Idiot's Guide to Buying a New Juicer Part 2

When buying a new juicer, there are always two questions:

1)      What kind of juicer do I need, and

2)      How much money do I need to shell out to get it?

There are basically two kinds of juicers to choose from:  the centrifugal juicer, which is cheaper, and the more expensive slow juicer. 

If you’re a beginner, or just an occasional juicer, the centrifugal juicer will probably suit your current juicing needs. Prices of centrifugal juicers in the Philippines range between PhP 1,000 and PhP 8,000. Some reputable brands of centrifugal juicers are Breville, Jack Lalanne, and Black & Decker. Lazada.com recommends local brands like Imarflex, Hanabishi, Caribbean (this I’m not familiar with), and Moulinex, describing them as “durable”.

As a beginner, I started with this centrifugal juicer, a hand-me-down from my mom.

My Fujitech is probably a decade old, but it’s still fully functional. A durable brand, probably because it’s made in Japan. It initiated me well into the healthy habit of juicing. I got so committed, actually, that I sent back this juicer to Mama to encourage her (and the rest of our family) to take up juicing.

My “sophomore” juicer is also a centrifugal one, a birthday gift from hubby lovey.

Bought on sale for around PhP 3,500, it seemed like a good buy at that time (See my initial review in Idiot’s Guide to Buying a New Juicer). All in all, not really bad. But I do have some thumbs-down notes:

•     It’s a hassle to clean (like many centrifugal juicers, I suppose). Especially if you’re juicing leafy vegetables.
•     And you will have to clean it at least once during in the middle of a juicing session, because the centrifugal blade (that thing which grinds up the fruit and veggie into juice) easily gets clogged.
•     And when the centrifugal blade gets clogged, the entire juicer rattles.  Violently. Worst case scenario: the juice bin detaches from its hook and topples over, spilling all that precious juice you’ve worked so hard to extract! (This happened more than once! Curses!)

Despite its shortcomings, the Jumpstart Juicer is generally tolerable. But since I’ve made a commitment to juice for the rest of my life, I realized it would be wiser to get a juicer that would juice more efficiently so that I can cut down on weekly fruit-and-veggie shopping expenses. 

And that realization led me to this:

HUROM horizontal DA 1000 slow juicer

Say hello to my newest baby – the Hurom DA 1000 slow juicer.

If you’re a serious juicer like me, a slow juicer (or cold-press juicer / masticating juicer) is the best option. Compared to centrifugal juicers, slow juicer can squeeze more juice out of food by as much as 50% (I’ve proven that myself!). This minimizes expenses on fruits and veggies, and saves you money in the long run.

Now it’s just a matter of which brand of slow juicer to pick. The choice is between two reputable brands: Matstone and Hurom.  They are both good, so for me it really boils down to which is cheaper.

I got this Hurom juicer at Lazada.com at a discounted price of PhP 9,450 (regular price was PhP 11,000). When it finally arrived at my doorstep, I felt like a little kid opening a very big present on Christmas day!

I was only interested in juicing, but apparently my Hurom can do a little bit more—it’s equipped to make ice cream, sorbets, pasta (this one I will definitely have to try one of these days!), soups, salad dressings, and even baby food.  

There’s also a recipe book included, plus this pretty pitcher-and-glass set.  A nice surprise!

I’ve been using this baby for a week and so far…it’s stolen my heart. I’m just so in love with it, I want to take it to bed with me. Here are my notes:

• -    The pulp is amazingly dry---amazing for me, who hasn’t experienced pulp this dry from my first two centrifugal juicers.

• -        And because the pulp is squeezed dry, there’s more juice for me!  I tested this.  Using the same recipe, I compared the amount of juices extracted by the centrifugal juicer and the slow juicer. With the centrifugal juicer, I got 250ml of juice. With the slow juicer, I got almost 500ml. The slow juicer gave me almost 50% more juice than my old juicer. A saver!

•     Easy to clean, compared to our centrifugal juicers.  It even comes with a cleaning brush!
•         It just hums quietly while working. No whirring sounds. No violent rattling.  
•         For a supposedly “slow” juicer, I was surprised that it juices quite quickly. It uses the same amount of time as my centrifugal does (maybe even less, because with the slow juicer I don’t need to stop midway to do some “unclogging”). It’s a lot like feeding a pet—you put food into its mouth and it just keeps chewing.

