If you have kids, you'll know how it is a constant struggle to get them to eat fruit. You can have it lying out on the kitchen bench, you can even dress the fruit up in little top hats, and the kids still won't give them a second glance. And every afternoon, their bags and lunchboxes come home from school smelling like half rotten fruit, or worse still, there is a banana squished into the bottom of the bag. As adults and parents, we all know how important fruit is for our kids growing bodies, but a lot of the time we end up throwing our hands in the air in despair and giving up. If this sounds familiar to you, then you may want to consider substituting fruit for orange juice. There's a little more work involved in getting it prepared, but the ease with which it will be consumed by your children will more than make up for it. To efficiently keep a supply of juice available in the house, you are really going to need an orange juicer. Once you have a fresh supply of orange juice on tap, you will find that not only will your kids bottles come home empty, but they'll be happy to have some for afternoon teas, or, in the middle of Summer, frozen in ice block form. You'll probably have trouble keeping up with them.

Orange juice is incredibly healthy. It is packed with Vitamin C, and just a glass full of pure orange juice meets the daily requirements a kids growing body needs. Orange juice can keep colds and flues at bay, and has been reported to reduce blood pressure, help with cholesterol levels, and it is also full of fibre. The best type of orange juice you can have is freshly squeezed in your own home, as it retains a lot of the natural fibre you get from the oranges. Prepackaged orange juice just doesn't compare, for a few reasons. Firstly, as I said, the natural fibres just aren't there. During the process of bottling the juice, it gets excessively filtered out. Another downfall of prepackaged juice is that it is heat treated so that it will last longer. The process of pasteurising the juice kills off a lot of the beneficial nutrients (as well as diminishing the flavour). Finally, it can be difficult to determine just how old prepackaged juice is, or how far it has travelled to end up on your supermarket shelves. By and large, freshly squeezed orange juice just can't be beat.

Types Of Orange Juicers

So, if you are considering an orange juicer, there are a few things that you will need to keep in mind. The first decision you will need to make is whether you want a manual juicer or an electric one. There are two main types of manual orange juicers. One is the old tried and true circular one, where you cut the fruit in half and grind and twist the juice out. During this process, the pulp and seeds will be caught by ridges along the side of the juicer. The other manual option is a juicer that works similar to a nutcracker. Generally, these manual juicers will have long handles that are used for leverage, allowing you to put a lot of pressure behind your squeeze and extract as much juice from you fruit as possible.

Of course, for ease of use, you can't go past an electric orange juicer. These juicers will take all the grunt work out of making your juice, and allow you to make a batch a whole lot quicker, for those times when your kids are just dying of thirst. There are three main types of electrical orange juicers. Firstly, there is the hydraulic press, which works under the same principles as the manual "nutcracker" type juice, in that it will push down on your fruit and literally squeeze the life out of it. The second type is the masticating fruit juicer, which will cut the orange into small pieces, extracting the juice as it cuts. The final type is probably the most popular, which is the centrifugal juicer. This juicer spins the fruit around at high speeds and usually has blades at the bottom that will slice through the fruit as it spins.

Ideally, if you are getting an electric fruit juicer, it should be made from stainless steel. Stainless steel is much easier to clean, it will last a lot longer, it is rust proof, and it looks great sitting on your kitchen bench. Whichever type of juicer you decide is best for you, you should keep a few things in mind to ask the salesperson before purchasing. Here are some questions that you should be asking before handing over your hard earned money...

• What is the process used to clean it? How easy is it to keep clean?
• Does it automatically eject the pulp and seeds during the extraction process?
• Are all the parts dishwasher safe, or some of the parts?
• What sort of a warranty does it come with? What parts are covered in the warranty?

Finally, make sure that you don't get ripped off. Do a bit of shopping around before deciding on which shop you are going to purchase from. 1/2 an hours research online could save you a heap of money, and quite often electrical stores are willing to match their competitors prices.