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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Connected Kitchen

Miele Acquires Consumer Indoor Vertical Farm Company Agrilution

Miele announced today that it has acquired the assets of the German company, Agrilution, makers of the Plantcube indoor vertical farm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Agrilution’s Plantcubes look like wine fridges that are meant to be built directly into home kitchens. The automated systems regulate the lighting, climate, and water levels plants receive, all key parts of delivering the right “recipe” of nutrients to crops grown in vertical farms. Plantcubes cost €2,979 (~$3,300 USD) and are capable of growing a number of different greens including kale, leaf lettuce, basil and more.

According to the press announcement, Miele came on board after Agrilution failed to raise more financing and filed for insolvency on Dec. 1. Agrilution will become a subsidiary of Miele, and almost all of Agrilution’s employees will be transferred over to Miele.

Having an in-kitchen grow system makes a lot of sense for people wanting to reduce their carbon footprint as well as have more transparency into and control over the food that they eat. These small farms could be especially appealing to those that don’t have the space, inclination or talent to grow their greens outside. In fact, building hydroponic grow systems directly into cabinets was a trend predicted during a panel on the future of the kitchen at our recent Smart Kitchen Summit.

The acquisition of Agrilution also seems like a smart play for Miele. Since Agrilution was in insolvency, the assets for the company probably weren’t that expensive. Miele has also shown that it isn’t afraid to shake up the traditional kitchen with new appliances like its solid state RF oven, its own meal delivery service, and investments in digital recipe startups like Plant Jammer and KptnCook.

A big player like Miele could also help push indoor farming systems more into the mainstream. Miele has the market muscle other in-home farming startups like Seedo, SproutsIO, or Ponix just can’t match. The only question remains is whether in a world of on-demand food delivery, people will have the patience to grow their own greens.

A Tale of Two Kickstarter Campaigns I Backed (One is Delayed)

If you are my wife or my parents, please don’t read this, there are Christmas gift spoilers ahead. Everyone else — I didn’t get you anything so please continue!

Call it hubris, but after writing about various Kickstarter campaigns that never made it to market, I thought I had a certain Spidey-sense when it comes to crowdfunding hardware. That I knew how to spot a winner and avoid a dud.

But then I backed the ChopBox, a multi-function cutting board that featured a built-in scale and timer and knife sanitizer all in one. It cost $100, but our cutting boards are getting raggedy and this one looked so cool, and how hard could it be to build a cutting board?

Evidently, harder than the Yes Company, the company behind the campaign, thought. Though the campaign zoomed past it’s $10,000 goal and went on to raise nearly $1.8 million dollars, evidently that wasn’t enough to keep the original shipping date of December 2019 on track. In an update sent on October 8, The Yes Company wrote:

We are on schedule this month to have our first production run of 50 units to test around October 20th. After that trial production run, around October 26-30th, we will start with a larger production run of 2000 units to start shipping out.

We plan to start shipping out Kickstarter orders between November 15-20th. Amount are 50000 units maximum before December we can produce.

Then on Oct. 19, the company sent out:

We expect all rewards to ship in the month of December 2019 (the “Super Fast” pledge will ship out in November).

They also promised that the shipping survey would be sent out “in a few weeks.”

Then on Nov. 21, the Yes Company sent out another update saying:

The time frame has delayed slightly, as during the one-time trial test, we found that there are 2 things that could potentially slow down the process and make the Chopbox in a mess.

They also wrote:

You’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey soon.

Then today, another campaign update was sent out saying:

The first batch is for the backers who selected super fast shipping, which will ship by the end of the month and come to you in January.

The second batch will be sent out around the middle of January

They also said that the survey was sent out. But I never received one and a quick look at the comment section of the Kickstarter page shows that neither did a lot of other backers.

This delay is obviously a bummer for anyone ordering this as a Christmas gift (I did not), but honestly, a month delay for a Kickstarter project is not that bad. Plus, the company offered to send a card that you could presumably hand to someone during the holidays as a placeholder. Think of that what you will.

