What Juicer Should You Buy?

Choosing a juicer can be overwhelming.  Here is the lowdown, starting from the cheapest:

• centrifugal
• masticating and single gear
• twin gear
• cold presser

Centrifugal

Pros: fast, easy clean-up, inexpensive

Cons: destroys the nutrients, still leaves wet pulp, loud

Let me get into the cons, since the pros are self-explanatory.

• destroys the nutrients – We all know fruits and vegetables aren’t shelf stable.  Pretty much anything we do to them jump starts the release and destruction of nutrients due to oxidation (exposure to the air).  Centrifugal juicers basically cut up these fruits and veggies and spin them around at a high speed so that some of the liquid gets separated from the fiber.  As a result, you have to drink the juices within 15 minutes of juicing.  So you can’t make any juice ahead of time and store them.
• still leaves wet pulp – The drier the pulp, the more you’ve extracted out of the fruits and veggies and the more bang you’re getting for your buck.
• loud – the world and its grandma is going to know you’re juicing whenever you are

Masticating and Single Gear

This is basically the in-between juicer.  I suggest this juicer to most people because it’s a nice balance between those who don’t want to spend too much on a juicer but still want quality juicers.

These juicers are gentle enough that you can make your juices ahead of time and store them.  Some say you can store up to 72 hours, but I’d just do 2 days max to be safe.

A couple reasonably priced juicers:

Twin Gear

Pros: produces juices with high nutrient value, quiet, leaves dry pulp

Cons: pricey, slow, tedious clean-up

Imagine pushing something through a pair of gears.  That something gets gently squeezed and, in this case, produces juices with a high level of nutrients intact and leaves behind dry pulp.  These juices can be stored up to 72 hours but I just keep them for 48 hours max, just in case.  These juicers come with many parts to clean up and take longer to juice, since it is so gentle on the fruits and veggies.

I have been using this one since 2012 and I still love it:

Cold Presser

This is the Rolls Royce of juicers.  The highest quality juices come from these machines.  Being as that I’m sure the large majority of us don’t have an exorbitant amount of money to roll around in, I’m not going to waste my breath on explaining these because they don’t come cheap.

TIP!!!!! When storing your juices, put them in tightly sealed, nonporous (ie, non-plastic) containers, like mason jars, leaving as little air as possible in the containers.

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I love this easy to make vegan dish for those days when I’m craving some pad thai!  It tastes amazing.  Most pad thai sauces are made with refined sugar and fish sauce but this has none of that. You wouldn’t believe that it’s that healthy!  I wish I could call this a 1 pot wonder because basically everything is put together in a single pan, but you do need an extra pot to boil the noodles in while you’re assembling everything else.  It takes about 20-30 minutes to make, and would still taste great cold!  So without further adieu, here’s the recipe so you know how to make it yourself!

Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 package flat brown rice noodles
• 5 tbsp Nama Shoyu (or Tamari for gluten free)
• 5 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon or lime juice
• 2 tbsp raw creamy almond butter
• 1 tbsp tahini (or more almond butter)
• 4 tbsp maple syrup
  maple syrup
• crushed red peppers to your liking
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4-8 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 inches ginger root, minced
• 1 package tempeh, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, thinly sliced or grated
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• limes, chopped scallions, peanuts (optional garnish)

Instructions:

1. Boil hot water for the noodles, then pour boiled water into pot and set aside for 5 minutes.  Add noodles and let sit for about 20 minutes.
2. Stir the nama shoyu/tamari, lemon/lime juice, almond butter, tahini, maple syrup, and red peppers together.
3. In a large saute pan or wok, heated on low, add sesame oil and onion, garlic, ginger, and tempeh.  Stir for about 5 minutes.
4. Add carrots, bell peppers, and a little water to the pan or wok and stir for another 5 minutes.
5. Add drained noodles and sauce, mix until sauce thickens to your liking.
6. Serve with optional garnish.