Please Cease Grinding Espresso Beans in Your Immersion Blender

In our present age of social media racket, developments and hacks come and go at a dizzying tempo—a few of them are price attempting (see right here and right here), a few of them most actually will not be. This week’s instance within the definitely-not-worth-it class: Utilizing an immersion blender to grind spices and low beans. The approach includes turning an immersion blender the other way up, including a small quantity of spices or espresso beans to the bowl-shaped blade-guard, masking the blade-guard with a bit of plastic wrap, then letting it blitz.

We get it, novelty is interesting, and the concept there’s a complete world of untapped potential hidden in your stick blender is nearly thrilling. Might this be a very new method to grind espresso and spices? Widespread sense says no—at finest it is a new method to ship your self to the ER! However within the title of science (and for the enjoyable of popping silly hack bubbles each probability we get), we determined to offer it the great ol’ faculty attempt. 

The Check

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 telephone digital camera 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 high, 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 positive we’ll be discovering them for days to return). Whereas I used to be skeptical about this “approach” of grinding beans getting in, I used to be shocked by how rapidly all of it went to hell. Ultimately, I might solely snort (and I laughed so much).

Undeterred, I attempted this trick a second time with espresso beans after which one other two occasions with complete coriander seeds. The outcomes had been uniformly disastrous. So what must you take from all of this? It’s not even slightly bit price 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 need to not have held securely sufficient to the plastic wrap throughout mixing to maintain it affixed. I made a decision I wanted an even bigger piece of plastic wrap (ah, the waste! However we’ll get to that later) and would want 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 once 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 by means of 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 in every single place. 

Whereas the testing left me cursing the web, it proved a beneficial level: An immersion blender shouldn’t be meant for use on this manner. It’s not designed to comprise 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 course and concern for my security). I assumed this half was apparent. Clearly, I do know to not contact the blade. However once 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 rapidly used my finger to maneuver a number of 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 shouldn’t be designed for this sort 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 have 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 simply get from this technique isn’t even sufficient to tug a single shot of espresso.

Both manner, there’s nothing the immersion blender has to supply right here {that a} spice or espresso grinder or small mortar and pestle can’t offer you. The truth is, you’re higher off with a grinder so you possibly can 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 doubtless 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 need to grind spices or espresso beans—particularly once 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 damage) (and mess) is excessive with this hack, so that you’re higher off simply utilizing a spice or espresso grinder for all your grinding wants. We’re unsure 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 flawed!