About Juicers

12:00 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 1 Comments

I thought it might be helpful to share a little information that I have gathered about juicers et al.

About my juicer:
I have a Hamilton Beach juicer that I bought for $60 on Amazon. I read about a lot of juicers before buying it. I learned that it is a good idea to start out with an inexpensive juicer because most people juice for a little while and then stop leaving them with a $200 juicer gathering dust. Once you find that you are going to be a juicer for life, then is the time to perhaps buy a fancy one.

http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-67650-Mouth-Extractor/dp/B000FHQJ6C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377318644&sr=8-2&keywords=hamilton+beach+juicer

What are the differences between juicers? The more expensive ones are likely to be quieter and get more juice out of the produce than others. I juice a few times a year just for a drink and then I am trying to do a 10 day juice fast annually so I could justify getting a more expensive machine. I love my juicer and I have not found any problems with it so I am quite content having it and nothing fancier.

Cleaning your juicer:
I have heard a lot of people complaining about the mess the juicer makes but I do not find it to be messy at all. Well, I take that back, it leaves a messy looking sludge that covers not only the receptacle but the top parts of the machine as well. Some people like to keep the mess to a bit more of a minimum by lining the pulp receptacle with one of those thin, plastic produce bags. I do not bother with this because as I said, the rest of the machine needs taking apart and rinsing as well so why not get my hands a little wet and rinse everything in the sink. It is that easy too...the pulp just rinses down the sink. I have had my juicer for over a year and I have never had to scrub. A couple times I used some soap but most of the time just warm water rinses all mess away and I leave the parts to dry on the counter.



Prepping the fruits and vegetables:
I have also heard a lot of people talk about how long it takes just to prep the produce. They are pretty much right. The juicer advertises that you can put in whole apples but I like to cut mine up and remove the seeds. The seeds of most fruits, if they get into the juice, can give you gas and that would be one more weird variable we don't need to deal with. One also must remove the pith from oranges/lemons/grapefruit etc. I remove the fur from the kiwis too. I pull the grapes off the sticks, of course and then there is all the washing you must do. I do buy organic so I am not putting a bunch of chemicals in my body. It is important that you use organic. That means you still have to rinse them because of bugs and dirt.


How much do you have a day?
I am not an expert in this area but I did really well with 8 cups a day. I tried to do it cup by cup but the way it worked best for me was to have 4 containers of 16 ounces. I would make the juice for the next day at night. This way I don't wake anyone up with the relatively loud juicer whir. This was plenty for me. I was energized enough. I felt light and energetic. It was easy to take to work as well. I drank one 16oz bottle on my way to work, I'd have two through the course of the day at work and then I would have a dinner one while I made the next day's juices.