How to choose a juicer

To get the full pleasure of a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition, there is a very useful unit - a juicer. This miracle of technology, once available only from selected aesthetes and gourmets, is now available to everyone who wants to receive freshly squeezed vitamins in the form of a delicious and healthy drink at home. Things are easy - choose the best juicer.

How often do you drink juice and which one do you prefer - fruit, vegetable, citrus, herbal, or all at once in one glass?

Universal juicers are intended for a cocktail of everything in a row, but they cost more and do not always squeeze to the maximum. For lemons, limes, oranges and the like, there are special devices that squeeze the flesh of these complex and juicy citrus fruits to the maximum without using the internal partitions of the slices, which give bitterness. Some models specialize in squeezing the juice of vegetables, and there are thosethey are suitable only for juicing from ripe ripe fruits, like apples and pears, or they are capable of giving out juice only from stone fruits - cherries and sweet cherries.

In a separate row are the juicers for pomegranate or for fruits with scanty seeds - strawberries and raspberries. Even mini-juicers for greens or spicy herbs have been developed - so to speak, to a particular connoisseur.

And this is by no means all that kitchen units can boast to help us enjoy fresh, fragrant and healthy juice every day. All existing models differ in their special characteristics, as well as price and quality.

No matter how versatile a juicer is created, it still will not be able to satisfy all needs immediately and completely - either it will let the bones into the juice, or it will not be able to process the dense skin, or something else.

Therefore, the main requirement for any quality juicer is a clear correspondence with the indicated technical characteristics.

A short list of parameters, usually indicated in the instructions of each model of the juicer, to which you should pay close attention:

1. two lists of fruits and vegetables - those that can be pressed in this unit, and those that can not be used in it;
2. the presence of a container for the pulp;
3. type of separator (conical or cylindrical);
4. power (from 200 to 1200 W);
5. recommended centrifuge speed (8000-10000 revolutions per minute);
6. the ability to adjust the speeds;
7. the presence of a foam separator;
8. optimal cycling and duration of work (for example, 10-minute spinning mode with a 1-minute break).

Then it is worth answering 3 important questions:

1. What kind of juice do you need - citrus, vegetable or green?
2. So you better understand the purpose of acquiring a juicer.
3. Is it enough to get just 1 glass of juice every day, or do you need a lot more and not just for you?

• So you determine the regular use of equipment.
• Will you have a couple of jugs of juice a day or are you going to actively squeeze them out in dozens of liters from morning to evening?
• So you will designate the required volume of the resulting product.

But on the basis of all the information received, proceed no longer to the spontaneous, often rash purchase, but to a quite conscious and practical choice of the juicer model you need.

For the juice of orange, lemon, tangerine and grapefruit fruits, special models of juicers were invented, which is called “for citrus fruits”. They are used to obtain life-giving moisture only from citrus fruits and are not suitable for other fruits and berries. Designed for those who do not like or rarely drink apple, cherry, carrot and vegetable juices, but grapefruit and orange are ready to absorb at least in liters.

A bowl for juice in most citrus juicers is only 1-2 cups. With a capacity of one and a half liters is rare, which is not surprising - natural citrus juice retains its beneficial properties for long, and therefore it should be drunk within 5-10 minutes after pressing.

The spout, which transports the freshly squeezed juice into a glass, must also be convenient - such that no precious juicy drop is spilled past.Well, when the spout juicers equipped with a filter. There are models with a convenient option of direct juice supply - when it is not collected in the juicer containers, but directly into the glass.

A decent unit for squeezing citrus has additional options in the form of various nozzles for selecting the size of the fruit (corresponds to the size of the fruit - more juice will be) or to regulate the density of the drink and pulp in it (the thinner the slot in the nozzle, the thinner the juice). For spinning without residue is responsible mode "reverse" - spinning back and forth, the cone squeezes out the maximum amount of their life-giving moisture from citrus. A convenient holder for fruit halves allows you to protect your hands from splashing and contact with the mechanism of the juicer. And for those who are accustomed to strictly observe the recipes of cocktails up to milligrams, the determinant of the level of the liquid with which some containers are used to collect juice is useful.

The presence of additional parameters, motor power and the quality of the materials of the citrus fruit juicer (metal or plastic), determine its performance, reliability, and cost - from 450 to 10,000 rubles and above.

Lovers of tomato juice and natural dishes with its use are addressed to juicers for tomatoes. Their conceptual approach to the method of extraction is determined by the design: manual conventional or centrifugal, electric screw or mechanical press.

The manual juice extractor for tomatoes is similar to the ordinary meat grinder into which the conic screw with a trench for outflow of juice is inserted. Powered mechanically, pressed tomato cake is discharged through a special nozzle hole. This simple unit is easy to operate, does not require special care and is quite affordable. And most importantly, it has been proven more than once and for centuries it has been verified that it is the manual juicer that is the most reliable.

The centrifugal juicer is not similar to the usual manual one only in that it is capable of extracting juice not only from tomatoes, but from other soft fruits. At high speeds, the berries and fruits under the influence of centrifugal force are crushed and pressed into the walls of the juicer centrifuge so that they give all their juice, which flows through special holes and fills the compartment to collect it.At the same time, almost all the cake remains inside and often clogs the grater, so to continue the work, you have to open and clean the juicer.

