At first glance, there is little to distinguish Salter’s slushie maker from the Ninja slushi. It’s almost identical in weight and dimensions but is boxier in design. It has a 2.5l tank, which is a little misleading, as this refers to its fill line for rinsing. Its maximum drink capacity is 1.9l – the same as Ninja’s machine. The control panel features colourful images accompanying its five preset programs: slushie, frosted cocktail, frappé, milkshake and chilled juice.
A successful freeze is dependent on ingredients (for instance, a sugary squash freezes at a different temperature than an alcoholic drink) and the desired texture. By following Salter’s recipe booklet, making a drink was extremely easy: I poured my premixed liquid (no ice required) into the tank, selected a program, and away it went, churning the liquid around the central cylinder, which chilled it to the appropriate sub-zero temperature. I liked the large numerical display showing the drink’s temperature decreasing. It will take some experimentation, but if you prefer a thicker or thinner slush, you can customise the temperature along a horizontal sliding scale.
My kids were fascinated watching it in action. It occasionally created a worrying juddery noise when the auger scraped chunks of ice from the cylinder, but it was fleeting and all part of the process. A squash-based slushie took about 20 minutes. I was expecting it to stop when ready, but you have to judge when it’s at your desired texture, and dispense while it’s still in motion. Serving is fun and done by pulling down the chunky handle and releasing to stop: mess-free enough for the kids to serve themselves (a useful child lock button stops unauthorised serves). A frappé was also successful, particularly as it worked surprisingly well without sugar (I’m not a fan of sweet coffee).
My frozen margarita had a lovely smooth texture and was ready in about 20 minutes (quicker than the suggested 35 minutes) – depending on ingredients and quantity, some cocktails can take up to an hour. There’s also a function to keep frozen drinks cool for up to 12 hours, which is perhaps useful for an all-day gathering, but my test proved that drinks are pretty quick to create on demand.
You can easily rinse the machine between recipes by filling it with warm water to melt any remaining ice, pressing the rinse function to churn, then dispensing the liquid. For a full clean, the tank comes away with one swift click of a lever, and the auger and condensation catcher slide off, ready for a quick wipe down in the sink (the parts are not dishwasher-safe).
Getting a consistent texture wasn’t always a given, though. A couple of times, I failed to create a basic slushie and an error message appeared: once to indicate too little sugar (hard to believe when I used the same previously successful squash); and once when a lump of ice had formed, automatically stopping the machine, but this was easily rectified by raising the temperature. A reminder to follow recipes to the letter.
Key specifications
- Capacity: 1.9l (max drink fill); 2.5l (rinse capacity)
- Preset programmes: Slushie, frosted cocktail, frappé, milkshake and chilled juice
- Dimensions: 42.5cm x 17cm x 42cm
- Weight: 11kg
- Power: 200W