I’m not super worried about my ChopBox purchase (yet). The company is at least posting updates and photos of the product in progress that I’ll assume are legit. But it serves as another reminder that the first rule of Kickstarter is caveat emptor. Buyer beware.

Contrast this with my other recent Kickstarter purchase, a set of GIR silicone straws. They’re meant to be a li’l stocking stuffer for my wife, who travels a lot, so she doesn’t have to use plastic straws at airports and such.

I got the notification this week that my straws have been shipped, and not only that, they are coming out ahead of schedule. I recognize that mass producing a silicone straw is not the same thing as manufacturing an electronics-packed cutting board, but still, it fills my heart with holiday cheer.

Hopefully that cheer and crowdfunding karma will continue with the BRÜ tea maker that I backed…

Amazon: Instant Pots, Avocados and, of course, Amazon Devices are Big Sellers This Year

In what is becoming its own holiday tradition, Amazon sent out a press release this week explaining how Amazon and Amazon devices in particular crushed it this past Cyber Monday.

In Amazon’s typical vague fashion, the company didn’t release any hard numbers, saying only that “Customers purchased millions more Amazon Devices compared to the same period last year in Amazon’s Stores globally and the best-selling items were Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote.”

It’s no real surprise that the biggest e-commerce site in the world could pull levers and buttons on its biggest shopping day of the year to generate millions of sales of its own products. But if we look back, during last year’s Cyber Monday holiday weekend, Echo Dot was also a big seller, with millions of Echo devices sold. And in 2017, Amazon said that over that entire holiday shopping season that it had sold tens of millions of Alexa devices.

In short, dominance perpetuates itself, and with Amazon owning 70 percent of the smart speaker market, its dominance doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. For the smart kitchen, this means appliance makers will continue to bake Alexa capabilities into their devices, which will beget more sales of Alexa-enabled devices, and the cycle continues.

Quick sidenote: It’s interesting to see Amazon’s wording evolve over the past three years. In 2017 it was “Alexa” enabled devices. In 2018 they were “Echo” devices and this year they are “Amazon” devices. This evolution is a reflection of how Amazon has broadened its first-party offerings with items like the Fire TV devices and Ring connected doorbells and lights.

But it wasn’t all Amazon, Amazon, Amazon this holiday season. The company also announced its “Best of Prime 2019” this week and among the winners were Instant Pot and… avocados.

The Instant Pot (which merged with the maker of Pyrex earlier this year) is indefatigable. Amazon said it has been a top seller for the past three years, and the Instant Pot DUO60 was among the most gifted items by Prime members this year as well.

And while it really didn’t provide any other context or numbers, Avocados were also a big seller throughout 2019 for Amazon Prime members as well.

OK. Sure.

This is just the first round of Amazon’s “Aren’t We Great?” press releases. Expect another after Christmas as well, telling (in vague terms only) how many millions of devices it sold throughout this holiday season.

Kickstarter: Is Neoven’s Promise of a Portable Oven with Fridge and Mixer too Good to Be True?

Is there any promise less trustworthy than a Kickstarter promise? Crowdfunding campaigns intentionally paint a pretty picture to attract your dollars, but sadly those promises often go unfulfilled, literally (looking at you Rite Press and iGulu).

With that in mind, I’m casting a bit of the ole’ side eye at the NEOVEN, a product now on Kickstarter that promises to be a portable oven to heat your lunch, as well as a fridge and smoothie mixer and kettle.

The NEOVEN has two main compartments: a larger one for holding a food container and heating it, and a secondary one to hold a smaller container of food, or in which to plug in modules like the mixer, kettle and cooling unit. The heating supposedly only takes five minutes and can be controlled via the NEOVEN mobile app.

This is the second heated lunchbox that we’ve written about in as many weeks. The Heatbox also promises to heat up your meal when you’re ready to eat, but it only promises to heat and uses steam to do so. The NEOVEN says it uses a Heta heating element, and it will make smoothies and coffee.

