Forum Thermomix
Welcoming Center, Management and General Chat => Suggestions and Complaints => Topic started by: vintagepaint on November 18, 2010, 03:35:52 pm
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Have to say that I am not wildly impressed with the grinding of cinnamon - probably 6 minutes on speed 10 and I still have flakes rather a finely ground cinnamon which I wanted
Anyone any ideas or is this just the best that the Thermomix does on such spices
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I ground cinnamon to make my curry powder and didn't have any problems. i have never ground anything for as long as 6 minutes - max 1 minute.
How much cinnamon did you try to grind? sometimes, a few smaller batches is better than one large batch. toasting/roasting the cinnamon to enhance the aroma and to dry it out also helps - when the cinnamon is really dry, the grind is finer because it is more brittle.
Good luck
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I tried a couple of sticks and they were absolutely dry - my thought was that it doesn't do small quantities well
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Hi Vintagepaint, your TMX should do small quantities just fine. It will actually mill 1 teaspoon of linseed (Flaxseed) ok. I am wondering if you blades need to be reshaped? This should be done about monthly and most of us forget when we don't mill regularly. If you mill more often you will probably need to do it more often. Hope this might help you :D
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faffa,
My understanding is that the blades are self sharpening. What do you mean that the have to be "reshaped"? I've never heard that before. I really don't think we should be doing anything to the blades lest we void the warranty.
We don't have to do anything to the blades to sharpen them - it is the speed and shape of the blades which do the work. I've been told by my consultant that since I bought my tmx and now that the rubbish about sharpening the blades with ice is an urban myth and HO are trying to do as much as possible to re-educate everyone about it.
vintagepaint, i know the quills might feel "dry" but popping them into the oven will dry them out further and make them more brittle. I ground up a cinnamon quill with star anise and other spices to make curry powder and it was fine. I hope things work out for you.
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Have you tried dropping the quills onto the blades as they spin? I find I get a much better result that way. :)
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I find that my blades do get blunt and stop milling and after I have used some ice they improve significantly.
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I was told the same thing as Thermoheaven was about the ice sharpening the blades being an urban myth and what HO are trying to do damage controlwise, but was also told what zebraa said - the ice makes the steel harden up again or somesuch. maybe we have an engineer in our midst to explain this? I think the speiel about the ice sharpening the blades just sounded good, but I'm glad HO is brave enough to acknowledge that it is an urban myth - these things have to stop somewhere and the sooner the better.
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I hadn't heard that about the ice not doing what we thought it did (or placing the blades in the freezer). Is that an official directive from H.O. - can a consultant please give us some more information on this please. If this doesn't work, how do we sharpen our blades? If H.O. want to get this message across to TMX users, should they not send a representative onto the forum and tell us officially - where else will you hit a target of users as big as this forum. A little PR would not go astray here.
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Judy, the other way you can look at it is to try googling it - there's nothing to substantiate that grinding ice sharpens the blade. the ice may harden the blades, but not sharpen them. It is like what Thermoheaven said - it is the shape and speed of the blades which chops things so well. The blades are self sharpening/maintainence free so they don't need sharpening. If your consultant stays up to date, as mine is, I'm sure she will tell you this is the latest information available.
You can always contact HO and see what they say - this may be better than asking an out of date consultant.
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I "sharpen" the blades in my garbage disposal by putting a liter of ice cubes through and it improves the performance greatly.
My plumber also has put a handful of glass beads through it and that also helped. It is a commercial unit and should be good for another ten years.
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Well I think my blades always appear to be sharper after the ice treatment - maybe it is mind over matter :-)) :-)) I have no consultant petit4s, she doesn't do it anymore and I only ever heard from her once after I bought. I would just pick the brains of one of the lovely consultants on here if I wanted to know something.
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That's not right, Judy, that you don't have a consultant. HO should address that - they should contact you or get the replacement consultant to contact you and let you know that you will be looked after.
If you were in Sydney, I'd recommend mine to you. The consultant who sold me mine was so slack (all she cares about is a sale - she's still active) that I contacted HO and put me onto the one I have currently, who is great. I've referred her to others who are really happy, too.
You owe it to yourself to get someone who knows what they are talking about.
Good luck.
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I've emailed HO to see what the go is with this. Will let you all know when I receive a response.
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I have too. Will be interested to find out.
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Me three.
I've heard about the ice and garbage disposal unit, so thought the spiel with the thermomix was valid. I'd really like to know the truth.
