Where can I find a food processor?

Taiwan Where Can I Find...?
21

Nope - haven’t bought anything yet. I utterly failed to find anything I liked in any of the department stores or kitchen supply stores (after a moderately thorough search); what I’m vaguely planning on doing is buying one in Canada this summer (annual visit).

It wasn’t a big rush anyway, since a main reason for me getting a food processor is to mix dough, and for that to be useful I also need an oven - which will probably be purchased in the next couple of months. For now, I’ll continue with a knife, blender, and too-small mortar and pestle. Although I may pick up a hand mixer - I saw a few of those around, but didn’t pay much attention to them.

Online order is definitely an option (see LostSwede’s links above), but since I’m going to Canada anyway, I’ll wait until then - especially since this is the kind of thing I’d really like to see and handle a bit before purchase.

I’m still somewhat undecided on the size issue - I like KitchenAid because many of their models come with two bowls, a small one for routine chopping and a bigger one for other tasks.

On e-mailing the companies: I never got a reply from Cuisinart; KitchenAid replied by telling me how they recommend I buy a KitchenAid product within my country of residence, rather than order from the United States. Which was not a particularly helpful reply, given that my e-mail asked them for details about a Taiwanese distributor, and they totally ignored that question. Oh, and they gave me a few paragraphs explaining voltage and Hertz differences. (Not sure how much I need to worry about this: in the USA it’s 60 Hz; in many other countries it’s 50 Hz, and that can be bad for the machine. Is that an issue here?)

22

Electricity in Taiwan is nominally 110 volts, 60Hz, same as in North America. I’ve brought lots of electrical appliances and tools from the US, never a problem, except for one WaterPik that burned up when I plugged it into the bathroom outlet. Turned out that particular outlet was 220V! Japan is slightly different: 100 V 50Hz. This can cause problems. Mainland China is 220V, 50Hz: incompatible with N. Am equipment, without a converter.

More and more modern equipment has comes with a switch for 110 or 220 V; you set it according to local current. Some equipment is autoswitching; it senses the line power and adjusts itself accordingly. Other things, like WaterPiks designed for 110V, when plugged into 220 V, run like hell for a short time, then send up a small cloud of white smoke, and die.

23

I thought of buying Stateside and asking my son in Philly to remail it to me. But then I discovered that my US bank account was down to US$13. :frowning:

Got tired of thinking about it and took the plunge and ordered a TESCOM TK-430 on ruten.
goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?11090818046862

Price (incl shipping) NT$3400. Seller is jerry-kao of Gaohsiung.

If the unit really only draws 170 watts, then it is probably kind of small and low powered. I am not expecting a whole lot, but I hope it can make hummus.

24

I got a similar one for about the same price (to make hummus!) at FE21 department store a few years ago. It is good enough, and was the ONLY one I could find in Taiwan. Given the option that lostinasia has (buying one in Canada), I’d go for that (if you have luggage space - the box and packaging is huge - check withyour airline baggage allowances as many rules have changed in recent years). At least in Canada you’d get a choice of more than one.

25

I have seen a small model of Kentwood mixer in Costco Neihu some time last year, as for Braun, the set in the link is good value for money, I bought one at FE21 some years ago, strong motor, does the job well, but it is not for mixing dough, they do not come with a K beater.

26

I must say, I’ve never seen a Braun product that I didn’t like. But if I go for the Braun, I’ll have to back out of the TESCOM deal, which I have not yet paid for. Hmmm. 175 watts vs. 300 watts :ponder:

27

Have you thought about buying a cheap breadmaker and just using the dough mixing function? They are easier to get and cheaper than a food processor in Taiwan. They sometimes come up for sale secondhand on tealit, too.

I have the card for the Kitchenaid distributor in Taipei but I can’t get it till Friday, if you still need it.

28

@ asiababy We have a breadmaker and have used it for years. It’s made hundreds of loaves.

I want a food processor mainly to make hummus. To put on the bread.

I have been using a potato masher to make hummus, but I’d like to go for a creamier texture.

A few years back we accidentally threw out the stirring paddle for the breadmaker. Woops. But we got someone to weld us a new one, and the maker is still cranking them out, 'bout 3 loaves every 2 weeks.

29

[quote=“MilesFromNeihu”]I want a food processor mainly to make hummus. To put on the bread.

I have been using a potato masher to make hummus, but I’d like to go for a creamier texture.
[/quote]

Just in case you haven’t considered it, you can use a blender to make hummus (I do), and many have a smaller footprint than food processors. Of course, each excels in different areas for other uses.

30

Costco has a mixer/food processor for just over NT$3k, can’t remember the brand now, saw it earlier today. It’s a fairly small mixer bowl though and it only has blades, no other accessories. But it would do for making most kinds of dip with.

31

I have a Braun multiquick, it’s great for doing blending, mixing, beating. Inexpensive and easy to use. Could be another option.

32

I’ve seen a place sell kitchen aid mixers…not sure about processor bits and pieces. It’s called Queen’s DIY at
Wenlin. They have a website. Not sure what it is but can check…Good luck.

