Vacuum Blending For A Healthier Lifestyle

• Why you should definitely try the new vacuum technology.

You’ve decided to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Congratulations! As part of your new outlook, you’d like to add some fresh juices and smoothies to your diet and you’ve decided to purchase a blender or a juicer. The invariable question that pops is... which one to choose? It’s easy nowadays to get confused when looking to buy an appliance to make smoothies and juices that fit with a healthier lifestyle - without breaking the bank. A quick search online will bring up a variety of simple blenders and juicers, vortex blenders, as well as cold press and hydraulic juicers, often offering similar features. So trust us: there’s no need to feel bad if you’re having a hard time making a decision. It’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Before locking yourself into buying one of these blenders or juicers, why not consider the latest technology that just emerged on the market? We’re talking about vacuum blending.

What is vacuum technology?

The use of vacuum technology in the blending industry is still fairly recent, but it’s been an essential part of food storage since the 1940s when people realized that oxygen played a key role in food getting spoiled. Many of our grandmothers would spend days at harvest time using a canning process to preserve food, especially fruits and vegetables, for the months when these ingredients weren’t available. Thankfully, less time-consuming vacuum technology has made its way into our homes today, allowing us to obtain similar results without having to stand near a hot pressure canner for hours. For example, a new range of blenders has appeared on the market, equipped with their own built-in vacuums to remove any oxygen before blending. You might be thinking that ingredients are now a lot more readily available year-round - so why bother with removing oxygen since you don’t plan to preserve your smoothie for months? As you’re about to learn, there are many other advantages to using vacuum technology.

Health benefits of vacuum blenders

At first glance, vacuum blenders look very similar to any high-performance blenders, but there’s a key difference. Before they start blending, vacuum blenders remove the main culprit in the degradation of food, namely oxygen. When food is blended at high-speed in the presence of air, a process called oxidization causes the ingredients to lose nutrients. So, there are many benefits associated with blending in an oxygen-poor environment. First, the ingredients don’t break down over time. This means you can store your morning smoothies, for example, and drink them later in the afternoon, safe in the knowledge that all the nutrients and vitamins that were there initially will still be in your drink when you’re ready to enjoy it. Blending in a vacuum also means a finer and smoother texture for your smoothie. Air bubbles can create a layered drink that’s thin and tasteless. By ensuring that the smoothie is more consistent, each and every sip is packed full of nutrients and fresh taste. Healthy AND delicious at the same time – you will get the best of both worlds. As a bonus, if stored in a vacuum-sealed container, vacuum-blended smoothies will also retain their original coloration and consistency until you’re ready to drink them. No more brownish, unappetizing concoctions for you! Ultimately, vacuum blended juices and smoothies have a brighter color, smoother consistency, taste better from first to the last sip, and stay fresh longer.

Some stand-out models

By now you must be convinced of the many benefits of using a vacuum blender. But one key question remains: which one should you buy? We’ve narrowed down the possibilities for you to three stand-out models:

• Optimum Evolve

• Vidia Vacuum Blender

• Ozen Vacuum Blender

Let’s have a look at their features and try to sort them out.

1. A strong heart makes the world go round.

At the very core of the best machines is a strong engine. When considering a blender, you should always pay attention to the power of the motor, because the faster the blades go, the more kinds of ingredients you can chop, grind and blend.

Both the Vidia and Ozen come with a 960 Watt motor. This makes them efficient at making smoothies, but a bit underpowered for grinding harder ingredients like nuts to make nut butter. The Optimum VAC2 is definitely the workhorse in this category, offering nearly double the power, with an impressive 1,800 Watts. With that much power driving the blades, you can be sure the VAC2 is more than capable of blending tougher ingredients. This means you’ll be able to make single-ingredient nut butter, as well as make short work of ice for ice creams and sorbets, functions that are not possible with the Ozen and Vidia. If you are looking for something even better, the 2,400 Watts motor or the Optimum Evolve vacuum blender should be your choice. At 30,000 rotations per minute, this vacuum blender can crush ice, nuts, grains, and make anything from velvety smoothies and soups to baby food and steamed veggie dips. If you are looking for a powerful multi-purpose kitchen assistant, you can’t do better than the Optimum Evolve. 

