Juicing 101

Bible verse of the week:  Exodus 16:31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. "It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

I find it interesting that God's choice to sustain the Israelites in the desert for 40 years was vegan bread, and when they grumbled wanting meat, God sent them quail and He struck them down with a severe plague, and they were buried with the people who had craved other food. (Num. 11:33,34)

Juicing:


Why Juice?
Juicing is like intravenous vitamins that go straight to the cells to nourish and build your immune system.  Vegetables today have far less nutrient content as they did just 100 years ago.  Today it would take 80 bunches of spinach to equal the nutrient content in 1900.  Since we cannot eat and process that many vegetables, juicing is key to a vibrant, healthy body.  Man-made, heat processed multi vitamins can never replace or compare to the health benefits of juicing.

Enemies of fresh vegetable juice:
1.  Oxidation
2.  Heat
Both of these cause the enzymes and nutritional quality of the juice to be severely compromised.  If you are going to take the time and spend the money, do it right!

Choose the right juicer:
1.  Avoid the centrifugal juicers, these are the ones that have a spinning basket, which pushes air into the juice and oxidizes it. The blades also spin at such high RPM's that it creates friction that cause heat, the other enemy of juice.  So just the design these juicers do not provide you with high quality juice.  Some on the market are, Juiceman, Jack LaLanne, Breville.  You must drink the juice immediately!  Cannot store it!

2.  Masticating juicers are a decent choice, they are affordable and do a great job in juicing carrots and other hard veggies, a little more prep need to be taken for leafy greens because they tend to wrap around the blade.  The Champion juicer was the masticating juicer I chose when I had cancer. Drink the juice from these juicers within 24 hours, or if vacuum sealing within 48 hours.

3.  Twin Gear juicers are wonderful for making green juices, but are very difficult to juice hard veggies, especially carrots.  Especially if you are weak from a health challenge these juicers may be very difficult to use.  I call these the "twice as much" juicers.  Twice as many parts to clean than the champion, twice as much money to buy them.  But also juice that lasts twice as long and has more quantity than the masticating juicers.  The Green Star is a great twin gear, but make sure you love it before you buy it!  Juice is good for 2 days right from juicer and 4 days vacuum sealed.


4.  Auger Style, my new favorite. This juicer works with gravity.  You literally drop the veggies in the chute and they are fed into the auger that crushes the juice out of them, works just as good on carrots and greens. The juice straight from the juicer lasts for 72 hours, if vacuum sealed my juice last an average of 5 days.  The Hurom and Omega VRT are both manufactured by the Hurom company, and are the same design.  I however carry the Omega VRT 350 because their warranty and customer service is much better.

New shipment just arrived today.  I only have 2 left.  The price is $379.95.  

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I have all three of the recommended juicers if you would like to try them out for yourselves.  But after using the Omega VRT 350 you will not want to use another juicer.

5.  Oh yeah, can't forget.  If you can afford one, there is always the Mercedes of juicers which is the Norwalk juicer.  Several thousand dollars for one, and it is a 2 step process.  Step one grinds the veggies and puts them in a cloth bag.  Step two presses the juice out of the cloth bags.  Nice juicer but expensive and very heavy.

Now that you have the right juicer, here is the set-up that I use:

Cutting Board, Good Knife and some Large Colanders

Carrot Peeler 

Large Pitchers and Strainer

Juicer, pulp catching bowl, juice catching pitcher

Veggies to Juice

My Basic Juice Recipe

 Yield approx.12, 8 ounce cups (seen doubled here)

1 Ten pound of organic carrots (Costco)

1 bunch of chard

1 bunch of spinach

4 stalks of celery

2 green apples

1/2 beet and beet greens

2 organic cucumbers

Juice all veggies through the juicer and strain out any extra pulp.

Additions:

Kale (bitter, so use as your taste buds can handle)

Dandelion Leaf (great liver detox, also bitter)

Lambs quarter (yummy weed not bitter)

Ginger

Red/ Orange or Yellow Bell Pepper (Green ones are not ripe yet!)

Lemon (peel and all)

Use your imagination, if you don't have all of the ingredients juice what you have on hand.  Make it different each time.  Let your body decide what nutrients it needs.

Line up several carrots against the side of a knife, an cut off the tips and tails.

Through the carrot peeler they go.  Steve can peel 20 lbs of carrots in 5 minutes!

Why do I peel my carrots?  We have found that the juice tastes much sweeter and have done side by side tests of peeled vs not peeled juice and the not peeled juice seemed to turn bad faster.  I believe that it is the bacteria that is left in the carrot peels that start the decaying processes faster.  If you are interested in purchasing one, I have an account with the company and can get it for you, they cost $99.95.

Place all of the veggies in a sink full of water and approx 1/4 C apple cider vinegar

Rinse them off and let the water drain off them

This is my sweet friend, Emma Grace who juices for me 2 times a week :)

Just drop the veggies into the juicer, I like to rotate, green leafy and carrot or other hard veggie.

Never over load your juicer, make sure the veggies have gone through completely!

Juice coming out of juicer, notice pulp coming out other side.  Make sure you strain the juice one more time, to get out all of the pulp and make it easy on your digestive system.

How to store the finished juice:

What you need: Vacuum Sealer, Lid Adapter and Mason Jar.  I like using the 8 oz. wide mouth jars, so that I can just grab one and go.  If you use larger jars, you would need to reseal it each time after opening.

Fill your jars up about 1/4" from the top, place round top on jar (not the ring)

Place lid adapter over the round top on the jar. (yes the jar is under there)

Place tip of vacuum sealer into the hole in the middle of lid adapter and press button on vacuum sealer to suck out all of the air.

Place ring on jar, and refrigerate ASAP.

The Vacuum Sealer will double the life of the food/ juice you store in them.  It works well for leftovers as well as avocados...I had an avo stored for a week without turning brown, which is really oxidation happening right before your eyes.  

I have a large order of vacuum sealers and lids on order and should be here by the next Culinary Class.  Let me know if you would like one, they sell out fast!  Price for Vacuum Sealer and Lid Adapter is $29.95.