That all sounds great, and I hope they can pull it off. But I’m always leery of Kickstarter devices that try to be so many things. Developing a prototype is one thing but manufacturing something at scale is quite another, and it’s in that leap where so many crowdfunding campaigns go off the rails.

What is interesting is that most of the people commenting on the Kickstarter campaign page aren’t worried about the device not actually coming to market. Instead they’re concerned that it’s made out of plastic. Plastic waste is definitely an issue for the planet, but if it works NEOVEN seems like it could help people use less plastic by eating out less frequently and creating less food waste.

NEOVEN was looking to raise $20,000 and has already hit more than $77,000 in backing with 19 days left in its campaign. Backers can pledge $199 to order a NEOVEN (without any attachments) that is supposed to ship in July of next year.

The Three Stages of Thanksgiving Connected Cooking Grief

In retrospect, I was too cocky this Thanksgiving. Backed by cooking technology and cloud connected apps, I thought making my first turkey would be a breeze. I’d turn a dial, tap a button on my phone and voila! A perfectly cooked turkey would emerge.

Like some folktale about technology versus tradition, I was wrong. While the turkey did come out beautifully, it had almost nothing to do with any connections built into my appliances. In fact, the technology I used almost created more stress than relief.

Thanksgiving is already a stressful holiday. You want your guests to eat on time and enjoy delicious food and, especially with a turkey, you want to make sure no one gets sick. That is partly why I armed myself with so much technology when smoking my first turkey. I had the Traeger Pro 575 WiFire wood pellet grill and a Meater block of WiFi enabled meat thermometers.

Stage 1: Excitement

My initial plan was to use the Traeger app to monitor and control the cooking and the Meater thermometer to ensure that the bird was cooked thoroughly. Easy peasy.

In my previous tests with the Traeger, I noticed that while the accompanying app was useful for remote monitoring and control of the grill, the guided cooking features were a little too automated and on the rails. There wasn’t a place to pause the cook program, so it would just barrel through to the next step (like raising the temperature) even if you weren’t ready. I needed a little more flexibility with a 14-pound bird on a cold day.

For extra accuracy, my plan was to use the Meater thermometers not only to monitor the internal temperature of the bird, but to also help ensure accuracy of the ambient temperature inside the cooking cavity. This backup would just help make sure the grill was cooking at the right temperature.

I’ve used Meater before and found it to be a great experience. The app is intuitive, and while the probe itself is a little thick, it’s easy to set up and use. Or at least it was before. Almost immediately I had issues connecting my Meater app to a thermometer, and even when I managed to do so, that connection was lost as soon as I placed it in the grill and shut the door. After a half hour of re-starting and re-connecting, I just abandoned the Meaters altogether.

Stage 2: Mild Panic

Suddenly, I was left to my own devices and not the ones I thought were going to save me.

Again, this is the first time I’m making a turkey. I wanted it to be done and I didn’t want to get anyone sick. With its slick interface, tons of data and directions on when to pull out the turkey to let it rest, I was counting on the Meater to help me through. But now that was out of the picture.

And the Trager app wasn’t much help, either. The recipe had two main instructions: cook on low heat for a few hours and then move the bird into a foil pan and ratchet up the heat when the color of the bird looked right. Looking right may be the sort of vague direction that works for people with confidence in their cooking, but I only had sort of an idea of what a smoked turkey should look like two hours in.

As a result, I kept opening up the grill to look at the bird, which dropped the temperature of the grill each time and made the cooking process longer. Finally, after a few hours, it looked good and I covered it in butter, wrapped it in foil, set it in a pan and put it back in.

I had started the process at 8 a.m. and it was coming up on noon. Guests would arrive in an hour and we were eating at 3, and this bird was nowhere near done.

Long story short: while the recipe said it would take five hours, the cook actually took more like seven hours, and I had to make adjustments like turning up the heat beyond what was instructed to get the internal temperature to a safe 165 degrees.

Stage 3: Relief

Despite technological shortcomings and my steady worrying, the turkey came out beautifully and was delicious. Really. Not to brag, but it tasted better than the turkey we cooked in a traditional oven and was so good that I’ll probably smoke another one next year.