2. A motor’s best asset is a smart set of blades.

A blender with a powerful motor is essential, but it won’t be very useful without a strong set of blades, placed in just the right way, to do the work. On this front, the Vidia, Ozen, and Optimum Evolve All three models come with six blades, but the differences are in the details. While the Vidia blender has blades arranged at different angles, the Ozen and Optimum models have blades that have been optimized to maximize cutting and blending efficiency and consistency. The brand Optimum has been a global leader for many years in offering high-speed domestic and commercial blenders. Blade configuration is something they care about and they’ve spent years researching and improving their products in this regard. In the VAC2, two of the blades are precisely angled to prevent dense foods from getting stuck in the blending jug, allowing them to handle more difficult domestic functions such as chopping or grinding thick foods. This means you can make recipes like nut butter and difficult to blend items like sorbets, without worrying that your ingredients will wind up stuck to the sides or improperly blended. Contrary to popular belief, the blades don’t have to be sharp in a professional blender. Sharp blades are ripping and slicing nutrients and that can destroy the enzymes in the food – you don’t want that. Cheap blender brands need to make their blades sharp as their motors are very weak. On the other hand, Optimum Evolve’s high-end blades are just breaking and mixing the ingredients, thus preserving enzymes in food and assuring maximum intake of nutrients.

 3. Does size matter?

Unless you’re one of these lucky people who have meters upon meters of counter space (we’re jealous), you’re likely to care about the size of any appliance you add to your kitchen. So, let’s see how our three models compare in this regard. The Vidia and Ozen are almost identical, measuring 200 x 220 x 448 mm and 220 x 220 x 448 mm respectively. The more powerful Optimum Evolve comes in at 200 x 235 x 515 mm. When considering buying an appliance that’s slightly larger than its competitors, you need to think about the trade-off. In this case, you should consider the additional foods you’ll be able to make with the more powerful Optimum blender.

  4. Accessories are a blender’s best friend.

Just like a nice pair of shoes can make or break an outfit in fashion, the accessories that come with a blender can make all the difference when deciding to purchase one model over another.

The Optimum VAC2 and the Optimum Evolve come with a tamper, which is not offered by the other vacuum blenders. The Optimum tamper is a tool designed specifically to ensure your ingredients are properly blended and allows you to make nut butter, ice cream, and other thick recipes that are simply not possible with the Vidia and Ozen blenders. Because you don’t have to use an improvised tool, you also don’t run the risk of injuring yourself and damaging your blender. On top of this, the Optimum Evolve comes with a host of additional accessories including:

• two jugs (one 1.75L glass jug for heating and one 1.8L vacuum glass jug) 
• a stainless steel steaming basket
• a heavy-duty tamper tool
• a silicone spatula for processing and mixing
• a measuring cup
• a cleaning brush
• 100+ page recipe book

You can check the video below to see how the Optimum Evolve uses high-speed blending to process a wide range of ingredients and what makes it the best vacuum blender on the market.

5. Value for money

For many of us, the main comparison point between appliances is cost and value. How much bang, or blend, are we going to get for our money?

Currently, the Optimum Evolve is the best choice if we take into account the capacity, quality, and power of all the vacuum blenders above, at an introductory price of $589. If you can’t take advantage of the promotional introductory price of the Optimum Evolve now, you’ll have to purchase it at its regular price of $899 later.

6. Final thoughts

Based on this comparison, our recommendation is that you purchase the Optimum Evolve.  The Optimum brand, which distributes high-end kitchen appliances in over 40 countries, is a trusted provider of blenders and juicers. TheOptimum Evolve offers superior power that allows you to blend a wider range of ingredients. It also comes with extra accessories and, at a lower introductory price than its competitors, it’s the clear winner for any consumer wanting to make the most of the new vacuum technology. If you want more information about the product or Optimum’s industry-leading warranty, visit their website, where you can also watch videos of the VAC 2 in action.