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I would like to pulverize a variety of plant matter (including whole leaves with stems) into a very fine powder. From what I've read, a food processor is better at this than a blender. With the blender I own, I was able to get perhaps 5-10% of the material into a fine powder, with the rest being relatively larger particles.

There are many different food processors on the market, and I would like to know which specifications I should compare in order to determine if a food processor is capable of pulverizing plant matter to a very fine powder, as opposed to flakes or larger particles.

From searching on Amazon, I've found these listed specifications across a number of food processors:

  • wattage of the motor
  • slice disk
  • shred disk
  • chopping blade

The wattage is always listed, but I have not seen the dimensions of the blades themselves, only if they are included or not.

I assume that I would require some minimum wattage level, and some minimum combination of different disks/blades.

Additionally, if I fill my blender to the top with plant material, it refused to blend anything. Does a food processor have the same issue?

Matthew Moisen
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  • Blenders are designed to blend liquids. The blades work best when there's a little vortex (word choice?) of fluids moving around them. – Preston Jul 03 '15 at 21:02
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    It's dried stuff, I guess? Are you sure you don't just want a grinder? – Cascabel Jul 03 '15 at 21:07
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    Food processors will work better than a blender for this, but you'd really have to sift off the powder, then re-process the larger bits 'til it was all down to the size you wanted. You'll also want to pulse the processor -- if you leave it whirring, everything gets pushed around the work bowl in a vortex, not making much contact with the blades ... but as Jefromi suggested -- there are better devices for this. – Joe Jul 03 '15 at 21:24
  • @Jefromi Yes the plants I work with are bone dry and crack easily in the hands. I'll take a look into grinders vs food processors, thank you. – Matthew Moisen Jul 03 '15 at 21:58
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    A coffee burr grinder may be a better choice – TFD Jul 04 '15 at 00:04
  • Or maybe a mill – SourDoh Jul 05 '15 at 20:41
  • I'd recommend investing in a mortar and pestle. You can get them fairly cheap at a discount store, like Marshall's or T.J Maxx. I love mine vs a mechanical grinder because it's much easier to keep clean. – Patrick Schomburg Aug 11 '15 at 18:14
  • It does make sense sifting the same repeatedly after a few grinds... that way you are just grinding what you need, in turn making the process efficient. It may sound tedious to start with, but sifting makes it much quicker. –  Oct 30 '15 at 03:54
  • You might also think about slightly baking the plants to make them more dry and take out any moisture in them to make a finer powder. Baking/heat might affect the taste and properties of the plant material. So you might want to try a dry run...haha, so to speak to see if it helps out. I'm an an acupuncturist and herbalist and this is what we do to process some herbs and minerals to make them into a powder. – JG sd Jan 14 '19 at 06:38

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