Buying a Juicer
A few tips, advice and guidelines on what to look for when buying a juicer.
What are the advantages of a juicer over bought juice?
Making fresh juices from your own juicer provides you with the same live enzymes that are available in raw fresh fruit and vegetables. These fresh raw foods give us more energy and sparkle than cooked, ‘dead’ foods, and ‘dead’ juices that have been sitting in a container on the supermarket shelf for days, weeks or even months. This energy (from the freshly made juice) is concentrated, and you feel it as soon as you drink it. It can clear your head and make you feel light and energetic.
Juicers can vary dramatically in price, so what should you look for in buying a juicer?
In order to extract juice from fruits and vegetables, it is necessary first to break down the cell walls and fibres and then separate out the juice. Ideally, a top quality juicer should deliver a nutrient-rich juice on the one hand and a dry pulp of cell walls and fibres, on the other. There are basically two types of juicers: centrifugal juicers and masticating juicers.
So what is a centrifugal juicer?
This is an inexpensive juicer and is widely available. It merely grates fruits and vegetables, leaving strings of unbroken cells. The juice from the cells that have been broken is then spun out at very high speed (6,000 to 10,000 rpm). Because the juice is flung out, it mixes with the air and so oxidises (turns brown) quickly. The pulp usually remains very moist, because the process has not extracted all the juice. Not only is this more wasteful, but the juice is paler, more watery, lower in nutrient value and often quite insipid in flavour.
That doesn’t sound very appetising. Are masticating juicers any better?
Masticating juicers provide richer, more flavourful, nutritious juices. They are altogether more ‘serious’, although more expensive, but should be considered to be an investment in good health. They more thoroughly break up fruit or vegetables, and press out the juice from the resulting pulp inside a nose cone with a narrow opening.
This is far more efficient than centrifugal action. A good masticating juicer will extract up to five times more nutrients than centrifugal juicers. Masticating juicers - like the popular American champion juicer - use a rugged cutter, spinning at 1425 rpm. This will juice whole carrots and quartered apples speedily and with ease. There are also slower masticating juicers that use a single auger or twin gears, revolving at 80 to 160 rpm, to more gently crush smaller pieces of fruit and vegetables. They are especially useful for juicing tough fibrous greens and wheatgrass (a powerful healing natural tonic).
You can also juice wheatgrass with a manual masticating juicer. A good one can be relatively inexpensive to buy, and is similar to an old fashioned table-mounted mincer that is turned with a handle. Many masticating juicers will also make smoothies, purees, nut butters, pasta, baby foods and frozen fruit ice creams.
The price of a good juicer may seem quite high, but the quality of the juice produced, and the long life of the juicer, far outweigh the initial outlay when compared to the cheaper, far less efficient models on the market.
Article submitted by: Jane Thurnell-Read, a writer and researcher on health, stress, alternative medicine and happiness. Visit her website healthandgoodness.com for tips and information on how to live a happier, healthier life no matter how busy you are.
The Juicer I use is a Green Star Juicer - Gold. It’s far and away the most robust juicer I’ve found, and I need one like this because I juice at least 3 times a day.
However, it is a little expensive, so I’ve selected a few others. By clicking on this link you’ll be able to search for your perfect juicer at Juicers Galore
Another highly recommended juicer is the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite.
Comments (No comments)
What do you think?