Is it recommended to put frozen fruit in a food processor?

Question

I have a decent Kithchen Aid food processor, and I am wondering if using it on frozen fruit would cause undue damage to the blade.

Answer 1

According to KitchenAid's food processor users' manual:

Never process any food that is so hard or firmly frozen that it cannot be pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Hard food can cause damage to the blade or motor. If a piece of hard food, such as carrot, becomes wedged or stuck on the blade, stop the processor and remove the blade. Carefully remove food from the blade.

KitchenAid 12-cup Food Processor Manual

That being said, I've also used my food processor for frozen fruit, hard nuts, etc. My blades have never worn out in 18 years of use (though the bowl has been replaced once due to cracking).

Answer 2

Anything frozen will wear the blade more than non-frozen. By frozen fruit, I assume you mean frozen berries etc? These can still be quite hard, and will cause blade wear

The question is what goes first, the motor, the bowl, or the blade? Most people don't use these sorts of appliances enough for anything to actually wear out. The normal failure mode is plastic deterioration, in which the motor housing or the bowl looks so bad, or start cracking that people buy a new machine!

Use a "bar" quality blender, that is designed for ice if you are going to do this daily, otherwise your domestic food processor will be fine

Answer 3

Beware loading the bowl with frozen fruit and having it re-freeze into a block: that could burnout your motor. My mother even managed to kill a Vita-Mix that way.