature/consistency).

With the "heavier" greens, just be sure to add enough water to allow the blender to do it's work. It's so worth all the trouble though!


Best of luck!

- Adrienne

[michigan roman]

ive got a cheap plastic blender , and i take like a half cup o seeds (sesame , flax,etc) in it with nothing else (no water) . i turn on blender then i put one hand on top and one hand on bottom of blender and hold blender up in air in front of me and and shake the blender vertically in order to make the seeds jump up off blade then back down into it , this keeps seeds all moving around and grinded into a powder , do same with almomnds . then add water / fruit for smoothie . thusly seeds can blend easily

[Tsurugi_Oni]

Thx so much!

Keep it coming. Right now I'm trying to compile a shopping list.

[VeGenesis]

I soak Mung beans and millet in the morning, then sprout them till the following morning. They blend well, I'd give them a 1

Mung beans sprouts - 1
Millet sprouts - 1 or 2
Mangos (ripe) - 1
Watermelon - 0.5 (add the rhine and make that a 2-3
Ripe Squash - cubed 3-4 if with banana

Feedlot Beef - 100
(Just joking - no one in their right mind who really understood would ever eat that!)

[Tirza]

I do like michigan roman does with the Magic Bullet when grinding sesame or flax seeds-shake it a bit as it is running. Works great. I used to do the same with coffee beans.

I take that little Magic Bullet with me when I travel and sometimes just take a greens powder with me rather than try to wrestle with cleaning leaves.

But my advice for you if you are using a less-than-strong blender:

So you can use some of the tougher greens like kale, make sure to take out as many of the veins as possible and then finely chop the leaves so the blender doesn't have quite so much work to do. Same with celery, etc. Those vertical strings can really wind up around the blender blades. Chop the celery 1/4" first. In fact, chop all the leaves.


I found that making smoothies using a regular blender or Magic Bullet never resulted in a smoothie as smooth as a Vitamix or Blend/KTec makes. So if you don't like that pulpier/grainer texture, pour it through a colander (not a fine mesh strainer, but the ones that people drain noodles with) before drinking it. That will catch the larger lumpier parts, but still let the finer pulp through so you aren't just getting juice. Of course you could just pour it through a nutmilk bag and catch all the pulp and use a green juice instead of a smoothie. People who do that maintain that they get plenty of pulp in the rest of their diet from salads etc. They have a point.

[Seedy]

I have an ancient Osterizer and make my green smoothies as follows:
add a banana and an orange or a mango to blender. Add 16 oz water. Blend. Add two big handfuls of baby spinach. Blend. Add 1 TBS each of ground flaxseed and ground hempseed. Blend. Add enough frozen berries to fill up remainder of blender. Blend again. Done. It only takes a few minutes. The only issue is with frozen raspberries. Unlike a Vitamix, a regular blender won't break up tiny seeds. This doesn't bother me, but if this bothers you don't use raspberries or kiwis in your smoothie.
Seedy