The blender is one of the most versatile appliances in your kitchen. It can chop, blend, puree and liquefy to the consistency you desire. You can hit the “pulse” button or simply by leaving it blending by itself. A blender can make a variety of dishes and beverages like smoothies, baby food, salsas, sauces, cocktails, nut butter, and a lot more — name it, and the blender will certainly do it!
If not for the genius minds behind the creation of the blender, we don’t think we can prepare foods quickly and efficiently. How did this kitchen wonder come to be? Here is its short history:
Polish-American Stephen J. Poplawski is widely credited for inventing the blender. He was born in Poland in 1885, but his family migrated to the United States, eventually settling in Racine, Wisconsin. Poplawski formed Stephens Tool Company in 1918, but it won’t be too long before the Arnold Electric Company hired him. In 1919, he developed the world’s first blender while working for the company; about three years later, he received a patent for his invention. The first blenders used to be for commercial purposes, as only soda fountains used them to make malted milkshakes.
From then on, many individuals and entities, like Fred Osius and his company Hamilton Beach, sought to improve the blender’s functions and features.
The Waring Blendor (yes, “blendor”) was the brainchild of a popular musician and bandleader named Fred Waring. He used to finance and promote Fred Osius’ “Miracle Mixer” during the 1930s, but soon he re-designed the blenders and marketed them under his own name — that is, the Waring Blendor. It enjoyed unprecedented success.
The Waring Blendor was so popular that even Jonas Salk used it while he was preparing and developing the polio vaccine.
Vitamix was also one of the rising names in the blender industry. Founded by William Grover “Papa” Barnard in 1921, he sought to introduce the blender as a way to promote natural and healthy eating. Vitamix was also a pioneering company because it was the first to do a product demonstration via television, a new medium at the time, giving birth to the world’s first “infomercial.”
Over the years Vitamix has become one of the “elite” names in the blender industry because of its high performance. Recently it has found a new niche in the raw foods market and found new fans in health buffs.
The Osterizer is also one of the popular blender brands. Developed by John Oster in 1946, the Osterizer was marketed as a more powerful type of blender, and true to its word, it had so much boost in blending even the toughest and most fibrous ingredients. Even the earliest models of the Osterizer still perform more powerfully than the other more recent models in the market.
More recent models boast innovative functions and features like Blendtec’s capacitive-touch user interface which displays a countdown timer. There are also immersion blenders which can be immersed inside any container with food to be chopped, blended and liquefied.
The blender has definitely come a long way from its humble beginnings. Its improved features, functions, and capacities have rendered it to become one of the most versatile kitchen appliances around. Blending foods with this kitchen wonder definitely has a lot of advantages especially to the kitchen whizzes and devoted foodies, which include:
- Blending is fast and convenient – If speed is important to you, the blender can prepare foods and beverages in an instant by just a push of the button. Blending also makes the preparation of food more convenient because it means no need to do hand-mixing, chopping, and mashing with the more rudimentary kitchen tools. Blenders are easy to clean too.
- Blending makes consuming vegetables and fruits easier – Fruits and vegetables are quite chewy and fibrous. The good thing about blending is that any kinds of produce retain much of their fibers and nutrients while making them much easier to consume and to digest. If your kids hate eating vegetables, a blender is a perfect tool to make delicious produce-based dishes and drinks like fruit smoothies or fried balls made from chopped and blended veggies.
- Blending promotes healthy eating – If you want to quit consuming processed foods and packed drinks laden with sugars, carbohydrates, and fats, start by using a blender in making nutritious and yummy foods rich in nutrients and fibers.
- You can blend almost everything – From fruits to vegetables to nuts and even ice, a blender can transform virtually every raw ingredient to make quick, easy meals or gourmet dinners.