A Guide to Juicing

Juicing fresh fruits and vegetables is an effective way to improve and maintain good health. When fruits and vegetables are juiced, the vitamins and minerals can be easily used by the body. Juicing also enables you to consume a larger quantity of fresh produce because the filling pulp is removed. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Kinds of Juicers

A centrifugal juicer is a common and affordable juicer. This type of juicer pushes the pieces of produce against a mesh strainer to separate the juice from the pulp. These juicers are effective for most fruits and vegetables, although they do not juice leafy vegetables well.

A masticating juicer is typically more effective and more expensive than a centrifugal juicer. These juicers operate at slower speeds to crush the produce before separating the juice and the pulp.

A triturating juicer operates with two gears to extract juice from the pulp without losing valuable vitamins and enzymes in the process. These are the most expensive types of juicers.

Additionally, there are juicers designed specifically for juicing leafy vegetables and grasses.

Prepare the Produce

Wash and prepare a variety of fruits and vegetables. Consider some of the different combinations of fruits and vegetables that can be juiced together to make delicious, unique juices.

Juice nutritious vegetables that you might not ordinarily want to eat. Juice whole beets (with the greens as well), celery (with the greens) and assorted grasses. Juice sweet fruits along with these vegetables to sweeten the juice and make it delicious and nutritious.

After washing the produce, cut it up if necessary. For many juicers, it is not necessary to cut up the produce, as long as they are large enough to handle the size of the pieces.

Using the Juice and Pulp

Once the juice is made, there are several ways to use both the juice and the pulp. The juice can simply be consumed immediately after it is made. Another option is to use the juice to make a nutritious smoothie. Combine the juice with bananas, strawberries, yogurt and wheat germ in a blender to make a smoothie that will contain additional fiber that will aid in digestion. This will also help control the speed by which the natural sugars in the juice are absorbed into your bloodstream.

Save the pulp from juicing for cooking and baking. Add the pulp to quick bread recipes to enhance the nutrition and taste of the bread. Another idea is to add the pulp to a meatloaf recipe to boost the nutritional content of the meatloaf and add interesting flavors.