What I learned is that I can’t rely on gadgets to make it happen though. The connected kitchen still has lots of idiosyncrasies to work out. Devices should connect without hassle and the design of apps should not be an afterthought.

Hopefully the industry can come together to create technology that helps cook the turkey — not be the turkey next Thanksgiving.

The Spoon 2019 Food & Kitchen Tech Gift Guide!

With our bellies full of delicious food and leftovers just waiting to be, well, gobbled, it’s time to turn our attention from gluttony to giving presents. And if you’ve got a foodie in your life, or a techie, or some kind of foodie techie, then we have compiled the perfect gift guide for you!

The Spoon staff has gone over all the gadgets, gizmos and other great stuff we’ve encountered throughout the year and assembled them into one handy-dandy list. Take a look and let us know what you think!

CATHERINE LAMB’S PICKS:

Silicone Straws
We all know that we shouldn’t be using single-use straws because they end up in landfills and oceans. But many reusable straws are large, tricky to clean, and too awkwardly shaped to carry around with us to the office or our favorite lunch spot. That’s why these colorful silicone straws from Food52 are such a win. Not only do they look pretty; they’re also flexible so you can bend and store them in their accompanying carrying cases. Bonus: They come with a squeegee for easy cleaning. A four-pack is $25, so that shakes out to four holiday gifts for under 10 bucks each!

Photo: Willie’s Remedy.

Willie Nelson CBD Coffee
If you need a gift for someone who loves country music, coffee, and is a slightly adventurous (or just two of the three), a bag of beans from Willie’s Remedy may be just the ticket. The coffee from Willie Nelson’s company is infused with CBD, the trendy wellness ingredient that’s the non-hallucinogenic chemical compound in the cannabis plant. It’s meant to promote relaxation and focus, giving you that caffeine boost without the jitters. (Bonus: It’s tasty stuff.) Buyer Beware: While Willie’s Remedy coffee may ship openly around the U.S., CBD-infused food and beverage is technically not approved by the FDA.

Photo: Bright Cellars.

Bright Cellars
There are those people who are really hard to buy gifts for because they already have everything. But one thing that no one (alright, hardly anyone) has enough of is wine. Especially if it’s personalized to their tastes. Bright Cellars is a wine subscription service that uses a short quiz to curate monthly wine deliveries tailored specifically to the recipient’s preferences. It uses feedback to further personalize the wine selection — so it’s also a tool to teach you more about what wines tickle your fancy. Prices are flexible and start at $100.

JENN MARSTON’S PICKS:

GoSun Reusable Cutlery
I’d bet money that for most people who do the whole stocking stuffer thing (raises hand), only about 10 percent of the gifts involve items that are actually useful. But if you want to branch out from chocolate coins and lip balm this year, consider investing in a few pairs of GoSun’s portable utensil packs. The set of reusable cutlery comes with a stainless steel fork and spoon nestled in a metal case roughly the size of a credit card. Pieces are dishwater safe and, in theory at least, can help us curb the amount of disposable cutlery used at QSRs and fast-casual restaurants. The sets are available for $20 each, which is pricier than chocolate coins but exponentially more useful. The only drag is that they don’t actually ship until February 2020, so a photo of the product in someone’s stocking will have to do for the holidays.

Ember Mug 2
Ember released the second-generation version its temperature-controlled mug in October of this year, which makes it an obvious candidate for our 2019 guide. Dubbed the Ember Mug 2, the ceramic “smart” mug keeps your coffee or tea heated to an exact temperature for hours by talking to your phone, which controls the temperature via an app. Yes, the new version is pricy: $99.95 for the 10 oz. mug, $129.95 for the 14 oz. version, and $179.95 for a travel mug. But if you have a loved one who particularly hates microwaving lukewarm dregs of coffee, the Ember Mug2’s longer battery life and touchscreen interface on the mug might just be worth the price hike.