•    On the downside, you will have to chop the food into small slices before you feed it to the juicer.Otherwise the big chunk might get stuck in the juicer’s narrow “throat”.
•    I noticed, too, that this model of Hurom does better at juicing leafy veggies. But when it comes to really soft fruit (like mangoes, papaya or apples), the juicing mechanism (is that what they call the augur?) seems to have a hard time transporting it from the chewing room to the juice hole. 

 I talked with a customer rep at Hurom and they said that horizontal slow juicers (like my Hurom DA 1000) have this common problem. But the vertical juicers do well at juicing both leafy greens and soft fruit.  (But of course, vertical juicers are a lot more expensive, ranging from Php 13,000 to as high as PhP 25,000). When I juice soft fruit, I partner it with a leafy green or a harder fruit/veggie. I found that this solves the juicer’s “transporting” problem.  

   

     

     But all in all, I am very satisfied with my Hurom slow juicer.  Like what Hurom said, it’s “the last juicer you’ll ever want to own”. I’m thinking that maybe that’s true. But I wouldn’t want to limit myself with just Hurom---maybe in 10 years or so, and I’d still be juicing, I would check out the vertical slow juicers of Matstone, too.  

      P.S. I've heard of Green Star, and they say it's the cream of the crop of good juicers, but I don't know if they sell it here in the Philippines. Anyone in the Philippines who owns a Green Star? Where did your buy it? 

 

Idiot's Guide to Buying a New Juicer

NOTE: This was my first post about juicers.  I wrote a second juicing post, Idiot's Guide to Buying a New Juicer Part 2, an updated, more "informed" (thanks to further research) guide on juicer-buying. 

For my 34^th birthday, my husband bought me a new juicer. We found a (seemingly) good buy at SM North Appliance Department store (Quezon City, Philippines):

It’s called The Jumpstart Juicer, a product tie-up between juicer-maker John Mills Limited (JML) of London and juicing advocate Brendan Mccarthy’s Jumpstart 7-Day Weight Loss Program. It was on sale at PhP 3,500 (regular price: 7k plus), and it’s a 3-in-1—the juicer comes with a blender and a food chopper (a mini-food processor of sorts, as they claim it can crush ice, grind whole cookies into bits, and the like).

It also comes with a BOOK about Mccarthy’s 7-day juice only diet, complete with very informative stuff on fruits, vegetables, and how consuming just juices made of these will keep us full for an entire 7 days, PLUS  recipes of juices targeted at whatever effect you want to achieve (detox? Stressbuster? Kidney / Liver Helth? Colon cleanse? It’s all here) and diet-friendly recipes for soups, smoothies, and even baby food. (I will share a few of these recipes in the future)

But wait, there’s more. The salesguy says, the buyer has lifetime warranty on the juicer’s motor, including whatever spare parts that require changing. You can come back anytime to their booth in SM to avail of free service AND parts.

Sounds like a very good buy, right? It’s a centrifugal turbo juicer, it’s not Matsone or Breville or Hurom, but for the price of 3,500, the whole package was very appealing. And the fact that it’s not made in China is a plus for me (no offense to the Chinese, but based on my numerous past experiences, stuff made in China break down faster than you can say "Kung hei fat choi"). So I jumped in and picked this one. And I’ve been using it quite successfully for two consecutive days.

But it’s too early to tell if this juicer will indeed do the job well. For now I can only say that I wish it had a bigger and more securely locked juice container. Compared to my old juicer, Fuji Tech,  Jumpstart’s juice container is not as sturdy.  