The mechanical tomato juicer acts like a regular press. The tomato is placed on a special coaster, pressed against it with a lever, and under such uncomplicated pressure gives up its juice into a carefully placed mug. Simple and tasteful natural tomato. Although without the maximum effect - a part of the rather juicy, unstained pulp on the stand still remains. However, a glass of vitamin tomato breakfast is enough, and the remnants of an under-pressed tomato can be used at lunch to cook borscht.

Inside the auger electric juicer for tomatoes, an electric motor is mounted, rotating graters, grinding vegetables-fruits-berries into gruel, giving up its juice through a special nozzle. At the same time, the well-milled pulp is squeezed out at the end of the screw through a certain hole. Standard electric extractors are usually equipped with one of the augers - either only horizontal or only vertical.But there are special models where both augers are built in at the same time, which rotate in the working position in opposite directions.

When choosing a screw juicer, one should pay attention not only to its external parameters (size and weight, plastic or metal case, volume of the juice collection compartment), but also to the main technical characteristics (motor power and screw rotation, spin technology, diameter of the bookmark compartment fruits). And depending on the volumes of juice you need and its purpose, buy a household (for the home), a professional (for a bar and a restaurant) or an industrial (for factory production) juicer.

The cost of a household model depends on the equipment, quality and fame of the manufacturer and can vary from 3,000 to 50,000 rubles and more.

The universal high-quality juicer is more complex than the citrus one, it is noticeably larger and much more expensive (from 5,000 rubles to the limits of the manufacturer’s self-importance). But it is able to quickly and easily squeeze out juice from almost any gifts of garden gardens, even loaded into it at the same time.Fruits are carefully ground with the help of an acute disc grater, and the resulting juice is passed through a separator, the design of which, by the way, determines the final consistency of the drink and its enrichment with pulp.

The cylindrical separator squeezes the pulp by 90%, but does not throw it into the designated container automatically (you have to unload it manually). But it is capable of a conical separator, but it leaves almost half of the juice in the cake. So, we have to choose between the amount of juice and the convenience of its receipt.

The volume of squeezed juice directly depends on the speed with which the juicer centrifuge rotates (optimal for domestic needs - 8000 or 10 000 revolutions per minute), and the speed with which the spinning takes place (the lower, the thinner), which is controlled by the position of the regulator .

As for the power of universal juicers, manufacturers often try to sell them more profitably, indicating outrageous characteristics that allegedly significantly exceed 1200 watts.Although it is impossible to achieve such a juicer in real-life conditions, and there’s nothing to do with it - for squeezing the juice, it has enough power in the range of 250-800 W.

It is also good if the container of the juicer, through which the fruits are sent for pressing, has a wide feeding tray and a convenient pusher.

And in general, the more varied the bundle of the universal centrifugal juicer is, the better it is. Cones of various sizes for citrus fruits, graters of various configurations, brushes for cleaning filters and hard-to-reach compartments of the unit - everything will fit. At the same time, the less parts will be removable, the more convenient it is to wash the juicer.

For sure to guess with the choice of juicer, consider models of well-known and well-established manufacturers in the middle price range.

Among the centrifugal ones, inexpensive (within 7,500 rubles) and powerful (700 W) models with a metal body and with a volume of compartment for ready-made juice within 1.25 - 1.5 liters are sold the fastest:

Bosch MES 3000, included is a cleaning brush and a pusher for fruits;

Philips HR 1861, the set in addition to the pusher includes a glass for juice (0.8 l) and a recipe book;

Moulinex JU 599 D 3 E, cleaning brush included.

Moreover, the last two juicers are equipped with a direct juice supply system and automatic pulp discharge. In addition, the Philips HR 1861 can even download the entire fruit, and the Moulinex JU 599 D 3 E is equipped with a drop-stop system and a foam separator.

No less popular and quite expensive (13,800 rubles), the screw model of the juicer is Kenwood JE 810. This unit is made of stainless steel, though with a smaller capacity for juice (1 liter), but more powerful (850 W). The pulp is discharged automatically, fresh juice is fed directly into the glass.

In the lower price segment, Zelmer 377 compact centrifugal juicer made of colored plastic is in demand (stainless steel separator filter). The power of this model varies from 250 W to 800 W, which inevitably affects the cost (from 2 500 to 4 500 rubles). The automatic discharge of pulp is also present here, as well as the system of direct juice supply to the glass, which, surprisingly, is not included in the kit. But there is a fruit pusher, and an additional fine-mesh sieve.

For squeezing juice from spicy herbs, greens, small berries (including grapes) and wheat germ, auger manual squeezer Wheatgrass Juicer BL-30 made of high-quality stainless steel (304 samples) is ideal. Its interesting feature - the presence of a regulator of the degree of moisture of the cake - allows you to use this decent unit in the production of homemade wine and medicinal herbal tinctures.

When searching for the optimal juicer for you, it is also reasonable to listen to the reviews of those who have already bought it.

Owners of manual juicers assure that the unit cannot be found more reliably - their work depends only on the sharpness of the screws and the strength of the hands and the patience of the juicer. In electric juicers, they do not like the need to clean the strainer and cool the motor during long work. Although the manual juicer is sometimes so filled with oilcake that no longer want any juice.

But the juicers from Bosch, Philips and Moulinex regularly collect praise for their high reliability, durability, good stability during the spin process and pleasant ergonomics. There are practically no serious complaints to these manufacturers.Most consumers note the excellent balance of the technical component of juicers, the weighted reasonableness of all auxiliary elements and, importantly, high efficiency even at medium power settings.

And most importantly - everyone is satisfied with the quality and taste of the drink, which is obtained using a juicer.