33

I discovered that the seller with whom I made the deal on Ruten also sells another, more powerful model: TESCOM THM500, which looks a lot like the BRAUN Kitchen Assistant MR4050CA.

My original purchase was for a TESCOM 6-in-1 food processor (175 watts) @ NT$3200 (+$200 for shipping). I contacted the seller and asked if I could upgrade to the TESCOM THM500 (420 watts, listed at NT$3800) if I threw an additional NT$600 her way. Not surprisingly, she said okay. (“可以喔~!” to be exact.)

Perhaps not the most economically efficient approach, but according to my best estimate, the new candidate should do the job, and I didn’t back out of the deal I had already agreed to.

Now looking forward to delicious, creamy hummus. :lick:

Thanks to all for all the help!

34

MilesFromNeihu, do let us know how that new one works out, and how it holds up over time.

35

Will do!

36

The TESCO THM500 arrived Monday, 22 Feb 2010. This was a surprise because I thought that Chinese New Year would slow down the ATM transfers. But no, the product arrived the very first day after the CNY vacation.

I made hummus the first evening. I used one can of chick peas, a small amount of sesame paste, garlic, spices, etc., and it turned out nice and smooth–smoother than anything I’d ever done with a mere potato masher.

User manual is all in Japanese, which does not do me much good. But half an hour of playing with the various parts went a long way toward getting it sussed. And when my niece got home, I asked her to take a look at the manual and tell me if there were any important cautions. She said that it is not to be used on hard things, so I guess there goes my idea of making nut butters.
“How 'bout ice?” I asked.
“It says the wand blender can chop ice,” she said.
Maybe I can look up the relative hardness of ice vs. peanuts on the Mohs hardness scale.

It calls itself a “wand blender.” Unlike a regular blender, this 420 watt motor is designed to be held in one hand, above the action. Attachments include: a drink blender blade, with shield, that you can immerse directly into a cup or other container, a whisk, and a separate, processor canister (transparent), with either the big blades or a dough mixer. Of the four attachments, some have more engineering than meets the eye. For example, the whisk takes an adapter section that fits between the motor and the whisk. The adapter maintains the same axis and rotational direction, but reduces speed about 4:1. The lid to the canister contains some hidden gearing too, also around 4:1. The only thing that gets straight, full-speed drive from the motor is the blender wand.

The motor seems plenty powerful, and plenty fast. There are two buttons on the wand; one allows nice speed control via a variable dial. The other is called “turbo” and it is max. Looks like it would be pretty easy to give the kitchen a thin coating of, say, guacamole, if one were not careful.

I used the blender wand to make a good drink of soaked almonds and figs last night. Buzzed up fairly fine, right in the mug. It is amazing how much pull the spinning blades provide, especially on turbo. You can easily pick up a container of water with the wand when the blades are spinning.

Miles From Neihu. TESCO THM500 report. So far, so good.

37

That thing sounds potentially dangerous! :laughing:

38

That thing sounds potentially dangerous! :laughing:[/quote]

There is a guard surrounding the blades. And the unit pulls itself DOWN, rather than pushing itself UP, so I think it is a reasonably safe design.

Caution is advised, of course. :wink:

Oh, and the container I picked up was a plastic cup, about 2/3 full of water. I have not really tried to see the max weight it can lift. Yet.

I tried to research relative hardnesses of ice vs. peanuts, but did not get very far. Mohs scale did not cover ice or nuts, nor did Rockwell. Another issue is gumminess. Ice may be harder than peanuts, but peanuts, when reduced, become gummy, which would put more strain on the motor. Maybe if I could monitor motor temperature, that would be a good enough indicator. Too bad it is not outfitted with a temp guage. How cool would that be.

I found the THM500 manufacturer’s site in Japan [Tsukumo] and sent them an English message asking about nut butters. We’ll see what happens with that, if anything.

39

How’s your Japanese? tescom-japan.co.jp/products/ … hm500.html
Judging by the pictures, they’re even using it for mixing dough, albeit that must be a tiny bit of dough. There’s even a short little video that shows you what it can do, but no peanuts or ice…
Had a similar thing from Braun a few years ago (got left behind when I moved here) and they’re really pretty decent, but doesn’t work with everything. They’re fantastic for making mayo though, only takes a few seconds.

40

My Japanese is for crap. But I recognized some of the same pictures as on the side of the box. :slight_smile:

Getting along well with the THM500. Made hummus last night using buzzed flax seeds. Also made cashew butter. Turned out pretty good. Worked better than a blender for that job. :lick:

The box came with a special caution taped to the top: Do not run continuously for more than two minutes. If you you run it for 2 mins straight, let it cool off for 5~10 minutes. So I guess they’ve had some burnout problems in the recent past. Inspection reveals the motor to be remarkably free of vents.

Well, forewarned is forearmed; I’ll be careful.

The motor, btw, runs remarkably quiet. The various geared attachments, though, buzz.