Then, on the third day I encountered a slight problem—all of a sudden the juicer seemed… very rattly. So much so that the loosely-locked juice container just toppled over and the juice spilled out! Now I’m not sure if this is my fault, if I hadn’t assembled the darn thing right, but I checked everything and all parts seemed to be in their proper place. The voltage was also correct—I plugged it on a 220v power source. So I’m not quite sure what happened. But I plan to go back to JML at SM North to consult the problem. I really hope that the fault is on my part—otherwise I’d feel really bad that I had allowed myself to get swayed by salestalk into buying something unworthy of our hard-earned money. I will post more updates on this juicer as I go along. Hoping that this juicer won’t let me down. As I was scouring around for JML Jumpstart feedback, I encountered this very insightful article about the benefits of buying a slow juicer. According to the article i mentioned, these are the things we should look for when buying a juicer: - able to juice all greens, herbs, and grasses (with high yield) - good to juice fruits, including soft varieties - cold pressed, to produce superior juice (because heat can kill enzymes in fruits and veggies, we don't get the maximum nutrient potential from fruits and veggies when we use high speed juicers) -  low speed (rpm or rotations per minute), to minimize oxidation and produce more long-lasting juice - able to make nut milks (um, i haven't explored that one yet) - easy to clean (amen!) - low noise   Just when we think that we're saving money from purchasing a more affordable centrifugal juicer, the article contends that we actually are spending more-- because slow juicers make more juice, and more juice means you spend less on fruits and vegetables. So if you're planning on making juicing a lifelong habit, I think investing in a cold press slow-juicer would be a smart move. (Sigh. I haven't even evaluated my new juicer's performance yet and I already feel stupid, not doing my research first before buying).  So maybe, just maybe, a really good windfall comes this way (so that I wouldn't feel too guilty making a dent on my savings), I will buy myself a reputable (albeit pricey) slow juicer. Because I want to be a juicer for life. We spend so much on junk food everyday, anyway. Why not invest on something that will make us healthier? In case my Jumpstart Juicer fails me, I'm setting my sights on this one: Hurom Slow Juicer DA 1000      And in case you’re also interested in buying your own juicer, I have compiled a list of what users on the worldwide web think are the best juicer brands and models  in the Philippines: 1. Matstone 8-in-1 Slow Juicer Combo - Retail price (on sale now) PhP 12,600  2. Hurom DA1000 Slow Juicer - Retail price PhP 11,000 3. Hurom  HU100 - Vertical slow masticating juicer - Retail price PhP 12,975 4. Breville Juce Fountain Max- Centrifugal high-speed juicer - Retail price (on sale now) PhP 8,370  5. Black & Decker JE55 - Centrifugal high-speed juicer - Retail price PhP 6,061 6. Koii Power Juicer HXT 168 - Centrifugal high-speed juicer - Retail price PhP 5,700 7. Geepas Juice Extractor GJE 3255 - Centrifugal high-speed juicer - Retail price (on sale) PhP 2699 Lesson learned: In this day and age when information is so easily accessible, do your RESEARCH first, before you buy.  Oh well. At least I have a brand new inspiring book and a whole new catalog of juice and soup recipes to try. Will post a few recipes from the Jumpstart Program as soon as I have sampled them. And yes, I AM thinking about taking on that 7-Day Weight Loss (Juices Only) Program. And give a day-by-day, blow-by-blow account. Who knows? I just might succeed. (Here's hoping!!!)

Juicing, Anyone? (Consuming your Fruits and Veggies the Liquid Way -- and Enjoying Them, Too)

Let’s admit it– in this day and age, living in this toxic world can be hazardous to your health. 
Chemicals are everywhere, from the food we eat (love instant noodles? processed meat? corned beef in lead-laden cans?) to the very air we breathe (surveys reveal that people who live in the city are more at risk of getting cancer and other diseases compared to people living in less “developed” areas). these days, even if one doesn’t smoke or drink or abuse drugs, doesn’t mean s/he is spared from the risk of getting gravely sick.

So how do we protect ourselves? In my case, as a 34-year-old working wife and mother, with a 3-year-old daughter and parents who need me as breadwinner, it’s imperative that I live long and stay healthy. Vitamin supplements are cool but they’re still synthetic. Veggies and fruits are our best bet, but i’m not a fan of those. And then i discovered the smart art of juicing.

Juicing, quite simply, is turning solid fruits and vegetables into liquid juice with the help of an electric juicer/ juice extractor.

To be honest, i first got into it because i had wanted to lose weight, but along the way i realized that beyond those 3-day juice-only crash diet programs, juicing can actually become my lifelong healthy habit. it’s the perfect way to protect myself and my loved ones from this toxic, carcinogenic world. and the best thing about it is that, when turned into a juice mixture, fruits and vegetables ACTUALLY TASTE GOOD, even if you’re not a fruits-and-veggies lover.

And just to convince you a bit more, here are the BENEFITS OF JUICING, according to one juicing website i’m following:

• improves metabolism
• reduces hunger pangs
• reduces body fat
• with faster metabolism, less hunger pangs, and more burned body fat, HELPS YOU LOSE WEIGHT (yipee!)
• detoxifies your system
• balances hormones
• controls blood sugar
• reduces inflammation

 Juicing has been kind of a fad these days, with celebrities turning on their juicers and going organic. Personally, I’m glad that I have influenced my husband and mother-in-law to get into juicing. Now I make juices not only for me, but for members of my family, too. (And I plan to buy my parents their own juicer soon so that they, too, can enjoy natural juices at home).

