9 Types of Blades and Attachments In Food Processors In India

A food processor is a highly versatile appliance. However, not everyone is aware of how to use the different attachments for maximum benefit. Many people use the food processor just for kneading dough or slicing potatoes for french fries. The rest of the attachments lie unused in the cabinet. Let us explore what are the other blades and attachments you typically get with a food processor and how to use them.

Slicing Disc

Slicing discs, as the name suggests can be used to slice potatoes and green bananas for wafers, onions for biriyani and gravies, vegetables for green salad and more. Options like Preethi Zodiac come with a slicing blade that can be attached to a disc. But options like Inalsa Inox 1000 come with reversible slicing discs- one side slices thinly and the other side slices in thick sizes. The important aspect to look at when slicing in a food processor is to feed the ingredients in the right orientation. Else, vegetables could get sliced vertically when you want them sliced horizontally.

S Blade

S blade or chopping blade is used to chop and blend ingredients. Some food processors have an S blade attached to the drive shaft, while others have a separate S blade that can be fixed to the drive shaft. This is one of the most versatile blades in a food processor. Using it you can chop herbs, onions, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, and other vegetables. You can also blend mayonnaise, make nut butter, salsa, relish, etc. It is also used for mincing meat.

Being extremely sharp, you need to be very careful using this blade as you could hurt yourself. Only a few models like Usha FP3811 come with a plastic guard to cover the blade and hence protect against accidents.

Grating Blade

The grating blade can be used for grating medium-sized firm vegetables like carrots and beetroot, chocolate and cheese. The grating blade too usually comes as a disc that can be fixed on the drive shaft. Though some manufacturers claim that grating blades can be used for ginger and garlic, we found it not possible. Ginger and garlic get stuck between the disc and the feeding tube. As a result, it just stays stuck to the disc without getting grated. You would be better off using the chopping blade to finely chop ginger and garlic instead.

Whisking Tool

Some food processors come with a whisking tool for whipping cream and egg whites. But, unfortunately, you can use it only to whip eggs for omelets and for whipping cream and egg to a soft peak. You cannot whip them to a stiff consistency for baking. For that, you need to invest in a hand mixer.

Kneading Blade

The kneading blade is just like an S-blade in shape, but blunt and made of plastic. Using it, you can knead dough for chapati, paratha, pizzas and bread. The kneading blade is one of the highly utilized attachments in a food processor. You can knead 200-300 gm of wheat flour in under a minute- which is more than enough for 4-6 members. However, you may have some teething trouble identifying the right ratio of water to flour for making dough. You may initially add more water than necessary, then compensate it with more flour, and so on do a few trials and errors to balance the mixture to make well-formed dough. A good starting point would be using 60 ml of water per 100 gm of flour and then adjusting as needed.

French Fries Cutter

Many food processors come with a dedicated attachment for slicing potatoes for french fries. They usually slice potatoes thinly and a few pieces get cut way too small for properly frying them. To avoid such a problem from occuring, use large-sized potatoes for french fries slicing.

Shredding Blade

Shredding blade is similar to the grating blade, but the size is larger. It can be used for shredding medium-sized, firm vegetables, chocolate, and cheese.

Citrus Juicer

Most food processors come with a citrus juicing attachment. It can be fixed on the drive shaft and the juicing attachment rotates at a much lower speed so that you can juice citrus fruits like oranges, mosambi, etc. The juice gets collected in the bowl and the pulp gets collected at the top of the juicing attachment. Typically, it takes less than a minute to juice a medium-sized orange. So you can get a glass of juice in just 2-2.5 minutes.

Centrifugal Juicing Attachment

Premium food processors come with a centrifugal juicing attachment that comprises an extraction blade and a mesh filter. Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the juice yield of the centrifugal juicer that comes with most food processors. The leftover pulp retains so much juice that you will never use the juicer twice!