In our present age of social media racket, tendencies and hacks come and go at a dizzying tempo—a few of them are value making an attempt (see here and here), a few of them most certainly are not. This week’s instance within the definitely-not-worth-it class: Utilizing an immersion blender to grind spices and low beans. The method includes turning an immersion blender the wrong way up, including a small quantity of spices or espresso beans to the bowl-shaped blade-guard, protecting the blade-guard with a bit of plastic wrap, then letting it blitz.
We get it, novelty is interesting, and the concept that there’s a complete world of untapped potential hidden in your stick blender is sort of thrilling. May this be a completely new approach to grind espresso and spices? Widespread sense says no—at greatest it is a new approach to ship your self to the ER! However within the identify of science (and for the enjoyable of popping silly hack bubbles each likelihood we get), we determined to offer it the great ol’ school attempt.
The Take a look at
Severe Eats / Yasmine Maggio
To take my stick blender for a grinding spin, I gathered the requisite equipment together with some complete espresso beans and coriander seeds and set myself up on the island in my kitchen. With my cellphone digicam arrange on a tripod proper in entrance of me, I used to be prepared for motion.
I poured 1.5 tablespoons of the espresso beans into my plugged-in immersion blender earlier than wrapping the plastic wrap across the prime, as so lots of the movies going round Instagram and TikTok have proven. I hit the “on” button and low beans immediately flew to each nook of my kitchen (and I actually imply each nook; I’m certain we’ll be discovering them for days to return). Whereas I used to be skeptical about this “method” of grinding beans getting into, I used to be shocked by how shortly all of it went to hell. Ultimately, I may solely chortle (and I laughed loads).
Undeterred, I attempted this trick a second time with espresso beans after which one other two instances with complete coriander seeds. The outcomes had been uniformly disastrous. So what must you take from all of this? It’s not even a bit bit value utilizing your immersion blender to grind espresso beans or spices, and never simply due to mess. Listed below are all the explanations that make it a dumb thought, intimately.
It is Messy
After failing with the primary spherical of beans, I blamed myself, figuring that I hadn’t wrapped the plastic wrap tightly sufficient across the blender (which was frustratingly arduous to do with my different hand balancing the immersion blender) and that I have to not have held securely sufficient to the plastic wrap throughout mixing to maintain it affixed. I made a decision I wanted a much bigger piece of plastic wrap (ah, the waste! However we’ll get to that later) and would wish to carry it nearer to the highest of the stem, close to the bowl of the immersion blender, so there was no manner for the beans to interrupt free. However after I tried once more, the espresso beans had been so keen to flee the bowl of the immersion blender as soon as it was turned on that they ended up chopping via the plastic wrap and making one other mess, albeit a smaller one this time round (fortunate me!). The identical factor occurred with the coriander, sending coriander mud flying all over the place.
Severe Eats / Yasmine Maggio
Whereas the testing left me cursing the web, it proved a invaluable level: An immersion blender just isn’t meant for use on this manner. It’s not designed to include dry meals nestled in its little cup-like blade guard, and there’s no manner to make sure you received’t make a catastrophe of your kitchen within the course of.
It’s Unsafe
My particular directions from Daniel when trying this technique had been “DO NOT TOUCH THE BLADE,” (all caps, by way of Slack, so there was no misunderstanding his path and concern for my security). I believed this half was apparent. Clearly, I do know to not contact the blade. However after I despatched Daniel my movies of the take a look at, he freaked out, nonetheless in all-caps: “YOU TOUCHED THE BLADE AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE IT!!!!” Seems, after I added my spices to the blender cup, I shortly used my finger to maneuver just a few that had landed on the blades, not conscious of the hazard of touching the enterprise finish of the plugged-in immersion blender even when it’s turned off.* One slip of my finger with the “on” button and I’d’ve ended up within the ER, which was Daniel’s preliminary fear when he first heard of this development; an immersion blender just isn’t designed for this type of use and it is merely unsafe.
Did I put my life in danger to show you all a lesson? Sure, I did, and you need to be grateful!!
[*Editor’s note: This exact mistake has sent former SE colleagues Kenji and Niki to the ER. It happens all the time.]
It’s Not Sensible
If it weren’t so messy and harmful, this trick would possibly make some tiny quantity of sense for spices because it’s not unusual for a recipe to name for only a small quantity of freshly floor spices. However the quantity of espresso that you just get from this technique isn’t even sufficient to drag a single shot of espresso.
Both manner, there’s nothing the immersion blender has to supply right here {that a} spice or coffee grinder or small mortar and pestle can’t provide you with. In actual fact, you’re higher off with a grinder so you’ll be able to management the dimensions of the grind—and in case you’re grinding your beans contemporary, we suspect you’re the kind of one that cares about grind measurement too, so that you probably have already got a devoted espresso grinder.
It’s Wasteful
We all know you most likely don’t want a lecture about decreasing waste within the kitchen, and we admit we name for utilizing plastic wrap when it’s the best choice in a recipe, however why waste a bit of plastic wrap each time you wish to grind spices or espresso beans—particularly whenever you’re losing it on a way that doesn’t work? Maybe worse than losing single use plastic is the meals waste, since I didn’t get any usable floor espresso or spices out of this complete train.
The Verdict: 5/5 on the Silly Hack Scale
Total, the margin for error (and harm) (and mess) is excessive with this hack, so that you’re higher off simply utilizing a spice or espresso grinder for your whole grinding wants. We’re undecided how this development made its rounds within the first place. However, hey, no matter, it simply gave us an opportunity to, as soon as once more, show the web incorrect!
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