Anyone have any experience with juicers?

I want to buy a juicer to make "real" juice from fresh fruits and veggies.

I've looked around and I am confused! There are so many!!!

Any one here have some insight?

No one here in the lounge has any experience?

Or am I chopped liver over now over my opinions? :p

LOL! I really have no clue. I need one myself.

to this except it's green and white:



I know that's not the kind you're looking for but I see the electric ones for sale on craigslist all the time which makes me think they are one of those fad appliances that people think they must have and then never use.

:hi:

He's a real dick.

:hide:

Warn me next time.

Never, never leave a juicer on the kitchen counter with the top off if you have kids in the house. :rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyUt0b46zMU&feature=fvw

I had an inexpensive one given to me and it left a lot of pulp. I'd juice a bag of carrots for a cup of juice and would be left with a huge pile of orange pulverized cellulose. My friend got one while the State Fair was going on. She got it at quite a discount, in one of the exhibition buildings, where merchants were hocking their wares. Hers pulverized the pulp right into the juice, so you'd get the fiber as well as the juice.

I think they are super healthy way to drink vitamin rich liquids that taste unique. But I think you should expect to pay, hmmmm, maybe $3oo.oo, for a super-duper stainless steel unit.

That being said I've read accounts of cancer patients reversing their health by juicing up a grocery bag of fruits and veggies per day with every thing from celery and cucumbers to beets and bananas.

Hope you find a nice one, that works well, and doesn't take your next tax refund. Maybe Craig's list or ebay? I have a feeling juicers are like exercise equipment once the novelty and resolutions wear off.

Libby

Mostly we just cart it out for the annual "what the hell do we do with all these peaches?!?" booze-making fest. :D

Epinions.com is probably your best friend on this one.

that worked ok for about 2 years. I'll say one thing, carrots and pears make a HEAVENLY nectar! :)
The only bad thing was disposing of the remains. Juicing generates a lot of it. If you compost your garbage though the worms will love you!
:)

Owned it for about 18 years now. I don't use it as much as I should. It's big and heavy, does a wonderful job juicing though. Very good for you. I find I go through vegetables by the bushel it seems.

The Champion masticates the veggies. I use the pulp in baking. Great for carrot and pineapple muffins etc.



Mine is almond in colour. They have sure come down in price over the years.

Started with the smaller Braun type juicers. They are okay for starters, but they have smaller openings, cheap blades, and are annoying to clean. I now have a Breeville with a wide opening and a stronger motor. It's a few years old, so the newer ones may be better. But basically, look for those three things: a feeder tube wide enough to feed at least a small apple through, a strong motor, and a high quality blade--that last one you just sort of have to trust the better companies to make.

Basically the juicer works like this: you feed the vegetables through a tube at the top, they hit a whirling disk/basket at the bottom with shallow teeth that shred the veggies, and the spinning basket sends the juice into a container and the pulp into another container. When it's done you drink the juice, toss the pulp (or use in a recipe if you can find one you like), disassemble the machine, and clean it. It usually has about four parts you have to clean: the plastic top with the feeder tube (which is the hardest part to clean because of the contours), the blade basket, and the two containers (which are easy to clean). The Breeville comes with a brush that is the perfect size for cleaning each part, since the head fits into all the contours. The brush is crucial for cleaning the blades, because they will shred a sponge or cloth.

If the tube is too narrow, you spend too much time slicing up everything. The Breeville (and others) have an opening that they claim will fit a whole apple. It won't, but you may only have to half it.

The ease of taking it apart and reassembling it is crucial. It will make the difference between whether you use it or not in the long run. If it's too hard, you will get bored spending twenty minutes prepping for one glass of juice. A good one should only take a couple of minutes, although you may also be annoyed at how much water you use to clean all the pulp out of everything. And the pulp stinks quickly if you trash it, so you'll wind up feeding it to the disposal. So that's the downside.

But they are fun, and you can mix clever juices with a lot of flavor, like carrot-apple-celery (you'll quickly find out that a little apple makes carrot juice much more drinkable), and you might find unexpected uses, like juicing ginger.

Anyway, that's my offthetopofmyhead review of them. I like the Breeville, and IIRC Jack Lalane makes one that is almost the same (might be the same). There are a couple of other good ones. Check cooking sites like cooking.com or other sites that sell a range of them for a range of them, and you can read reviews of them (keep in mind that most reviews are by whiners who hate everything, though). When I bought mine I googled and found a "Juicer Review" website--don't know if there's still one out there. They had some good advice but they were reviewing very expensive juicers like the Vita Life juicers (which are more blender than juicer).

There's also another style of juicer sometimes called a masticating juicer which basically juices by just blending everything into a smoothie. Those are great if that's what you are looking for, but I've never used that kind.

and this type




I like the first one better, the clean up is easier. :silly:

:hi: :hug: