Immersion Blender Safety Questions

[Legume]

I used a new immersion blender to make broccoli soup today and it worked fine until I decided to add some jalapenos and blend more thoroughly. After doing this, my first bowl (from the top of the pot) was delicious, but when I went back for seconds, the rest was inedible with a bitter, metallic flavor.

I had already learned that I should never use the Immersion Blender AFTER adding cheese for clean-up purposes. Also on my second blending, I let it touch the bottom of the pot and it pulled itself along the bottom of the pot with a vacuum before I pulled it up.

1. Is the bad taste the bottom of my pot or did I burn some of the broccoli at the bottom and the blender distributed it? Maybe blending cheese ruins it? I do not see anything burnt at the bottom of the pot. There is cheese, but when I scrape it off, it is not at all burnt.

2. I spit out the terrible stuff and washed out my mouth/brushed my teeth, but I can still taste it. Did I swallow something poisonous? The soup pot does not have a no-stick bottom. I'm not sure what it is made of but it is one of those large inexpensive chili/soup pots made for cooking things in heavy liquid so that sticking is not an issue.

Thanks for your help. I've drank some milk and had a tortilla to try to fill my stomach. I think I got only a tiny amount of it really (diluted in soup that I didn't swallow).

 

[Andy M.]

Well, you didn't poison yourself unless you put something poisonous into the pot. The immersion blender didn't make your soup taste bad.

Did you cut up the jalapeños and remove the stem, seeds and membranes?

 

[Dawgluver]

I trust you washed and rinsed the blade before you used it. Cheese is not going to ruin your immersion blender at any time in the process. It may have been a nasty broccoli piece, or as Andy said, seeds and membranes from the jalapenos, that caused the bad taste. If you have a really cheap pot, it might be remotely possible that you got some metal from the bottom, but I think that's also highly unlikely. You will be fine!

 

[Legume]

Well, you didn't poison yourself unless you put something poisonous into the pot. The immersion blender didn't make your soup taste bad.

Did you cut up the jalapeños and remove the stem, seeds and membranes?

Thanks for the response. That makes me feel better. I normally use organic chiles but instead used canned ones this time (they were in the cupboard). They were pre-sliced so they didn't have any stems. . . maybe there was something in with them that was bad as I just dumped them in.

I have to relearn that this is an excellent way to ruin a full pot of ingredients about every 5 years. . . it's just that I so rarely used anything canned.

Again, thanks.

 

[GB]

What kind of immersion blender do you have? I ask because it should not have caused a vacuum on the bottom. All the ones I have seen have vents to prevent that from happening. If yours does not, just keep a slight tilt to one side, but don't be scared to go to the bottom as that is usually the safest way to do it.

As far as cleaning after adding cheese, how are you cleaning your blender? The easiest way is to fill a cup (that the blender can fit down into) halfway with hot water and a little dish soap and use the blender on that. It should come out clean or very close to clean with just a little wipe needed possibly.

 

[FrankZ]

If you used an aluminum pot and the jalapeños were pickled you might have seen a reaction that could have put some aluminum into the soup.

 

[Oldvine]

Isn't there a shield, sort of a bowl, around the blade to keep it from scraping around on the bottom of the pot? I don't think you got metal in the soup from the blender.
I think there's some sort of food reaction going on. Have you emptied the pot to see if there's some scorch in the bottom?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I think canned jalapenos have a metallic taste...

 

[taxlady]

I think canned jalapenos have a metallic taste...

I think that's the culprit.

 

[Dawgluver]

I think that's the culprit.

Bingo!