I started 2010 with a resolution to juice more and have been pretty good at keeping my resolution thus far! I finally got my act together and compiled a little juicing tutorial for you. You asked for it and here it is!
This is my juicer. It’s an Omega 1000 Centrifugal Force Juice Extractor
Which means it’s extra tough at getting fruits and vegetables to surrender every last bit of juice they have left in them. It is said to extract 20-30% more juice than most juice extractors. I totally believe it. It’s a totally solid machine. It’s beyond legit.
It’s got a few parts. Here they all are! They easily fit together. It’s no big deal.
There’s a little blade that grinds up the fruits & veggies. The motor makes it go around super fast!
How does it work? In a nutshell, all of the ground fruit/veg pulp gets pushed to the sides of the basket/strainer. Everything that’s sticking to the sides of the juicer goes through a mesh strainer and then comes out the spout at the bottom. Sounds confusing? Imagine the amusement ride THE GRAVITRON–except there’s a blade on the bottom of the ride and everything that gets ground up goes right to the sides and then out the front of the machine. That’s kind of gory huh? Think of fruit, not people.
Let me show you how I make a juice!
I put the pieces of the juicer together.
Then I grab a paper filter to line the strainer inside the juicer. You MUST use a paper filter whenever you juice with this juicer.
It is essential for an easy cleanup. I used the juicer without a filter once and paid the price. It’s beyond TOUGH because the pulpy bits get stuck in the strainer part. You’ll see!
I gather the fruits & veggies that I want to juice and put a dish towel under my juicer to help avoid a messy sticky counter top. I “try” to wear an apron because I ruined a shirt with beet juice once. I’ve dyed a few shirts that I ruined with juice! Here’s a little tutorial on how to dye clothes if you make that mistake!
I put a jar/cup under the juicer and get ready to juice my stuff. I assemble the top part of the juicer and I plug the juicer in only when I am absolutely ready. Now it’s time to fire it up!
This juice is a carrot/ginger & orange juice.
I peeled the orange here because my juicer can’t handle the peel. There’s really no juice in the peel and it will throw the juicer off balance; forcing it to do a crazy dance on the kitchen counter. This is equally fun to watch as it is frightening. There’s an attachment you can buy for the juicer that solely juices citrus, but I find that peeling the orange/lemon/lime is pretty simple and I don’t have a place to store that extra part.
It’s good to have another cup handy in case your fruits & veggies produce more fruit than anticipated! It’s fun to taste the juices independently and blend your finally juice so that’s why I always have a few cups hanging around.
I usually pick the pulpiest/hardest fruit and vegetable to juice first. I like to get it out of the way so everything else juices easily. It’s also good to alternate between thick and light items. For example- I’ll juice a beet (which is on the thicker side) and then juice something super watery like celery. The celery will help push out more beet juice from the filter. Sometimes the filter gets soo thick with pulp and juice doesn’t extract at the force it should. If I see this happening, I usually stop the juicer and clean out the pulp/filter and put a in a new filter. I also pay close attention to the sound and feel of the vibrations of the machine. At this point in my juicing career, I can anticipate when the juicer is about to get overwhelmed with what I’ve put in. Sometimes the machine gets overwhelmed and just STOPS all of a sudden. There’s a cool RESET button on the bottom of this machine that magically makes it start again. Thank god for that.
You have to be careful of your fingers. The juicer doesn’t discriminate between flesh and fruit. Actually, it’s a pretty safe machine if you follow the directions. I just have a very unhealthy fear of things like garbage disposals so that’s why I am extra careful/paranoid. It’s good to stand back and do the juicing at arms length. You wouldn’t want any hair or necklaces to get caught in there.
The plunger will help push down whatever you have to juice.
Watching the juice shoot out is quite fun!
In this case, I started juicing the carrots first with a few oranges then the ginger and finished it off with the last few pieces oranges.
After juicing a bunch of items, your filter will look like this. See that thick pulp inside the juicer?! WHOA!
Here’s a filter that’s been FILLED with pulp.
And here’s the blade. It’s got some ginger shrapnel on it. It’s such a bad ass.
Here’s the juice that I just whipped up for you and the pulp that goes with it!
This orange, carrot and ginger combo would be a good pulp to put in a carrot bread! If you made an all veggie juice, use the leftovers to make a nice vegetable stock! Or toss it in your composter!
After I’m done juicing for the day, I immediately fill up a large bowl with soapy water in my kitchen sink. I toss the parts in and let them soak for a bit. The cleanup is pretty easy this way.
I should mention that juicing is SUPER fun. Once you get started, you’ll binge on juice for awhile. You might scour your kitchen to find possible juicing items! BTW-you can’t juice a banana. Don’t go there. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Got any questions? Let me know!
Here’s a few of my past recipes to get you started!
- Beet Carrot Apple Juice
- Pineapple Pear Carrot Orange Juice
- Celery Tomato Carrot Beet Greens Juice
- Kiwi Mango Orange Basil Juice
- Basil Apple Cucumber Juice
- Apple Celery Spinach Juice
- Beet Greens Pepper Cucumber Juice
- Kale Pear Lime Ginger Juice
- Beet Pear Ginger Juice
- Strawberry Juice
