Peach Melba Smoothie & Froothie Optimum 9400 Blender Review

Ok, now the eagle eyed among you may have noticed that those are indeed nectarines and not peaches but "Nectarine Melba" doesn't sound quite the same does it? Ah, they taste the same and this is a wonderful smoothie bursting with peachy and raspberry goodness :-)

Now, if you have been following my blog for awhile you have probably also noticed a distinct lack of smoothie and beverage recipes. This is not down to not liking smoothies, I love them, I just haven't had a good enough blender to get the perfect consistency I like. 

Until now that is. The lovely folks at Froothie sent me their Optimum 9400 blender to review and folks, I am in love! 

This isn't just a regular blender - it's a high performance blender - the type used in juice bars and cafes, it can blend rocks (if you want it too!) kind of blender. The type that can make nut milks, flours and cheeses with ease, crush ice and even make soups hot right in the jug. Here is a comparison with the Vitamix Pro 500:

So, very impressive! But unlike the other high performance blenders which are £600+ this one is currently retailing at a special introductory price of £329 which even includes a 30 day money back guarantee and a 10 year guarantee which gives you peace of mind with such a big purchase. Plus they ship worldwide at UK delivery prices, a nice break for those of us in Ireland! 

I didn't want to just make a couple smoothies then do my review here. No. Believe me when I say I have been pretty hard on this machine the past week! Besides smoothies I have made LOTS of juices, slushies, nut cheese, nut flours, houmous, soups and it has never let me down. No more shaking the blender back and forth trying to get the contents to whirl around, yay! It's so easy to use, the ultra safe jug simply sits on top of the base - no struggling to lock it in place and it's a breeze to clean. Although not dishwasher safe you simply add some water and a drop of dish washing soap and turn it on - the machine will clean itself, which actually makes it easier to clean than putting it in the dishwasher!

So, I LOVE it - I cannot tell you how much healthier we have all eaten since receiving this machine. As much as I like fruit I simply wasn't much of a fruit eater. Now we are flying through fruit and I feel a lot better for it as well. What I really love is that I can just peel an orange and throw it in, before I would have to use just orange juice in my smoothies now I get all the benefits of the WHOLE fruit. Oh, and you don't even have to core a pineapple... I certainly will never be buying fruit juices ever again :-)

I really don't know how I've gotten on so long as a vegan without a high performance blender now, there is really no comparison to a 'regular' blender. I can't wait to make my own nut butters and milk and experiment more with nut cheeses. I would honestly say now one of these machines is essential for us vegans and at this price it's actually cheaper than the amount I have spent on cheap low quality blenders that broke down on me in the past few years. I have no doubt this one will last a long time.

Which brings me to my first super easy recipe using the Optimum 9400 - a Peach Melba Smoothie, or as I touched on above, a Nectarine Melba Smoothie, either fruit would work well but I prefer the smooth skin on a nectarine here :-)

Peach Melba Smoothie:

• 4 small nectarines, stone removed and quartered (300g prepared weight)
• 100g / ¾ cup frozen raspberries
• 1 navel orange, peeled and any seeds removed then roughly chopped
• 125ml / ½ cup unsweetened soy or coconut yogurt
• 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup or other syrup sweetener of your choice (more or less, will depend on sweetness of fruit used)
• ½ tsp natural vanilla extract

Simply place everything in the blender and turn on first to low power then slowly increase to the highest setting for no more than 30 seconds. Done!

Serves 2.

Nutritional Information: per serving
Calories: 191
Protein: 5.9g
Fat: 2.7g
Sat Fat: 0.4g
Fibre: 7.8g
Carbs: 39.3g
Sugar: 27.8g
Calcium: 135mg

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Disclaimer: Froothie sent me an Optimum 9400 Blender to review but all views expressed are entirely my own. This post also contains affiliated links. -Deb xx