The Vitamix Super 5000

I promise we are not getting paid for this post, at least not yet...

For Mother's Day this year, I got us tickets to go see Paula Deen at the Metropolitan Food and Wine show (see Leah's post about Paula). The main event was Paula, but I was also excited about the food show itself. Lots of samples, cool cooking supplies, chef demos, etc...

When the day arrived, we spent most of the morning with Paula and then Leah and I went around for about 30 minutes to see the rest of the expo. Time passed quickly and before I knew it, it was time to relieve our trusted babysitter, Ken Germer, of his duties. Leah decided she wanted to hang out a little longer, so I went and got the girls and we met Leah back at the show about an hour later.

As Ellison, Ansley Mills and I began descending the escalator to the main floor of the show, we saw Leah waiting at the bottom with a huge smile and darting eyes. As soon as we were in shouting range, Leah yelled out, "Ok, you have to come see this Vitamix thing!" My response was just as quick, "we are not buying anything." "Just wait till you see this," she said.

Note: I am thrifty. Not cheap, but just very deliberate about purchases. The idea of buying into some trade show salesman's pitch is so far beneath me that I can't even comprehend doing it.

So we head straight for the Vitamix table and there it is in all its glory - The Vitamix Super 5000. At first glance, it just looked like a blender. Little did I know my life was about to be changed forever.

The pitch is pretty simple. This woman (Brittany Spears headset microphone and all) spends about 20 minutes showing you all the amazing uses of the machine (first she made a soup, then a smoothie and then some ice cream) and then gives you a "very special, today only deal" to purchase the machine at the presentation's conclusion.

Before this started, I was pretty skeptical. I even told Leah several times, "This is dumb. I'm leaving." Of course, I was not really going to leave until I proved that this "blender" was as worthless as I had predicted. It would be a great lesson for the whole family - P.T Barnum's famous words would never be truer - "a sucker is born every minute."

Needless to say, we never walked away and our Vitamix Super 5000 arrived just the other day.

The Vitamix Super 5000 is not just a blender. It is essentially a super powerful blender, food processor and juicer all in one machine. Where most machines run at about 600 RPMs, this one runs at about 3600 RPMs! This machine goes so fast that the friction it causes will boil water in 6 minutes! Further, it has a 2 horsepower motor. Just imagine the power of two stallions pulling a cart or a wagon of some sort at break neck speed and then think about transferring all that power down to one small blade mixing and chopping your food into millions of microscopic pieces. It is unreal!

The Vitamix Super 5000 breaks food down to a cellular level. A cellular level people! You can make smoothies, drinks, soups, ice cream, peanut butter (yes, it even turns peanuts into smooth creamy goodness) and just about anything else you can think of all with the flip of a switch. Also, you don't have to peel anything unless it has a bitter skin. The Vitamix Super 5000 breaks everything down to liquid, even seeds, stems and cores. It is amazing! Further, you are getting all the nutrients in the pulp, seeds and stems that a regular juicer would miss. Lastly, the machine is also delicate enough to dice tomatoes and other vegetables. The blade tip speed ranges from 11 m.p.h. to 240 m.p.h. It can either be a lamb or a lion on whatever food you put in the machine. But don't take my word for it, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Applebees, Bennigans and many other restaurants use these machines in their kitchens, so you know it is a quality product.

All in all, the Vitamix Super 5000 is a must have item. I had a carrot, celery, orange, banana shake last night for desert and a banana orange smoothie this morning and I feel like a million bucks. I will be sure to chronicle more of our adventures with the Vitamix Super 5000 in the weeks to come, but go buy one today. It is amazing!