One things you have to say is that the folks at Euro-Pro know how to give a product a name with impact! The product itself looks simple to use as I unbox it so, as is custom, I don’t bother with the instruction manual. Then I realise that the product has blades so I have a good read through.
Joining me in testing the Nutri Ninja are my boys, three- and a four-years old, so we’re dealing with the fussy, faddy area of the food spectrum. Can I sneak salad past them and stealth deliver veggies into these two? That, people, is a true test.
The product is really simple to set up and the sleek silver and black finish fits in well with our other appliances. There’s a brilliant full-colour recipe book inside but I decide to go with the avant-garde approach of lobbing in whatever’s got the shortest time before its best before date. My off-the-cuff recipe, therefore, is a handful of rocket, the end of a cucumber, two pears, a manky bit of ginger, half a lime, a few grapes, a clementine, 6 ice cubes and some fresh orange juice. There’s a maximum fill level line so I just keep chucking the stuff in until I reach that and then just screw the top on (which will actually be the bottom and has the blades attached), flip it over and click it easily into place on the base. There’s a button marked “Auto-iQ BLEND” so I press that and the machine does the lot: blending, pulsing and pausing. 45 seconds later and there’s a full jug of juice, all waiting to be tested. It’s a pleasant green colour, which pleases the boys. They like ANYTHING green, no matter the shade. I flip it back over, unscrew the bladed lid and pop the Sip & Seal lid and we’re ready.
I give the cup to Thing 1, the faddiest child who drinks it and declares “It tastes of delicious, is it bananas and porridge and oranges?” That child does not have my refined palate, clearly. Next up, the 3 year old. He also loves it but says it tastes of “green things” so we’re really no further forward. I then, finally, get a go. It’s really nice, a fact that I’m a little surprised by. If my ham-fisted efforts to use up the stuff that’s going a bit manky tasted good then what if I follow an actual recipe? Time to try just that as I have all the ingredients for their “Ginger Pear Defense” recipe (pears, ginger, cold water & sweetener). Again, I use the Auto-iQ button (this time Ultra Blend) and the machine does the biz before turning itself off. This drink is declared even better than the first one, with verdicts of “Like Nanny’s apple juice but better and with pears” from Thing 1 and “Tingly and fruity” from Thing 2. They drink the lot. It’s not even lunchtime and we’ve already surpassed the five-a-day fruit and veg count. This is one trialled product that’s going on my birthday wish list. My birthday. In December.
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