Ponix System Herbert Farm
Got health-conscious family members on which you’re willing to splurge this holiday season? Consider buying them a vertical farm that hangs on the living room or kitchen wall. Ponix System’s Herbert farm uses LEDs and software to grow plants directly in water, with no need for soil. The unit can grow up to 15 plants at once, which is more than enough to provide fresh greens to a single household. The best part of this product is that you can save additional space by mounting Herbert onto the wall. The system goes for €490.00 right now. If you’re outside of the EU, expect additional shipping fees that are determined on a case-by-case basis.

MIKE WOLF’S PICKS:

Image credit: Equal Parts

Equal Parts Cookware and Coaching
No matter how much you cook at home, it’s always good to have a friend you can rely on for cooking advice. If you (or someone in your life) haven’t found that person yet, you might consider a cookware set from Equal Parts. Each set of cookware from this new cookware brand targeted at millennials comes bundled with two months of coaching provided through text messaging, which allows the home cook to ask about anything from techniques to recipe recommendations. I’ve been trying out the coaching service in preparation for Thanksgiving and find my coach responsive and knowledgeable. The cookware+coaching bundles start at $65 and go up to $500 and can be found on the Equal Parts website.

Terra Kaffe TK-01 Grind and Brew Coffee Machine
If you or a loved one has been looking for the closest thing to a coffee robot for the home, the Terra Kaffe TK-01 might just be it. This grind and brew coffee machine allows you to make pretty much any coffee drink under the sun with a few touches of the button. With the ability to optimize your favorite drink and save a specific formulation using the user friendly touch screen, the TK-01 could be the perfect gift for the coffee snob who thinks (s)he has everything. And because it grinds from whole beans stored inside an internal reservoir, it’s more environmentally friendly than that old Keurig, and could be a good gift for someone looking to put pod-based coffee behind them. Priced at $775, you can pick up a TK-01 for $675 using the discount code BF2019 for a limited time.

Sparkel
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, unless of course it’s adding bubbles to a beverage. That’s my and my family’s attitude at least since we’ve been testing out the Sparkel home carbonation machine and add fizz to everything from sweet tea to cold brew coffee to golden milk. The Sparkel, which is available in a starter pack for $99 (or $119 for a Smeg-ish color like pink or light blue), is a good gift option for anyone in your family who loves to try out new types of beverages or just consumes tons of sparkling water.

CHRIS ALBRECHT’S PICKS:

Cinder
A sous vide cooked steak is delicious, but it can be a hassle. You have to bring the water to temp, then seal up your meat in plastic (yuck), heat it in the bath for a long time, and then after all that you have to get a pan or grill ripping hot so you can sear it. Ugh. Who wants to deal with all that? The Cinder grill is like a George Foreman grill on steroids that does all of the above in one device. It offers precision sous vide style cooking with no water bath, no plastic bags, and you can sear it on the same device — and the results are delicious. At $429, the Cinder is a lot more expensive than a sous vide wand, but the time you’ll save will make up for it.

Freshly Meal Plan
I tested a lot of prepared meal delivery services this year and while Freshly wasn’t the cheapest, it was the tastiest. Freshly offers a wide range of meals like Sicilian Style Chicken Parm, Sausage Baked Penne, and Coconut Green Curry Chicken. They arrive already made and packaged up so all you have to do is pop them in the microwave, plate and enjoy! Perfect for busy folks and families looking for a little variety in the weekly dinners. You can gift four meals for $50.

Magically delicious

Magic Spoon
Sugary breakfast cereals are delicious, but also… packed with sugar, which is a no-no. Enter Magic Spoon, the “healthy” sweet breakfast that is reminiscent of your childhood but accommodates your adult lifestyle. It’s gluten-free, keto-friendly, packed with protein and most importantly, SUPER TASTY. So you can eat like a kid without any adult guilt. It does, however, come with an adult price, costing $40 for a four-pack, but having gone through four boxes myself, it’s worth trying at least once.

Those are our picks! What do you want for the holidays? Leave us a comment and let us know!