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The last couple of times I've emailed HO they have been fairly prompt, so let's hope they are this time. I'll look forward to the answer as I had heard a whisper on the grape vine that the ice sharpening was untrue.
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Hi guys,
To clear any confusion regarding the blades, no maintenance is required – one blade does it all. If you find crushing ice seems to help, go ahead and do it...I was told the same thing about my garbage disposal unit knives, so perhaps there is logic or science or both behind the 'myth'. But officially from HO (as you call us!!) there is no empirical data from Vorwerk to support this, thus our removal of that information from all our literature.
Hope this helps ;)
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i thought the logic behind using ice to sharpen was just simply getting the temperature of the blades low enough to remember there original form, thus sharpening them?? it was explained to me as this, that, anyway you get your blades cold enough will trigger that thermatic memory and sharpen them. the confusion i found at the start when i got my tm and wen i was a consultant was that people would think that it was ice that sharpened the blades rather than just the drop in temperature... iykwim
gosh now i AM confused...... ???
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Thanks Tenina ;D ;D
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em, there is no such thing as "thermatic memory" - it's part of the urban myth. Sounds good, but nothing to it.
Thanks for clearing this all up for us, Tenina!
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Thanks for letting us know, Tenina. I'm glad my consultant is up to date with her information.
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Thanks from me too Tenina. Yes, we all do refer to you all as H.O. - is there another word more appropriate perhaps?
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em, there is no such thing as "thermatic memory" - it's part of the urban myth. Sounds good, but nothing to it.
thanks petit4s, now i get it (having a thick moment).
i must say i am abit suprised about this.....
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Not thick at all, em - the tmx demos pack so much into them that i've found it really good to have them every so often to either refresh or learn new things.
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Thanks Tenina!
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em, there is no such thing as "thermatic memory" - it's part of the urban myth. Sounds good, but nothing to it.
Maybe not 'thermatic memory', but my prescription glasses with titanium frames are supposed to have some sort of memory so they bend back to correct shape.
I'll ask my physicist brother who deals with this sort of stuff. i think. He was very involved with coatings on aeroplane wings for a while.
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If you have a new machine, the cinnamon quills should mill properly. I would try several approaches. Firstly, the suggestion of dropping them on the spinning blades always seems to work well for me. I would also try turbo a couple of times and scrape down the sides of the bowl in-between using the turbo button. 6 minutes on speed 10 seems far too long. The most I've used is 1 minute on speed 10. Maybe the suggestion of drying them out more first by popping them in the oven would work for you. The only other thing I could suggest is obviously to make sure the bowl is completely dry first.
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Here's a "trick" for drying the inside of the TMX - I actually got the tip years ago for drying a Vita-Mix before grinding dry stuff.
With the motor running at speed 5, slowly pour in two generous tablespoons of corn starch or corn flour.
This stuff is extremely hygroscopic and will pick up any residual moisture or trace of oil in the bowl or on the blades.
Stop the motor, remove the lid and bang the powder out and wipe most of the residue out with a paper towel or a dry cloth towel.
Then grind your spices, seeds, etc. A trace amount of corn starch remaining in the bowl is not going to affect the spices.
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Good tip! Will need to try that one.
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Maybe the suggestion of drying them out more first by popping them in the oven would work for you.
I made some of Maddy's Cheese and Bacon rolls yesterday morning (yummy btw) and put half a dozen cinnamon quills into the oven after I turned if off. Left them there till this morning and then milled them for 1 minute, speed 10. It worked really well - much better than previously where I had lots of bigger bits left.
Also, the Indian Cookbook says to grind your quills (at least 2 but no more than will cover the blade component) for 1 min, sp 10 and then to lay out and allow to dry out overnight. Then return to the bowl and mill again for 2 minutes, speed 10. I haven't tried this way yet but perhaps that will work for you?
Cheers,
Kerryn
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Hi all,
At a cooking class a couple of weeks ago this issue was raised & Janine suggested that a minimum of 4 quiills should be done at any one time to get good milling.
For really drying the bowl before grinding I dry it as thoroughly as I can then push turbo for about a second to flick any moisture hiding under the blades out & then dry with a (Thermomix bamboo) tea towel - as they are so absorbent. If you really wanted to get it super dry you could try heating it on say 50 for around 2 mins to burn off any moisture in the bowl. Then let it cool before milling (or turn the TM bowl upside down & rest it on top of one of your hydronic heating radiators for those of us who have them!!!).
Hope this helps!
BTW "Thermatic memory" as a technology is not an urban myth - only as applied to our blades apparently!