DETOX WITH LEMON!

I include LEMON in all of my juices– the pectin fiber in lemon reduces hunger, as well as detoxes the colon. Buildup of wastes in the colon can contribute to the risk of colon cancer. Lemon helps do “house-cleaning” by helping flush out the waste out of your bowels with greater frequency. I found that adding lemon to any recipe doesn’t affect the overall taste (it even enhances it!).

Many like their juices “pure” and concentrated, but I add water to mine. For economic purposes, yes (there’s three of us drinking and only so much juice! water becomes an “extender”. haha), and also because water combined with lemon helps do the colon-cleansing action better.

i’m sharing a few recipes i have grabbed from my favorite juicing websites, one of which is THIS, with a few tweaks and personalized additions. I have taken up a 30-day challenge to drink at least a glass of natural juice every single day for the next 30 days. i actually plan to go beyond 30 days. i want to drink juice every single day for the rest of my life. and i really hope more people will, too.

So here are four of my favorite beginner juicing recipes. Happy juicing!

APPLE CRISP

Ingredients

• Apples – 5 medium (3″ dia) 
• Celery – 2 stalks, large (11″-12″ long) 
• Oranges (peeled) – 2 fruits (2-5/8″ dia)  
• Lemon (peeled) – 1 fruit medium

Directions

• Process all ingredients in a juicer, one ingredient at a time.
• You may add a 1/2 to 1 cup water to the mixture. If you want it concentrated, omit the water.
• Stir very well or shake. Put in the chiller or add ice cubes.

My notes

• At first I had thought adding celery to fruit juice would taste horrible. But I was wrong! This is actually a yummy basic recipe, with the the apples and oranges giving it a prevailing sweet taste, and the celery giving just a little bit of a tangy taste to it.  1 glass won’t be enough!
• Aside from lemon, you can also add ginger for a stronger punch (if you like ginger). I almost always add ginger to juices because of its antioxidant benefits.

BEGINNER GREEN

Ingredients

• Apples – 3 medium (3″ dia) 
• Celery – 4 stalk, large (11″-12″ long) 256
• Ginger Root – 1/4 thumb (1″ dia) 6
• Lemon (with rind) – 1/2 fruit (2-1/8″ dia) 29
• Orange (peeled) – 1 large (3-1/16″ dia) 184
• Spinach – 5 handful 5g

Directions

• Peel everything except the apples and lemon.
• Slice up the ingredients and put in the juicer.
• Stir or shake well. Add ice cubes or put in the chiller
• You don’t have to peel the lemon, but make sure you peel the orange. The orange’s skin is very bitter and can ruin the flavor.

My notes

This is one of my favorite green recipes. You can add malunggay (moringa) and/or parsley to the gang for an extra dose of supernutrients (the more antioxidants, the better for me). Don’t worry, the added green taste will be offset by the sweetness of the apples.

TOXIN KILLER

Ingredients

• 3 apples
• 1 stick of celery
• Half a cucumber
• 1 handful of spinach
• 1 handful of lettuce

Directions

• Peel the cucumber. Keep the apple unpeeled (there’s a load of nutritious stuff in them!).
• Slice up all the ingredients. Put in the juicer one at a time.
• Stir well or shake. Put ice or put in the chiller.

My Notes

• You will notice that the ingredients are almost exclusively veggies except for the apples. The apples will provide the “yummy” factor; the veggies (especially the leafy greens!) will give you the nutrients that you need.  Try adding ginger to it– it gives an extra tangy taste, which I personally love.
• This recipe is best for those who are looking to detox. Add 2 whole lemons for more detox action — lemon helps cleanse the colon.

RAINBOW BRITE

Ingredients

• Apple – 1 medium (3″ dia) 182g
• Carrots – 5 medium 305g
• Cucumber – 1 cucumber (8-1/4″) 301g
• Ginger Root – 1 thumb (1″ dia) 24g
• Lemon – 1 fruit (2-1/8″ dia) 58g
• Pear – 1 medium 178g
• Spinach – 2 handful 50g

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

My Notes

I added parsley to the artillery. It gave the drink more green punch (which gave me the feeling of being full) plus the extra benefits of having more greens. Also experimented with malunggay on this. Not so bad! You ought to try it!

 More recipes to come as I continue my 30-day juicing journey!