The Very Best Juicer Reviews And A Guide To All Juicers

Juice Extractors - A Healthy Insight

Being healthy is associated with the consumption of healthy food and in particular, fresh juices. Fresh fruits and vegetables are composed of plant cells that we cannot digest and by juicing them, we release the nutrients for easy digestion. Once again technology has offered us help in the form of Juice Extractors.

Juice extractors have become quite popular in the recent years. Though they have actually been around for almost 20 years now, the recent improvements in the health awareness of consumers and the technological advancements have made the juice extractors much more affordably attractive.

But more than often, it is quite tricky to find your perfect juicer because different fruits and vegetables have different properties. This implies that one juicing technique may not be effective for all types of feed. In particular, fruits have softer cell walls and hence require a rather gentle extraction method while vegetables are tougher due to their rigid cell walls and high fibre content, requiring more aggressive mechanical juicers.

FEATURES TO LOOK FOR IN A JUICE EXTRACTOR

A rule of thumb in purchasing juice extractors is to look for the ones that operate at speeds low enough for a good extraction, without any heat generation that destroys the nutrients. When it comes to the ease of operation and cleaning, not all juicers are the same. The ease of cleaning is an important factor as it has a prolific influence on one’s juicing plans. People generally find an easy excuse not to use the juice extractor if it demands complicated cleaning routines. A quality juicer can be cleaned in less than five minutes as they can simply be washed under the tap.

Also, make sure that your juicer has multiple adaptors for various functions like juicing soft or hard feed, fibrous or leafy feed etc. As mentioned before, different feeds have different requirements and hence make sure that the juice extractor you choose can cater to all your varied needs. Despite all the technical specifications of a juice extractor, a good one should have a built-in control to prevent overheating. This option will automatically switch off the juicer in case of overloads and will restart the machine when it has cooled down.

Basically there are three basic types of juice extractors. They are

1) Centrifugal Extractors

2) Masticating Extractors

3) Triturating Extractors

CENTRIFUGAL JUICE EXTRACTORS

These are built with powerful high-speed motors for quick and easy juicing. These are the fastest and cheapest type of juicers with a speed range of 3000-7000 rpm (rotations per minute). When a fruit/ vegetable is placed into the feed chute, it comes into contact with a round spinning grater blade that grates down the feed rapidly. The high centrifugal force created by rotating motion of the grater throws the juice away from the pulp, to the perimeter of the chamber were it runs out into the collecting container.

The major draw backs of this type of juice extractor are

1) High noise due to their high rpm

2) High speed gives off more heat can destroy the juice nutrients

3) Cannot juice leafy vegetables due to their centrifugal mechanism

Two of the best reviewed models of centrifugal juice extractors are the Jack La Lanne Power Juicer and Breville Juice Fountain Elite.

MASTICATING JUICE EXTRACTORS

These function at a slower speed than centrifugal juicers and extract juice by an entirely different mechanism. They use a single gear setup through which the feed is crushed slowly and extensively to wring out a considerable amount of juice. This mechanism results in no heat generation due to its slow speed and therefore the nutritional value of the juice obtained is preserved and is higher than that of a centrifugal juicer. The low speed also keeps these juicers very quiet during their operation.

The major downsides of these machines are

1) Juicing time takes longer than centrifugal juicers

2) Heavier machines due to the gear setup

The most recommended models of this category are the Hurom HU-100 Slow Juicer, the Omega 8005 and the Omega VRT330.

TRITURATING JUICE EXTRACTORS

These juice extractors are the elite class of juicers and have a mechanism similar to the masticating juicers. The difference is that the triturating juicers carry two gears instead of the single one in the masticating types. The two gears run side by side and so extremely close together that when the feed is passed through them, they squeeze out every last drop of juice available at a very slow speed. Hence, these juice extractors are more effective than their single gear counterparts to produce higher yields and less oxidation. These juicers are exceptionally good even for the juicing of leafy vegetables. Though these are the expensive high end juicer models, they are worth every penny spent on them due the extensive benefits they offer in turn. Two highly famed triturating type juice extractors are the Green Power Juicer and the Super Angel 3500.

IMPROVING THE JUICER EXPERIENCE

Improving the juicer experience is a matter of knowing how a juice extractor can maintain its highly presumed qualities and which technology works best for a particular produce. A few tips can help us here.

1) Comply with the seasons

Fruit and vegetables are seasonal produces and buying them during off-seasons means that they have been kept under storage (most probably cold storage) for a while and would be far from their nutritional best. Seasonal produces are not only fresh, but they are cheap as well.

2) Juice at Minimum Possible Speed Pushing the feed into the juicer slowly helps to get the maximum amount of juice from each piece of the fruit/ vegetable. It is always advisable to set the juicer’s speed as minimum as possible to prevent heat generation and to preserve the nutritional qualities of the juice.

3) Prepare your Fruit/ Vegetable

If the fruit has hard or inedible skin (like melons or many tropical fruits), peel them before juicing. Also, remove the seeds or stones in prior, as some seeds can give you an unpleasant taste and fruit stones can damage the juicer as well as spoil the juice. But it the fruits/ vegetables have edible skin as in apples or carrots, toss them straight into the juicer to get an extra nutritious drink.

Following these simple steps can take you a long way in improving your juicer experience, to help a step forward into a healthier lifestyle.