Juicer Comparisons

Juicer Comparisons

It's not easy buying a juicer these days. There are so many to choose from. I
know I had a hard time buying one. I hope this guide will help you figure out
exactly which one will best suit your needs. I'm not going to be going into exactly
which model to choose as I am trying to guide you in figuring out what type to
get. I get that question a lot. When I bought one I went online and read all the
reviews and tried my hardest to make sure that I bought the right one. And after
about 2 years of having mine, I can honestly say that it was worth every penny.
I bought a great juicer. The one I bought was Breville
800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt juicer. There are some reservations I have with it though. But I'll get into that more later.

So before you buy a juicer you should ask yourself the following questions:

What will I be juicing? (Wheatgrass, hard vegetables, fuits, leafy greens)

How often do I plan on juicing?

Is the juice qaulity more important than how long it takes to clean up?

Portablity? Will I need to move it around the kitchen?

Do I care how loud it is?

There are 5 basic types of juicers out there. They are:

Centrifugal Juicers
(a spinning blade shreds the produce)

Masticating Juicers or Single Gear
(it has one gear and crushes the produce as it rotates)

Citrus Juicers
(they have a rotating head that spins when you put half an orange on top of it)

Twin Gear Juicers or Dual Juicers
(two gears interlock tongue and groove as it crushes the juice)

Press Juicers
(Norwalk Juicers)

Blending Vegetables
(In a Vitamix you can blend whole fruits and veggies and strain thru a nut milk bag.)

Centrifugal Juicers	Masticating Juicers
Citrus Juicers	Twin Gear Juicers

Centrifugal Juicers
By far these are the most popular. This is the kind I have and it's the kind
you've seen on TV for years with The Juiceman and now with Jack Lalanne. They
are the easiest to clean with the least amount of parts. I can make a juice
of 8-10 different vegetables in about 15 minutes, including cleanup and washing
the veggies. Another good thing about mine and something you want to consider
is the feed chute. Mine is quite large so I can put whole apples in it. No cutting!
The downside of this is that is a bit noisy, it doesn't juice leafy greens very
well (the #1 thing I am after!) and it produces low level juice. That means
that it is quite foamy and it oxidized rapidly. Generally this happens in about
30 minutes to an hour. So you generally can't juice enough for two days. You
must drink it right away.

Masticating Juicers
These types of juicers are a bit less noisy but most of them generally have
a smaller feed chute. That means you have to cut your veggies up and it takes
more time. But the juice it does provide is a little better quality. The other
great thing about them is that they are less noisy. They generally have about
as many parts to clean as the centrifugal juicers. These are much better for
juicing leafy greens as well.

Citrus Juicers
Citrus Juicers are generally good in my opinion if you need the juice from a
lemon or lime. When you juice an orange for example you want to be able to extract
the juice from the fiber and break the cell walls of the molecules. These types
of juicers do not do that. When you juice an orange with one of these it produces
more of a sugar water and it's much less nutrative. I wouldn't suggest one of
these unless you want to use it for lemons or limes.

Twin Gear Juicers
These might just be the best "type" of juicer to buy. Although there
are two things I do not like about them. The first is how many parts you have
to clean. There are many! The second thing I do not like about them is the feet
chute. It is quite small so you have to really cut your veggies into small pieces
and it takes time! But the advantages of having one of these is great. They
don't make much noice for one. Also they can juice wheatgrass, they can make
nut pattes or nut butters and even ice-creams. They really are amazing machines.
A wheatgrass juicer can be as much as $900 dollars! So for the two things that
are not good about this, I think the twin gear juicers are the way to go. Plus
and this is the best part of it all they produce the 2nd best juice quality
behind the press juicer with minimal to no oxidation. This means it's much healthier
for you and the juice will last much longer!

Press Juicers
This type of juicer is usually out of the price range of most people going for
a couple thousand dollars. It works by essentially crushing or pressing the
juice and that means NO OXIDATION at all and the healthiest best quality juice
available.

Blending Veggies
This method is quite a favorable one for many people. Please see the video
above. Alot of people end up buying a Vita-Mix
blender and a simple nut milk bag and you can not only make smoothies with this but juices also. You essentially blend everything up and then pour it thru a nut milk bag to strain it. Using this method might be the quickest and cleanest of all methods and it produces high quality juice as well. Not as good as a press juicer as there is a low level oxidation from the heat of the blades of the Vita-Mix.

My Opinion
If I were buying a juicer today I would probably just get a Vita-Mix and a nut milk bag. But if I were intent on getting an actual juicer I would probably end up buying the Green Star Juicer. It's worth it to me to have the ability to juice wheatgrass, make patte's, nut butters and ice-cream plus have the best quality of juice.

For more info on selecting the right juicer see these links below:
http://www.hintsandthings.com/kitchen/juicers.htm
http://www.freedomyou.com/juicer/juicer.htm
http://www.happyjuicer.com/juicing-information/choosing-right-juicer-juicing-budget.asp
http://www.canningpantry.com/pickingjuicer.html