Get your nuts chopped here! (Moulinex AY92 Illico)

Member Name: Lunah_C

Product:	Moulinex AY92 Illico
Date:	18/12/07 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very quick and easy to use.

Disadvantages: Not so easily available these days.

Before I start I would like to point out that the AY92 is a chopper, not blender as shown in the picture, or at least was when I received mine.

When I was pregnant with my fourth child, my inlaws asked what I would like. I am a fan of home cooked meals especially for babies, so for my other children had used a blender to puree food for them. However being more adventurous I had also used it to chop frozen veg as doing it then it stays intact, rather than going mushy if done after cooking. Anyhow this resulted in broken blades so I requested a replacement and opted for the chopper. More suited to my harsh treatment.

They bought it from Argos, I think it was around £20 but it was seven years ago and alot has happened since. Argos no longer stock it but electricshopping.com have one for £22.50 with free P&P. There is also currently a used one for sale on Ebay for 99p.
The design of my model is a strange egg shape. It can hold up to 0.2L. Not much but it has always been big enough for me. The top that has the motor in is removable. This also has the plug attatched. Apart from this, for obvious reasons, all the other parts can be submersed in water. You will then have a guard that just sits on a ledge in the base. This basically stops the food flying everywhere and you accidently touching the rotating blades, The chopper does not work without this in place. In the base is the blades that simply sit on a metal pin. They can easily be removed to wash or to take the contents out of the base. To use the chopper you just push down on the top. This makes it very easy to control how much you want to chop the contents.

When my youngest was a baby I used the chopper more or less daily. Although called a chopper, chopped food eventually becomes pureed food, so I guess it's a blender too. Being not too big it is very easy to do small amounts in it. With my previous blender the blades were a good inch off the base, this meant you had to either add lots of liquid or make up a larger amount in order to blend sucessfully. It was very happy to chop frozen veg and made my life much easier.

Despite it's original purpose I still use the chopper frequently. The blades are much sturdier than my last blender and capable of coping with harder ingredients. Today I chopped some pecan nuts and a couple of days ago I used it to make some breadcrumbs. There are three pictures on the top, obviously indications of what you can use it for. The pictures are of Cheese, nuts and an onion. I know it is capable of nuts, but never tried cheese or onions. So for the purpose of this review I will give it a try.


Be right back............

Unfortunately I have no onion, but I tried the cheese. It chopped it nicely, looking similar to grated cheese. I'm a big fan of cheese straws. It was much quicker too and my knuckles are still in tact so I will be definitely using the chopper in future...sorry grater, looks like your days are over! I'll give the onion a try later and update.

The model that is pictured above is probably a newer version with possibly added features. Sometimes though the simpler things are best and I am very happy with my little chopper. It seems to have no trouble with anything I throw at it and has given me no problems during it's life. It does all the same as the bigger products and yet it is so much easier to sore. The plug cable has a suction grip on it so that you can wind the cord round and it stays in place.

I believe it also came with a cook book, but two moves on and I'm lost to it's wherabouts. It also had a lid that you could put on, one side with small holes, one side with bigger for pouring or sprinkling the contents. It must be about somewhere, but the fact that it is lost means I didn't use it much.

Summary: A mini chopper ideal for small amounts or baby food.