Juicing Heaven

Happy Sunday everyone.  Hope you remembered to turn back your clocks  by one hour.  I enjoyed sleeping in an extra hour. 

I’ve been meaning to write this post for so long…guess better late than never, right?  ( I actually wrote it last night..hehe)

One of my most vivid memories of my childhood was when my mom and grandma would make fresh carrot juice that I would drink like water.  There is something about the sweetness of carrot juice that makes it addicting.  Not to mention the healthy benefit of it:  rich in Vitamins A, K and C and an excellent source of beta-carotene.  On one of our camping trips through the USA, we picked up the Porsches of all juicers… the Norwalk!

I wanted to buy a juicer for so long for many reasons.  The main reason is to enjoy fresh healthy juice at home.  When you buy juice at the supermarket, it’s been pasteurized for obvious reasons.  However when you heat up the juice to kill any of the bad bacteria, you are also killing some of the nutrients and vitamins.   The Norwalk is the most amazing juicer out there.  First it grinds up your food, then you take the grinds, place them in a cloth bag and press the juice with a hydraulic press with about 1000lbs of pressure.  What does this mean?  Lets just say the carrot pulp was like cardboard, so dry the chickens wouldn’t even touch it. 

When I began researching juicers, I wanted to find one that gave me the most juice yield, with relatively dry juicer pulp, comparable to that of the Norwalk, but that didn’t come with the price tag of a Norwalk.  I also wanted one that would juice greens easily.  I was surprised to find so many different kinds of juicers on the market.  I learned they fall into 3 categories:  masticating, centrifugal and triturating (twin gears).  Oh boy!  What’s the difference? 

1.  Masticating = they work at slower speeds.  It basically chews the food you put threw them, so you get more fiber, vitamins and enzymes.  The most popular brand of this type is the Champion. 

2.  Centrifugal = these ones grind up the food, then the grinded produce gets pushed through a strainer as the basket spins at very high rpms.  Supposedly these types of juicers yield more volume of juice, but I doubt you get the same nutritional value from these juicers.  Most of the juicers sold in supermarkets are these types, such as the Jack Lalane juicer and the Breville juice fountain. 

3.  Triturating (twin gear) = these juicers turn at a slower rpm and have a two step process. First the machine crushes the produce, then the crushed bits get pressed to extract the juice.  This process gives you more fibre, enzymes, vitamins and trace minerals. These juicers also have magnetic and bio-ceramic technology that slows down the oxidation process, which is good if you want to make and store your juice. These juicers are excellent for juicing leafy greens, wheatgrass, sprouts, root vegetables like beets and carrots and most water dense (non-pulpy) fruits. Juicing time is longer with twin gear juicers due to the slower juicing process which gives you a higher quality juice.  Clean up is also a little more time consuming, but if it gives me better quality juice, I will take the time to clean it properly.

So which one did I go for?

I originally purchased the new Jay Kordich PowerGrind Pro. 

I read many good things about it, but I was somewhat sceptical as it’s very much like a centrifugal juicer.  However, the website claims that this juicer uses a revolutionary 2-step extraction process. It has a powerful low RPM motor, which allows for more nutrients and juice,  delicious pulp-free concentrated nutrition and greater value from your food dollar.  One reason I also purchased this one was because it is supposed to easily juice leafy green vegetables and Wheatgrass, in addition to being able to make almond milk.

When it arrived at my doorstep, I was so excited to begin juicing.  I was very happy with how quiet the machine was and how easy it was to put together.  It looked great on my counter top.  The juice yield was pretty good too and the clean up was a breeze.  However I was disappointed with how wet the carrot pulp was. I could still squeeze alot of juice out of the carrot pulp. After about a week, I returned it and started researching other juicers. After a few weeks of exploring the internet, I found one that is comparable to the Norwalk. 

Let me introduce you to my newest addition to the family…..

The Green star Elite 5000   

I Love Love Love this juicer.  It has a very good juice yield (comparable to the PowerGrind, if not more) and the carrot pulp comes much drier than in the PowerGrind.  I find that fruit pulp is usually wetter than the veggies.  Here are just a few of the other pros about this juice extractor: (information taken from http://www.harvestessentials.com/green-star-elite-gse-5000.html)

• low RPMs (110) – powerful but slow turning precision twin gears, so there is very little heat generated and this means it delays oxidation. 
• 3 step juicing due to the triple-stage twin gears
• crushing + mixing + squeezing.

• More than just a juicer
  Not only juicing, but also homogenizing fresh or frozen fruit (sorbets) is extremely simple with your Green Star Elite Juicer. Confectioneries with nuts and dried fruit are especially delicious
• More minerals in optimal bioavailability!
  Bio-magnets have been integrated into the Green Star Elite Juicer's twin gears to optimize the juice quality. They "pull" more minerals into the juice while increasing the minerals' bioavailability. This means that your body can more effectively absorb and utilise the dissolved minerals.

I now make juice twice a week regularly.  Since I’m making larger batches of juice each time, it takes me about 1.5 hours.  This includes cleaning and preparing the produce, juicing, and cleaning the machine.  And I am convinced that because I’m drinking fresh juice daily, I’ve managed to fend off all those nasty colds that others have dealt with already this year.

I cannot be happier with this juicer.  The carrot juice is so sweet and comes out in a bright deep orange color, apple juice is amazingly sweet and you should see the color of the spinach juice.  The gears just gobble up celeri sticks, but I do have to use a little more pressure when pushing carrots through the slot. 

My go-to combination of juice is carrots, apples, celeri and spinach.  Here is the batch I made the other day and it yielded just over 2L (8 3/4 cups = 5 mason jars)

• 5 lbs carrots
• 4 apples
• 2 lbs celeri
• 5 oz spinach

The question now is….what to do with all the juicer pulp?  My friend has chickens, so I’ve been giving her the pulp to feed her flock.  I’m hoping to have some muffins to show you soon as I’m going to try and use some of the pulp to make muffins.  Excited to share my results with you. 

Does anyone else use their juicer pulp?  What’s your favourite juice combination?

Beaglebea

xoxo