The Spoon’s Black Friday 2019 Food Tech Deal Roundup

You may not have fully digested that pumpkin pie yet, but it’s time to start shopping for Black Friday deals.

To help makes things easier, we’ve put together the top food tech and kitchen tech Black Friday deals in one place. We’ll be updating this post throughout the next couple days, so make sure to check back.

If you see a good deal you think we haven’t mentioned yet, drop us a line.

DrinkWorks Home Bar for $199 (50% off)

If you’re lucky enough to live in a state (Florida, Missouri, California, Pennsylvania and New York) where DrinkWorks has began selling its pod-based home cocktail robot, you can take advantage of a half off deal for Black Friday. Prices goes up on Cyber Monday, but those same residents can still save $100 on the Home Bar through December 31st. To take advantage of 50% off pricing, use discount code BLACKFRIDAY on the DrinkWorks website.

Terra Kaffe TK-01: $100 Off

While some of us are still waiting for our Spinn coffee machines, those of you still in the market for a do-everything grind and brew coffee machine can take advantage of a $100-bucks-off Black Friday deal for the Terra Kaffe TK-01. Use discount code BF2019 at checkout on the Terra Kaffe website for a limited time to get this barista-in-a-box for $675.

Nomiku Meals: 40% Off

While still selling its consumer sous vide appliance, Nomiku has largely pivoted to focusing on its sous vide ready meals. This week the company is selling all of its meals for 40% off. Use discount code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.

Instant Vortex Air Fryer: $79

You finally joined the pressure cooker crowd last holiday season, so isn’t it time you try an air fryer? Walmart is offering $40 off on the Instant 7 in 1 air fryer for Black Friday.

Tovala Connected Steam Oven: $99

As Chris wrote about earlier this week, the Tovala connected steam oven is on sale through Black Friday for $99 (regular retails is $299), provided you buy a minimum of six meals for the scan and cook appliance.

PicoBrew Pico C Beer Brew Appliance: $150 Off

PicoBrew products are perpetually on sale nowadays, but you can pick up an especially good price this Black Friday by scooping up a Pico C for just $249, which is $150 off the list price. You can get this and lots of other deals on the PicoBrew offers page, no promo code needed.

Brava Smart Oven: $250 Off

Brava just got bought by Middleby, so it looks like the company’s celebrating by dropping the price on its smart oven. You can pick up the Brava oven “Starter Set” for $250 off the regular price of $1095 over on the company website.

Anova Pro: $100 Off

Anova usually has a bunch of Black Friday deals on offer and this year is no exception. The sous vide market leader’s latest product, the Anova Pro, is on sale for $299 this Black Friday, $100 off the list price.

Free Impossible Burger at BurgerIM

If you want to step away from your computer on Black Friday (we recommend it), new burger chain BurgerIM is offering a free Impossible Burger to any guest with the purchase of a BurgerIM burger. The chain has 212 locations and you can find out if one is nearby on their website.

Suvie: $200 Off (Black Friday Only)

If you want a home cooking appliance that truly does it all, you might consider the Suvie multi-zone cooking robot. The appliance can cook a protein, starch, veggie and sauce all the same time and has a built-in refrigerator to keep things cool while you’re away. All that functionality isn’t cheap – the Suvie is normally $1,199 – but for today only you can get $200 off by using the discount code BF200.

Cinder Precision Grill: $80 off

Chris had the Cinder precision grill as one of his food tech holiday picks, so if you want to give this unique dual cooking surface precision heating appliance to the foodie in your life, you can pick one up today for $349, a full $80 bucks off full retail. The deal is Black Friday only, so better hurry.

ckbk: $24.99 (50% off) for the ‘Spotify of Cookbooks)

Why just buy someone a cookbook when you can buy them pretty much every cookbook under the sun? The ckbk service is aptly called by some the Spotify for cookbooks, giving the subscriber access to over 400 cookbooks. You can get a year subscription to ckbk for $24.99 or a six month subscription for $14.99 through this week.

