Is there such a thing as the best juicer?
In a word, yes.
The best juicer is the one that best fits your needs. When choosing any appliance, the decision is based on various factors. The purpose of the juicer is the most important aspect of consideration. Since fruits and vegetables each have their own unique properties, the extraction process that works best for one may not be the process that works best for the other.
Before you buy a juicer here are some factors you should take into consideration:
1. Ease of cleaning
2. Noise level
3. Speed of juicing
4. Length of warranty
5. Types of produce you will be juicing
Fruits will require a gentler extraction process because they have soft cell walls. Because of this, many fruits can be juiced as a whole, including the peel. Examples of such fruits are apples, pears and melons. Juicing citrus fruits, like oranges, grapefruit and tangerines with their peel is not recommended because their rind is so bitter. However, the white pithy part contains many nutrients, so is good to include. Contrarily, vegetables are more fibrous and have tough cell walls and will require a more aggressive extraction process.
Another thing to note is that because of the low acid content, vegetable juices will need to be consumed soon after the preparation due to the change in enzyme activity. Other things to consider are durability to handle the frequency of usage, length of warranty, noise level, ease in cleaning, and the juicing speed.
One of the oldest juicer designs, the centrifugal juicer uses a grater or shredder disk that is located at the bottom of a straight sided basket. The straight sides keep the pulp in the basket during the juicing process, as the basket spins at a very high rate (3600 rpm) in order to force the juice through the strainer basket. The juice is dispensed out the front and the pulp remains in the machine. Typically it is possible to juice up to two quarts before it is necessary to stop and remove the pulp.
Using the same type mechanism, the centrifugal ejection juicer, which you may have seen on the “Juiceman” Infomercial, has what is considered to be a self cleaning basket. The basket in this type juicer has slanted sides that allow the pulp to be ejected, so to speak, from the basket and into a bin lined with a small plastic bag where it can be removed and discarded easily. The contact time of the pulp in the basket is extremely short so an even faster speed is necessary (6300 rpm). With the difference in speed, it should be no surprise that this juicer will be much noisier than the centrifugal juicer. It is in fact, probably the noisiest of all type juicers, however, it is also the easiest to use and to clean and are the process is very quick.
Another type juicer is a masticating juicer. This juicer utilizes a combination of actions. First, it chops, then masticates or chews, then it presses to extract the juice. It is sufficient to process all vegetables including leafy varieties. It requires some physical strength to operate, but has the advantage of being able to handle making peanut butter, applesauce, tomato sauce, baby food and more. A manual press juicer uses pressure to extract the juice. It squeezes it using either leverage or hydraulics. This process causes the least amount of oxidation and produces a pulp free juice. There is an auger juicer that essentially crushes the produce against a side or screen to extract the juice.
There are indeed many things to consider when choosing a juicer, but the benefits are well worth the effort.
