What would we do without our electric mixers? Think of all the things they do. From whipping up fluffy meringue, to cookie and cake batter and lots of other stuff. Electric mixers are wonderful but if you don’t clean them properly, they will get all gunky and sticky with old food debris.

It can also get in the gears and cause your mixer to break down before it’s time. Here’s how to clean it.

Of course you can run your beaters through the dishwasher. But that may cause them to rust, or bend and warp. Leave the beaters attached to the mixer and agitate them in a bowl of warm, soapy water until they are clean. Rinse and let them air dry.

Now on to the electric mixer itself. Of course, never immerse it in water (just the beaters). Wipe it down with a warm, soapy dish cloth or paper towel. For the really gunky stuff that seems to adhere itself to your mixer, lay the wet rag on the area for a few minutes then scrub again. If it still doesn’t want to come off, use a little scrubby sponge dipped in the soapy water.

For batter stuck in the speed controls, the holes where you stick the beaters or the vents, whisk it away with a dry toothbrush.

Now, wipe down the cord, using the soapy rag or scrubby sponge. Loosely coil the cord and store it with the hand mixer.

KitchenAid Ultra Power Plus Hand Mixer, Black

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The Electric Mixer has only been around about 100 years but it has made cooking and baking much quicker and easier. Herbert Johnson is the inventor of the electric mixer. He thought of it while watching a baker in 1908. The baker was mixing bread dough with a spoon. Herbert decided he would invent something that would do the job much easier.

His mammoth 80 quart Hobart mixer was the standard for commercial mixers by 1915. Hobart wanted to expand to the home residential market but World War 1 put a halt to his intentions. He did do some market testing with company executives in 1918.

The executives’ wives absolutely loved this new gadget.

By 1919 the expensive $189 (that’s $2,000 in today’s dollars) 5 quart KitchenAid countertop mixer was put on the market. The mixers were really heavy too at 65 pounds.  Because of the cost and size, retailers didn’t take to well to the KitchenAid mixers so Hobart started a direct sales force of women who went door to door demonstrating the electric mixer to housewives across America. An interesting fact is that the KitchenAid mixer’s mechanics today are still very similar to early models. Some of the old attachments will still fit on todays’ models.

Sunbeam Heritage Series 6-Speed Handheld Mixer – Silver

The Sunbeam MixMaster was invented in  1930  by Ivar Jepson and retailed at $18.25. That still was expensive  for housewives of that era (it would be $240 in today’s money).

Even though the MixMaster was invented during the depression, it still was a hit. By 1936 it was selling 300,000 mixers a year. Sunbeam came out with it’s hand held MixMaster in 1952. Today, their are many brands of electric mixers. The two leaders are still the KitchenAid standing mixer and the Sunbeam MixMaster.

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