Meater Connected Thermometer: 20% Off

The Meater connected thermometer is one of those gifts that seems like they were designed in a lab to perfectly fit the tech-forward griller in your life and today you can get 20% off the Meater or any other product in the Meater store.

The Food Tech Show: Editor Roundtable, Thanksgiving Edition

Like most Americans, the Spoon crew is busy preparing for Thanksgiving, but before we headed off our separate ways to overdose on home made cranberry sauce and tryptophan, we decided to get together to catch up on some of the news of the week.

Here’s the stories we discussed on this week’s show:

That’s it. Time to go make some Instant Pot cranberry sauce (here’s the recipe, btw).

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

As always, you can listen to the Food Tech Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download it directly to your device or just hit play below.

Audio Player

Electrolux Launches Connected Multi-Function Blender Powered by Drop

Swedish appliance maker Electrolux announced yesterday the launch of its Master 9 Multi Blender, a connected multi-purpose countertop device with an accompanying app powered by Drop.

The press announcement didn’t have many details, but a video posted by Electrolux last month shows a rendering of what the Master 9 is capable of. Depending on which model you get, there are three attachments that allow you to make smoothies and juices, or chop up vegetables for thicker pastes and sauces, or grind spices and coffee.

Electrolux Master 9 Multi Blender

Once connected to the blender, the Master X app, which was developed with Drop, offers up a number of recipes, step-by-step instructions, and blend programs that automatically adjust the speed and duration of a blend, depending on what you are making. The recipes in the Master X app were created in partnership with Le Cordon Bleu.

This blender continues Electrolux’s guided cooking push deeper into the kitchen and beyond just heating things up. The company already owns Anova, which makes sous vide wands, and has partnered with both Innit and SideChef.

This also adds another appliance arrow to Drop’s quiver. Last month cooking OS company partnered with Thermomix to control that appliance as well as order groceries.

No word on price for the Master 9, and even if you are interested in it, Electrolux is launching it first in Thailand and Korea this month and will roll it out to other markets in Asia in March.

If you can’t wait that long for a fancypants blender, you could always pick up the NutriBullet Balance ($149) or Instant Pot’s Ace Blender ($124), though that one doesn’t have an app.

Three Last-Minute Bits of Kitchen Tech That Could Make Your Thanksgiving Easier

If you are having stress dreams about hosting the Thanksgiving meal this year, take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay because we at The Spoon are here to help. While we can’t provide another pair of hands, we can point out some connected kitchen gear that could make your cooking easier and can still be overnighted to you in time for the T-Day.

MEATER THERMOMETER
The Meater is a connected meat thermometer that will let you keep track of your turkey’s internal cooking temperature via its mobile app. The device has a “whole turkey” setting, so you can stick the probe in and monitor your bird without having to open up the oven (losing all that heat) a bunch of times. You can buy a single Meater for $69, or the Meater Block ($269), which has four probes in case you’re cooking more than one turkey or need to coordinate the cooking of more than one meat.

The Anova Nano

ANOVA NANO SOUS VIDE
While you could certainly sous vide a whole turkey, that would take 24 hours and you’ve got enough going on. No, you can use the Anova Nano ($79) to help with other duties like keeping mashed potatoes warm. Make them the day before, and when it’s time to serve them up, load the potatoes into a bag and keep them at a precise temperature in the water bath to free up your oven for other cooking duties .

FOOD NETWORK KITCHEN
If you’re looking for inspiration or need some helpful tips with your trimmings, the Food Network Kitchen app delivers Food Network shows and live instruction from Food Network celebrity chefs. Tomorrow (Tues., Nov. 26th), for example, Martha Stewart will teach you how to make Herb Roasted Heritage Turkey, and Giada De Laurentis gives a class on making a holiday salad. You can watch on your iOS or Android device or on an Alexa Show. Even better, you can try Food Network Kitchen for free for 90 days ($6.99/month after that), so Thanksgiving and all your holidays are covered!

Do you have any bits of food tech that can alleviate the stress of Thanksgiving? Leave a comment and let us know!

