Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Do You Clean Under HERE?

Do you have an immersion blender?
Do you normally toss it in the sink or dishwasher and think that'll do the cleaning-trick?

I do, it's a KitchenAid, and I quite like it.
And, I did always toss it in the dishwasher, and still do... but every 2-3 weeks, I also clean under here:

my KitchenAid immersion blender
That disc-shaped plate that sits under the blade.  If you haven't ever popped up that plate to see what's under there... well, let's just say I didn't take a photo to show you what was lurking under mine.  Blech.

It was hubby that first got to cleaning it.  Not that he's some master cleaner.  But, he's a micro-manager cleaner.  You know the type.  I can do a full sweep to vacuum the house in about ten minutes, whereas he'll spend that same ten minutes in one room... but, not always get to the other rooms!  And, while I do a once-over sort-and-tidy, he'll get to one shelf and reorganize it as if Martha is coming to inspect.  (He once posted an inventory on our deep freeze.  Uh-huh.)  I love him, and I guess at one time I gushed over that quirkiness rather than joke about it on my blog, lol!  (Still love you, hon!)

Anyhow, one morning he said "have you ever cleaned under this plate?"


I said "no...", to which he replied "it was disgusting what was under there", and snapped the plate back in place.  Honestly, I never thought that much could even get under that disc.  But it does.  And, if you think about when you are whizzing at high speed for dressings, sauces, smoothies, etc - some of that uggyness (yes, that's a word) must be getting back into your food.

Not to creep out all of you germophobes reading.  Rather than disturb you with what is (or might be), I'm hoping to give you a tip to prevent the ickiness.

So, let's move on to the how-to.  Because after you pry/pop up that plate, the opening is actually pretty small to try and clean manually (see photo above).  The disc moves around, and so to try and get a dishcloth in there is tricky, and running it under water doesn't have enough power as some of the residue is sticky.  If you have a high-powered spray nozzle on your faucet, that might do the trick.  But I don't, so, here's my solution: just as you might clean the stick in your sink by whirring it in some soapy water, do the same - with the plate detached.  You don't need to do it for long, just check after a few whizzes to see if the gunk is cleaned up.  Should be.  Then, dry fully and pop the plate back down.

Now, don't you feel much better when drizzling on that vinaigrette?  No more heebie-jeebies.  Just be sure to clean it again in a couple of weeks.  :)

14 comments:

tweal said...

I just used my cheapo immersion blender yesterday for the first time in months, and I thought of this very thing. Usually I clean it pretty well but I still always wondered how clean it really became. Now I know!

Carrie™ said...

Well that gave me the heebie-jeebies. I'm going to check mine after I type this comment. Thanks for the heads up. Who woulda thought, except for Mr. Dreena :o)

Marianne (frenchfriestoflaxseeds) said...

Fortunately my Brevilla immersion blender doesn't have any sort of plate under the blade to worry about - very easy to clean!

Anonymous said...

Hey, just wanted to say i love your blog! Im not a vegan but enjoy learning to cook good food without meat!
Thanks heaps!

Dreena said...

haha Carrie, I passed that along to bucko, aka "Mr. Dreena"!

anonymous, well now this is an unexpected 'anon' comment - thank you, so glad you are finding it useful/interesting. :) I hope to bring plenty more inspiration!

Ariel Lebert said...

Funny story... I was in a hurry and had just finished making your Peanut Better Cookies for everyone at my work and was cleaning up. I was getting some of the dough out of my immersion blender with a swipe of my finger before I was going to plop it in the sink. Well, being in a hurry I didn't think to unplug it first and the hand I was holding my blender with pressed the 'go' button... I basically blended my finger.

But your cookies were worth it and everyone loved them at my work!!

Dreena said...

yikes! Ariel! That's not such a funny story - I have freaky visions of that happening myself sometimes, being out of the moment for a few and not realizing where your fingers are. I hope it wasn't too bad, I'm cringing at the thought of it. Not sure if any cookies are worth that!!! Hope it heals quick and not too serious... eeek.

Ariel Lebert said...

Yeah, it's not too terrible. My fingernail did its job and saved my finger. But the cookies were definitely a hit!

SallyT said...

Your husband and mine are of the same mind.

Libby G said...

first of all, your husband and my husband sound like two peas in a pod. when i use the veggie peeler to take the skin off a carrot, i give it a quick rinse afterwards and i'm done...my husband will spend 2 full minutes scrubbing the HANDLE. yeah.

anyway :) thanks for the tip! i have the exact same immersion blender and i've never looked under that disk. i'm scared to see what's under there but i will be finding out (and cleaning out the gunk) tonight!

Leah said...

I have this same blender and didn't realize you could pry the plate up. It was gross under there! I tried your method of whizzing the blender with the plate pried up in a sink of hot soapy water, and the blades shredded the edges of the plate a little :( Just thought I'd warn you.

Dreena said...

Leah, I hear you - gross!! Sorry that happened with your blade, it didn't with mine. Maybe they are slightly different models, with the blade being higher on one vs another. Thanks for letting others know that!!! :)

Anonymous said...

So you can just toss the whole blade and adapter assembly (from metal up to the plastic cone) into the dishwasher safely? There aren't any parts to remove (other than taking it off the motor body)?

Thanks,
Eric

Dreena said...

Eric, yeah, most models the blender attachment pops off from the motor base/cord. So that top attachment (just the stick with blade) can go into the dishwasher - at least for my model and others I've tried, a-ok! :)