The Best Juicer & How To Choose The Right One

Nutritionists tell us that the many essential vitamins and minerals, enzymes and bioflavonoids that are found in fresh fruit and vegetables are the same as those in their juices. By drinking an 8 ounce glass of newly made juice before each meal, you can reduce your cravings for sweets, starches and other high calorie food, making it much easier to stick to a healthy diet.
 
So, how do you choose the best juicer that's right for you? The price tag of juicers goes from approx. $30.00 to $2,000.00 and the reason is simple. There's a big variation in performance and in function. Not all juicers are the same, in fact  there are several factors to consider when choosing a juicer. Start by deciding what type of produce you want to juice.  Is it fruit and vegetables, hard fruit soft fruits and leafy greens, is it wheat-grass and just greens or is it citrus fruits? Believe it or not, there's a different juicer for each one. You can always skip this article and go right over to our best selling juicers.


Before choosing the best juicer, these are some of the issues you should consider.
 

1) Ease of Operation.
 
No matter how enthusiastic you may be, if juicing becomes a hassle, you either won't do it or you won't do it as often as you should. Your juicer should be both easy to use and even more important, easy to clean.
 

2) Will it last.
 
You get what you pay for.  Quality juicers have quality warranties. A one or two year warranty is good but a five or ten year warranty is better. Many juicers under $100.00 have cheap brush motors that can't handle cores, rinds or seeds; every piece of produce has to be sliced into small pieces so that the motor doesn't burn out.

Here at Fresh Start Juicers we have several quality juicers for under $100 like the L Equip 110.5 Juicer . Some buyers of these ignore the instructions and put fruit in with little or no preparation.  Doing this can burn out the motor in a month and if preparing the produce becomes a big hassle your juicer just becomes a waste of money. The good news here is that not all quality juicers are over $100.00.
 

3) Yield per Pound.
 
This is what really counts and separates the 'good' from the 'not so good'. A good juicer can extract much more juice per pound than a cheaper one. You may save $100.00 by buying a cheap juicer now, but every time you make juice you are literally throwing money away. A good juicer can get up to 25% more juice per pound than a cheaper one. So in a year your $100.00 saving is gone...........right down the drain. Literally.
 

4) Juice Quality.
 
A good vegetable juicer makes high quality juice that has a high nutrient and enzyme content which is very important. Some juicers smash the fruits and veggies to such an extent that the beneficial chemicals in the juice are broken down, and some juicers spin so fast that there is a much higher oxidation rate (more oxygen causes the juice to spoil faster).

So, it's important to find a machine which has the right balance and can cope with all the fruit and vegetables you want to juice while at the same time producing nutrient rich juices.
 

5) Power and Speed.
 
You need a machine with  a motor of at least 1/4 horsepower to do the job properly. Some of the cheaper juicers just don't have the power so you end up with a lot of juice left in the pulp and the juicer of course will wear out much faster. You also need to consider the speed at which the juicer operates. While some juicers can have speeds up to 13,000 RPMs like the Breville Juicer or at a much lower RPM such as the Single Auger Masticating Juicer or the Twin Gear Juicer.
 

Once you've considered those points, you need to think about the types of juicers available.

It would be nice to be able to draw your attention to the 'perfect' juicer but unfortunately there is no such thing; fruit and vegetables have very different properties and the juicing method for one may not work for the other. Fruits have soft cell walls and require a gentle extraction method, some fruits i.e. pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, pear and apples can be juiced peel and all, but citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruits and tangerines have a bitter outer rind and contain indigestible chemicals, these whole fruits would be too bitter to drink.

Ideally vegetable juice should be consumed within 15 minutes of preparation due to the low acid content and high enzyme activity in the juice. Enzymes are of course one of the key reasons why making fresh juice is so very beneficial.



The different types of juicers are:


Centrifugal Juicer
 
Most of these juicers particularly the Whole Fruit Juicer  will accept quite large pieces of fruit and will process them more quickly, at speeds of 3600 RPM's to 13,000 RPM's. The juice is delicious and these juicers will do most fruits and vegetables, although they don't do grasses or leafy greens very well.On the whole these juicers are easy to clean and many have dishwasher safe parts.
 

The Masticating Juicer
 
With a wide variety to choose from, the Champion Juicer is thought to be a true Masticating Juicer in that is has three stages that the fruits and vegetables go through to produce a rich delicious tasting juice. 

The vertical Single Gear Juicer masticating juicer, essentially crushes the produce and then presses the juice out. These vertical upright  juicers are designed more in line with the centrifugal juicer, and because of their upright nature they  take up very little counter space, perfect for the modern kitchen or small spaces. But the similarities stop their. A juicer like the Omega Juicer VERT330 Upright Slow Juicer operates at a low RPM and has very little oxidation, juices have less foam and a higher nutrient juice. It will process wheat grass and other leafy greens as well. The Omega Vert also has a 10 year warranty and is built to last.

Some say that the masticating juicers may contain 'bits' of pulp which may not appeal to everyone - especially children, but there is nothing to stop you running the juice through a sieve, or milk bag.

The Dual Stage Masticating Juicer is very similar to the single gear juicer but has one more stage that the fruits and vegetables go through. In the second stage the juice is screened even further to create more volume and less pulp. Some examples would be the Omega Juicer 8003 juicer or the Tribest SoloStar-II Juicer SS9002.


Twin Gear Juicer
 
The Twin Gear Juicer is just that: two interlocking gears or augers that turn and rotate to press and crush the produce, breaking the fibers as well as releasing more nutrients, producing 25% more juice that tastes delicious.

If you want to have wheat grass with it's many benefits then the Twin Gear Juicer is the juicer for you. Some twin gears include bio ceramics like the Green Star Juicers that produce more nutrient rich juices from the produce being juiced.


Wheatgrass Juicer

If, on the other hand, you are a fan of wheat grass juice, you will need another type of juicer.The use of wheat grass as a dietary supplement was popularized by Charles F Schnabel in the 1940's. Scientific studies have shown that the addition of chlorophyll to the diet can have many beneficial effects, which cannot be achieved through the use of chlorophyll supplements. Wheat grass juice is an excellent source of chlorophyll and there are several types of juicers that are suited for this taste.

A dedicated wheat grass juicer such as the Lexen Electric Healthy Juicer or a good manual wheatgrass juicer such as the Miracle MJ445 Stainless Steel Juicer are a great choice. Most of the masticating juicers will also do a good job with wheatgrass or other leafy greens.

 
Citrus Juicer
 
These machines work on halved - peel still on - oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons and limes and produce juice both quickly and efficiently. We all know that citrus fruit contains vitamin C but orange juice also provides potassium, thiamine and folate. Citrus Juicers produce more high quality juice from these fruits than any other type of juicer, they also last longer as less oxygen and heat have been created.  
 
Another option is to cut the fruit in half and use a dedicated Electric Citrus Juicer or one of the Centrifugal Juicers with a citrus attachment, like the Omega Juicer 1000 or the Omega Juicer 9000. On the other hand vegetables have fibrous cell walls which require a more aggressive juicing action than fruit. 

Nothing  you do will improve your family's health as much as a fruit and vegetable 'habit', and it has never been easier to get into the habit of making 'fresh' fruit and vegetable juices every day, in your own kitchen. Consider the questions above before making your choice and remember the best juicer could be one of the most important health investments you ever make.