Been Waiting to Buy a Smart Oven? Black Friday Deals May Give You the Excuse You Need

Though she had encouraged me to buy one, my wife was not happy when she came home to find our new June Oven taking up countertop space. It was big, bulky and why did we need a fourth (counting the microwave) oven in the kitchen?

And then she tried leftover pizza re-heated in the June and all was immediately forgiven. Now the June is an integral part of our everyday cooking.

If you’ve wanted a smart oven, but have been reluctant because of the size, the perceived usage and most importantly the cost, then this Black Friday may bring you the excuse you’ve needed to finally buy one. Three of the big countertop, connected smart ovens go on sale this Black Friday, here’s what they are offering.

The Brava

BRAVA
The smart oven that cooks with light has a “VIP Pre-Black Friday Sale” going on right now, offering the Brava starter set for $845 (down from $1,095). It includes the oven, temperature sensor (which is dumb to list as an add-on because you definitely need it) a metal tray, a glass tray, and two year membership of its Brava Plus recipes and programmed cook functionalities.

I tested the Brava and it works well, but the small cooking cavity means it’s probably best for couples (or singles!) and not larger families. The good news though, is that Brava just got acquired by Middleby, a publicly traded company this week, and will continue as its own brand. So you don’t have to worry about the company going under and leaving you with a bricked oven.

TOVALA
Tovala has always been the least expensive option of the three main smart oven startups, and it’s also the only one (for now) that does steam cooking. Spoon Founder Mike Wolf liked the second-gen Tovala, and since he tried it both versions now have expanded scan-to-cook functionality so you can scan barcodes on products and the machine takes care of the rest.

For Black Friday, Tovala is dropping the price of the oven to $99 (retails at full price for $299), if you order a minimum of 6 of the Tovala meal deliveries. The company says the deal will run through next Friday and quantities are limited. If you miss that deal, Tovala will be on sale on Cyber Monday for $199.

JUNE OVEN
As noted above, I have a June Oven and use it all the time. The company is currently offering a deal on its second-gen oven that even beats the introductory price I bought it at. Technically, this doesn’t seem to be a specific Black Friday deal, but you can get a June Oven standard package (which, honestly is the basic stuff you actually need to use it) for $499, down from $699. Guess those tariffs weren’t that big a deal after all?

If you are feeling adventurous and can wait till Cyber Monday, you can pre-order the just-announced Weber SmokeFire connected grill that’s powered by the June OS.

Any of these are a worthy addition to your kitchen counter and worth the space you dedicate to them. And with these reduced prices, now is the best time to grab one.

The Mellow Duo, a Sous Vide Appliance With Built-in Refrigeration, Surpasses Kickstarter Target

That Mellow Duo has had a good week.

The dual chamber sous vide appliance with integrated cooling started a Kickstarter campaign on Monday and by Tuesday had surpassed its $30 thousand crowdfunding its target. Three days later, the campaign stands at $67 thousand.

“We are super excited with how the campaign has started,” Zalmi Duchman, company CEO, told me via a Linkedin message. “While I knew we would hit our goal early I didn’t think we would surpass it within the first 24 hours.”

Interestingly, the second generation Mellow is on roughly the same pace as the original Mellow, which crowdfunded through a self-hosted campaign on its site in 2014. As some readers know, that first generation product was ultimately late to market and had something of a rocky start. With the Mellow Duo, the company’s new ownership is hoping to turn the page.

With the exception of a radically different form factor and modern features like built-in refrigeration and connectivity, the Duo is something of a callback to the early days of the sous vide market, where water baths like the Sous Video Supreme were the only game in town. While most consumers nowadays go with svelte circulators that spend most of the time in the kitchen drawer, the Duo almost demands real estate on the kitchen counter, which may be just fine for a subset of sous vide diehards who want to cook every day with precision heating.

For Duchman’s part, he’s just hopeful the campaign’s early momentum will continue.

“Having almost 300 backers already shows the excitement around the new product but my real goal is at least 1000 backers and I’m confident we will hit that before the campaign ends”