My late husband and I were seriously into juicing until he went on dialysis-- can’t do high-potassium foods, which is basically all fruits and vegetables except cabbage and green beans. Then when he had his kidney transplant, I had kind of lost momentum, and there were so many other dietary things to think about.
Better late than never–I just bought a juicer and I’m eager to get back into it. I loved the simplicity, the health benefits, and the surprise at how good some combos tasted. I remember giving a friend a glass of apple-spinach-carrot juice to drink and he was grossed out by the yukky color, but astonished at how sweet it tasted.
What are your juicing tips, tricks, routines, methods, recipes? Do you have the practical sense that juicing is good for your health?
I don’t use recipes per say, more of a what’s-in-the-crisper approach, but I nearly always add a lime and some parsley for a kick to whatever else I juice.
Standard evening blend - 2 carrots, 1 cucumber, handful each of kale and spinach, one tomato, one granny smith apple, half a bunch of parsley and one lime.
We had a juicer when I was a teen/young adult living at home. We lived in tropical north Australia, so there was lots of mango, pawpaw (papaya), various citrus and jackfruit that went through our juicer. I think my mama thought it would be better juiced and drunk than thrown away, which is what would have happened otherwise.
From my understanding, the pulp one removes during juicing is a big part of what makes fruits and veggies healthy. The fibre is healthy in and of itself in removing cholesterol from the system and keeping the gut “swept clean”, but also, when consumed in conjunction with the high sugar juices, can slow their digestion and aid in uptake of nutrients.
Just coz you drank some veggie juice, you’re not off the hook. Eat your recommended serves of fruit/veg daily, in ADDITION to your juice.
My three current favorites - 1 apple, 3 carrots, small piece of ginger. 1 1/2 pears, 1/2 cup pineapple, couple of handfuls of kale. 1/2 cucumber, 1 beet (plus beet greens), 1 apple, couple of handfuls of kale, couple of handfuls of spinach. Delicious!
What if one had a Vitamix blender, that liquifies stuff pretty well. Could one use that for juicing, which would end up like smoothies with all the fiber and stuff left in?
I’m getting excited. The juicer came today, and I had to find a place for it in my tiny kitchen. Will shop for produce tomorrow. I got the Breville that was reviewed on America’s Test Kitchen last Saturday. I had a ton of Amazon rewards points saved up, so it was around $50, hehe.
I am pretty heavily into juicing. I formerly did smoothies until switching to juicing earlier this year.
The juicer I use is the Breville Juice Fountain Elite. It is a phenomenal piece of machinery. My favorite attributes are as follows.
It is mostly metal parts and no cheap flimsy plastic. The few plastic pieces seem very durable.
It is high powered with 1,000 watts. It has two settings (high and low), which I switch between depending upon what I am juicing.
It has a large feeding tube at 3 inches wide. This cuts down on prep time significantly. For example, many apples are just put in whole without cutting them.
Prep time (washing and cutting) and clean up time are by far the longest part of the process (the actual juicing is completed in seconds), so you should pay particular attention to anything that can cut this down such as the wide feeding tube.
I try to use mostly vegetables in my juices. One juice I like particularly well is one I made up myself: 1 cucumber, 1 orange bell pepper, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, one green apple, 1 inch piece of ginger, 2 leaves of kale.
I try to mix it up a lot and have found that I enjoy most recipes. I went on a six day juice fast when I first got the machine and now I typically do one juice in the mornings. Occasionally I will do two in a day.
Overall, I am a much bigger fan of juices than smoothies, but I think smoothies still have a good place. My typical smoothie recipe was: one banana, two kale leaves, 1/3rd of a carrot, 1 celery, 1/4th of a cucumber, and coconut water.
A friend of mine became a juicer after watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. As near as I can tell, she’d juice just about anything. The only thing she used that I haven’t seen listed so far is the greens off the top of beets, in addition to the beets.
Smoothies keep in the pulp, whereas with juicing the pulp is separated from the juice. Many (if not all?) juicers have an apparatus where the pulp is separated so it can be thrown away. I’ve heard of people taking the pulp and making things with it such as zucchini bread-style breads, or just throwing it in the compost pile.
Basically, you use a blender to make a smoothie and drink the entire thing. The juicer, like others said, separates out everything but a very thin liquid. You consume a lot more vegetables and fruits with a juicer. Both are good for you though.
This is my routine: I get the things out that I’m going to juice and wash, trim, etc. I put ice in a big, tall glass. There wasn’t an outlet near the only place the juicer would fit (it DOES have a large footprint), so I’m using a power strip, but the juicer is the only thing plugged into it. I keep the power strip turned off except when I’m getting ready to turn on the juicer.
As you said, the juicing itself takes only seconds. As soon as I’m done, I remove the pitcher with the juice in it and slide a small saucer under the spout to catch drips. I pour the juice into my glass of ice and immediately turn off the power strip and take the juicer parts to the sink to wash/rinse. I timed myself this evening and it took me three minutes to wash everything, including cleaning the filter/screen with the brush that comes with the juicer. I think it’s imperative to rinse the thing right away, because once the pieces of pulp dry, you’re screwed.
I put the parts on a dish drainer and also immediately put a produce bag or other plastic bag in the pulp receptacle. This is so I don’t forget the next time, as I’ve done when I don’t do this right away. (I tend to forget stuff unless I have a routine.)
Approximately five minutes have elapsed since I poured the juice into my glass of ice, which is the perfect amount of time to cool it without diluting it.
I’m interested that you use two celery stalks. I find that even if I use a one-inch piece of celery, its flavor dominates. I’m going to have to try your recipe. I also haven’t used ginger. I get my kick from a whole key lime (peel and all).
My favorite is four carrots, two small apples, two big chunks of fresh pineapple, greens like baby spinach or salad greens (a lot… couple of good-sized handfuls), and a key lime. This is very refreshing.
Have you tried V-8 Analog: several tomatoes (even canned tomatoes), a piece of celery, a tiny cucumber or about 1/4 of a regular cucumber, greens like baby spinach, a quarter of a green pepper, and several scallions. This is pretty good but needs tweaking. Maybe a dash of Worcestershire and about two ounces of vodka.
I have a routine similar to yours. I think setting that routine is very key to sticking with it.
I’ve heard quite a few people that feel celery dominates. I may be unique in that it doesn’t to me. I will routinely use 2-3 or even more stalks of celery in recipes. Of course in that particular recipe, I also have strong flavors coming from the pepper and the ginger. You may want to ease into the ginger. It has a very strong flavor. I’ve gotten to where I like it and use it in most recipes.
I have never left the peel on any citrus. I had always read that it gives a very bitter flavor. I’ll give it a shot. I’m using less citrus these days though.
Sounds good. I use pineapple occasionally, but it is not on my regular buying rotation.
I have yet to use tomatoes at all. I’m going to, but I am somewhat hesitant as I really don’t like the taste of tomatoes. I may try some sort of bloody mary type recipe to start with.
By the way, I’m sure you already know about it, but this page has a lot of great recipes.
The surface area of the key lime (teeny tiny limes) is so small that the effect of the peel is negligible. I might also leave the peel on a wedge of a regular size lime/lemon. I’m guessing the lime has an effect similar to ginger, i.e., gives the juice a *bite *or a kick.
I did look at the Reboot website. Thanks for the list.
