To juice or not? Is a juicer worth it/easy to clean?

Fozz

Just wanted to agree with all the previous posts really, I bought a juicer about 2 years ago mainly because we have loads of apples from our tree in the summer. It was an absolute pain to clean, and I spent ages peeling and chopping apples! The juice was lovely, but it took so much time and effort that I gave the juicer to a charity shop!
Maybe if you got the absolute top of the range one which takes whole fruit it may be worth it, but I just buy the freshly squeezed carton juice now!

lbt_2

Thanks all

You have just reminded me about freecycle - I have been meaning to join (do you have to join?) for ages and find out what it's all about.

michelefauk - I bet you are glad your juicer was free!!

So, it's decided, I am not going to waste my money on a juicer. I went to Sainsburys this morning and found that the pressed apple and freshly squeezed juice wasn't too expensive compared with what I would spend getting the same amount of juice from juicing my own fruit.

Plus ... I HATE WASHING UP! :eek:

McpPsl

I'm afraid I am going to have to disagree with some of you.

I have had a Champion Juicer for many years now and have been very happy with the variety of fresh juices that I can produce. Not only fruit juice but vegetable juice as well as a mixture of both.

The nice thing about HM juice is that you can control what goes into your juice and there are no added chemicals, unlike the commercial products.

I would agree that the cleaning is a bit of a chore but only takes me about two minutes.

regards

Steve-o

McpPsl wrote: »

I'm afraid I am going to have to disagree with some of you.

I have had a Champion Juicer for many years now and have been very happy with the variety of fresh juices that I can produce. Not only fruit juice but vegetable juice as well as a mixture of both.

The nice thing about HM juice is that you can control what goes into your juice and there are no added chemicals, unlike the commercial products.

It did seem a little one-sided, but perhaps that reflects the average user's experiences.

I originally bought my juicer for exactly the reasons you stated: variety of juices, freshness, and knowing what it is you are drinking. Unfortunately, the reality didn't live up to my expectations.

Most bought juices don't contain any additives, but any that do will have them listed on the ingredients.

However, anything that is called a "drink" (eg, Cranberry Juice Drink) does not have to be pure juice, and can have any old crap added in to flavour/colour/stabilise it.

Steve-o

McpPsl wrote: »

I have had a Champion Juicer for many years now and have been very happy with the variety of fresh juices that I can produce.

I just Googled the Champion juicers, and I think I know why your experience has been different from most of the views on this thread: the Champion has a different pulping mechanism from a lot of other less expensive juicers, and there are less parts to clean. I think most, if not all, of the sub-£150 juicers are of the centrifugal kind: the fruit/veg is shredded, and the pulp flung out on to a spinning mesh to drain out the juice. Centrifugal types are a pain to clean, and don't produce a lot of juice (except for citrus fruits).

The mechanism of the Champion seems (from what I can tell) to chew the fruit/veg up slower, and squeeze the pulp slightly to get more juice out. There also seem to only a couple of parts to clean, with a smaller juicing mesh (smaller means less hassle cleaning it!).

I'd be really interested to try out one of the Champion type mechanism juicers, but I wouldn't buy one before seeing it in action. Having wasted £50 on a centrifugal juicer that I didn't use, I wouldn't want to do the same on a £200+ machine!

Steve-o

After a little (Youtube) research, this type of juice seems to be the 'ultimate' one, because it actually presses the pulp to extract the juice. Far too much trouble for home use, but would be excellent if needing to produce juices in slightly larger quantities: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OZLEwL6GtU&NR=1


I'm becoming very impressed with the Champion juicers too. Here's an amazing vid producing juice from carrots (which don't produce much juice in a centrifugal juicer): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzmEBa25bqg

McpPsl

Good video's Steve-o.

Just for interest I measured the juice extracted from 3 medium Braeburn apples, 2 medium carrots and 1 supermarket tomatoe and it came to exactly 500ml.

Another favourite of mine is Pineapple, Oranges and Apples. This usually produces approximately 1 litre of juice.

regards

betterlife

hi, my juicer was an expensive one aswell that you put the whole fruit/veg in, and i do agree that the taste is far superior to shop bought juice with 6 of us it was very costly, x.

Larumbelle

I was thinking about a juicer as I have a huge apple tree, lots of apples, and a hankering to make HM cider. I know buying juice would be easier, but I don't want to use juice, I want to make my own cider from my own apples Now I'm thinking I might just bung 'em in the blender and press them the best I can. Anyone got a better plan?!

Loretta

Near where I live there is a farm which has a farm shop and sells juice which they press themselves, but you can also take your own apples etc there and they will press them for you. I don't know how much it costs but it must be worth it because they are busy doing it all the time. This would be less bother and save cupboard space!