Washing a blender jar by hand means reaching your hand toward the blade and stressing the gasket beneath it. A faster and safer way is to use the appliance itself: add warm water and a drop of dish soap to the jar, close the lid, and run the blender briefly. The blade creates a vortex that washes every surface.
A blender jar is one of the hardest kitchen containers to wash by hand. It is narrow and deep, has a fixed blade assembly at the bottom, and most of the surfaces a sponge needs to reach are right around that blade. Hand-washing has two downsides: when the sponge reaches in front of the blade, your finger goes directly into the opening, and pressing down stresses the gasket beneath the blade. Yet the best tool for cleaning the inside of the jar is the appliance itself; the blade creates a vortex that reaches every surface.
The method is brief. Right after using the jar, dump out the large scraps, fill the jar halfway with warm water, and add one drop of dish soap. Seat the lid, then run the appliance briefly at medium speed. The foamy vortex inside washes the walls, bottom, and gaps between the blades simultaneously. Then pour out the water, rinse the jar once more with clean water in the same way, and let it dry upside down. The whole job takes less than one minute. This method makes a noticeable difference, especially with ingredients such as yogurt, milk, and eggs that harden as they dry.
The water temperature matters here. Do not add boiling water: heat can soften a plastic jar and warp it over time so the lid no longer fits properly, while a glass jar may crack from a sudden temperature change. Warm water is safe and sufficient to dissolve grease. For the same reason, do not fill the jar with cold water immediately after blending hot soup. Remember that water heated in a closed container can build pressure; that is why the cleaning water should be warm and the appliance should run in short intervals, not for a long time. The same rule applies even to models with glass jars, because a sudden temperature change can find the weakest point in the glass.
A stick blender is cleaned with the same idea but in a different way. Do not immerse the motor body in water; run only the blade attachment for a few seconds in warm, soapy water in a deep glass, then repeat the same process in clean water. If the attachment can be removed from the body, take it off and wash it. A food processor has a wide bowl, so it can be washed by hand, but remove the blade first and wash it separately; reaching into the bowl with a sponge while the blade is inside is one of the most common causes of cuts.
The only additional task to do once a month is to check the gasket beneath the blade assembly. On most blenders, the blade assembly unscrews from the bottom of the jar, revealing a rubber gasket underneath. Liquid seeps behind the gasket and stays there; an unexplained odor from the jar almost always comes from that area. Remove the gasket, wash and dry it, and put it back in place. If the rubber has hardened, cracked, or flattened, replace it, because a leaking gasket can allow liquid to run onto the motor.
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