Undoubtedly, a 12 cup food processor is a perfect addition to your kitchen. Oh, and why not? Thanks to its versatility, within minutes, it cuts, chops, dices, shreds and grates ingredients. It can take 1/4 or even less time to shred hard cheese, which normally takes 3-4 minutes manually, for a good quality 12 cup food processor. And who would not want to minimize pre-processing time when the best results are obtained. All such qualities render the 12 cup food processor in your kitchen a must-have product.
What 12 cup food processor Size Do You Need?
A simple guide to the size of the 12 cup food processor
If you just cook for you and your girlfriend, a mini 12 cup food processor with a capacity of 3-4 cups is a great option. These mini units are often referred to as chopper food. They assist in the production of simple and time-consuming jobs like grinding nuts, chopping onions, etc. Low capacity bowls are also extremely helpful in making mayo and sauces as they mix ingredients excellently.
For a family of four that normally cooks at home, a medium-sized 12 cup food processor is appropriate. Bowls with a capacity of 7-10 cups will cut, slice, grind and shred a good amount of ingredients at once. Normally, they have more than one feed chute to fit in ingredients of various sizes. The advantage of having different feed chute sizes is that before putting them into the system, you do not have to pre-cut vegetables or fruits.
Look for Attachments
Whether big or small, the basic set of accessories must come with a 12 cup food processor. For completing different kitchen tasks, various blades and attachments are useful. While a full attachment package comes with some units, others have a limit of 3 blades. With medium and large size 12 cup food processors, extra attachments such as dicing package, kneading blade, adjustable slicing disc are prevalent. Some also have a citrus juicer that helps to quickly remove fresh lime or orange juice.
Speed & Power
The engine of a mini food chopper or processor provides enough power to perform basic functions such as ingredient slicing, grinding and blending. You can not hold them on for a long time, though, as the engine tends to get heavy. Or, in the worst case, the motor could burn out. To handle tough jobs like kneading the dough, shredding hard cheese, dicing raw carrots, etc., you need a powerful motor of up to 600 watts or higher. Whereas the industrial 12 cup food processor motor offers immense power to cut, shred, cut, blend, mash or mix up to 10 ingredients at a time. And the best thing is, once you finish processing a batch, they can be held on.
Generally, for every 12 cup food processor, there are 3-speed choices. These include easy buttons for on and off and a pulse mode. By pulsating ingredients, pulse mode helps to understand your system better. While grinding dry ingredients like nuts or spices, this mode is really helpful. With minimum effort, it helps achieve the ideal texture of the ingredients.
Feed tube size/Lid
To stop any spills on the kitchen countertop, the lid must be properly locked onto the cup. Proper locking on the lid also ensures user protection, in addition to mess-free operation. And several of Cuisinart and KitchenAid ‘s leading 12 cup food processor brands deliver BPA-free work bowls with a strong lid-lock system. And most of the lids are translucent, enabling the user to watch what’s going on in the work bowl.
One of the essential features to look for is the feeder tube for the size and strength of the engine. A wide feed tube allows more than one ingredient at a time to be added. Whereas before you move them through the narrow feeding tube, you will have to pre-cut ingredients. But feed tubes of such small sizes are best for slicing such ingredients such as carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, etc.
Storage
As compared to a mid-size machine, a small 12 cup food processor will not take much countertop space. But then you have to check the motor ‘s features and strength. Although a big unit takes up little room on the countertop, it provides a lot more features and a powerful motor. For accurate slicing / shredding, many of them give a bunch of discs and blades of various thicknesses. It also contains an attachment storage box for secure storage of all discs and blades.
