What You Should Know Before Buying A Juicer

Choosing a juicer is not the easiest task in the world, especially if you are an over thinker like me. My final decision on what juicer to buy came after months of research, finally prompted by a late night infomercial and a nudge from my brother who purchased the Jack Lallane Juicer to keep his ninja company in the kitchen.

I could sit here and tell you about all about my juicer, my likes and dislikes but this is not about me, if you are having problems picking the perfect juicer for you go ahead and keep reading.There are a couple things you should absolutely know before you buy a juicer that just might help make the decision of what to buy a whole lot easier.

There are three major categories of juicers, Centrifugal Juicers, Masticating Juicers and Triturating Juicers*. In addition to these you might find a juicer dedicated to just citrus fruits or juicing grasses. Either way there is something out there for everybody so lets get right into it shall we.

Triturating Juicers

These bad boys are also called twin gear juicers and are very similar to the masticating juicers. Some might say these are the best juicers* on the market, and considering the technology they are probably right.

The juicers do way more than just juice. They are able to make nut butters*, baby food, sauces, sorbet and pasta. Make sure you do a few bicep curls before using this juicer* though, because it requires quite a bit of force to push vegetables like carrots through the gears.

Do not get discouraged by this though because the motor is made to move so slow that you are guaranteed the driest pulp of them all, which means more good stuff for you.

They are not the cheapest boys on the block as you can imagine. They are considered high end so they come with an appropriate price tag too. Again it just depends on what you are looking for and what you want to use your juicer* for, the investment might be well worth it for you.

Example of  a triturating juicer:

Green Star GSE-5000 Elite Jumbo Twin Gear Juice Extractor – If you are a serious juicer, this might be your best bet. The prices start at around $530.00, but the juice is the most nutrient rich you will find.

Masticating Juicers*

This are the Ros Perot of all juicers*, and they come with a hefty price tag depending on how deep your pockets are but where the quality of the juice you get is concerned, they are second to none!

The advantage of a masticating juicer* is that it makes it very easy for you to juice vegetables that are leafy and that do not have much body to them including grasses like wheat grass and barley grass. If you have used any other type of juicer you will know that it can get very annoying when your spinach leaves just get caught in the body of the machine, no extraction and ultimately wastage.

A masticating juicer can grind and crush leafy veggies extracting the life out of them and leave you with a pretty dry pulp which means very little wastage.The main advantage of this type of juicer is that because of the method of extraction, there will be very little oxidation happening to the juice which means that you get high quality and very nutrient dense juice.

Functionally the machine makes things easier by separating the pulp from your fruit and vegetables placing it into a separate container on the juicer allowing for ease of manipulation and easy clean up.

The main disadvantage of a masticating juicer is the prep work involved. The chute is not big enough to accept whole fruits and vegetables so you might have to do a bit of chopping prior to juicing.

If you do not mind the prep work and you are willing to make the investment in the best quality juice, you will get a quality product that lasts a very long time with the best warranties out there.

Example of a masticating juicer*:

The Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Juicer – This is a great choice for a masticating juicer. The new model is around $280.00 and is also great with those hard to juice leaves.

Centrifugal Juicers*

Centrifugal juicers are the most common juicer* type can be found in any most major department stores. They are not exactly Ros Perot but they run a very close third.

They are budget friendly and all in all, get the job done. They work by grating the fruit or vegetable into tiny pieces and extracting the juice through a spinning mechanism at very high speeds.

The coolest part of a centrifugal juicer apart from their affordability, is the fact that some of them allow you to place whole fruits and vegetables down the chute making prep work practically non existent.

Literally you can turn whole fruits and veggies straight from the garden (or supermarket) into nutrient rich juice in minutes. Sounds perfect right? Well it is, almost!

There are a few disadvantages to using a centrifugal juicer*. First is that the pulp is not as dry as it is with a triturating or even a masticating juicer which signifies that it isn’t getting all the juice that it can out of the produce. Another disadvantage is that these juicers are known for producing foam. In a mixed drink at a bar foam might look very appealing, but for your juices, foam speeds up oxidation which means one thing, quick and sudden spoilage.

Centrifugal juicers will work well enough and they are a good choice if you are only just getting started with juicing. Just be sure to add a little piece of lemon to all the juices you make to slow down oxidation.

Examples of centrifugal juicers*:

Jack LaLanne JLPJB Power Juicer Juicing Machine – This is a great starter budget friendly machine and the price starts at around $100.00

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite – This centrifugal juicer is easy to use, has great reviews but again there might be questions on the quality of leafy green juicing.

Have you juiced lately, what is your favorite Juicer or brand?