Why Use a Masticating Juicer, and What Makes Juicing at Home so Good?

Some years ago, I was made redundant from a good job, and hard times quickly ensued. Which is ok, because that's life, and because these are the experiences which make you learn and grow. Most of all, I learned to not complain as it doesn‘t change things and it brings you and those around you down.

Over this period, various kitchen appliances broke, and I could not spare the money to replace them. I went for months without an oven (lucky it was summer) then for months without a washing machine. I am so grateful for my machine now and I give thanks every time I use it. I’ve been without a vacuum cleaner, which was tough, and the dishwasher went too but strangely I don’t miss that despite being a house of seven people. I could have scraped together enough over time, but there was always something more pressing, usually my car, needing repair.

There is one kitchen appliance however, that I feel I cannot live without, and if (heaven forbid) something should go wrong with it I will replace it as soon as is physically possible. I am so glad that I can order spares for delivery next day, and I confess to being tempted by the thought of actually buying a spare machine! This one appliance has become absolutely vital to me. It’s my juicer.

I came to the awareness of juicing gradually, as I became aware of peri-menopausal symptoms and the need to care for my health and nutrition more. I read about eating sprouting seeds and beans, raw foods, power foods like spirulina and chorella and wheat grass, and I began to incorporate them into my everyday life.

Around the time that I was feeling great from the improvement in my diet, a doula friend of mine began a juice detoxification programme, photographed herself drinking some vibrant looking green juice and posted the picture on face book with a comment about the list of ingredients.

Now I have never been a great one for eating fruit or raw vegetables in great quantity - it seems like a workout in itself to munch through some raw stuff - but I took one look at that glass of green goodness and realized that I was looking at one very fresh, healthy and tempting drink. I asked her about her juicer, and she explained that I needed a masticating rather than a centrifugal machine, and I went online straightaway to research juicers.

Juicing is a wonderful way to get your children to eat their vegetables!

Juicing machines are, for some, a very costly investment, but you need a strong, efficient machine in order to enjoy daily vegetable and fruit juices. Don’t forget, you will never, anywhere, be able to buy any juice which surpasses that which you make yourself at home to drink immediately. You just can’t get fresher than that!

Juicers are not to be confused with smoothie makers, which are really no more than a blender with a tap at the bottom. These are great for smashing up soft fruits like pineapple, banana and mango into a pulp and mixing it with yoghurt and other tasty, healthy ingredients to make a lovely nourishing drink.

Its great to have a blender or smoothie maker in your kitchen in addition to the juicer, and children love a smoothie when they get in from school. Smoothies and juices are a great way to get raw goodness into children who might otherwise prefer something a lot less healthy to snack on.

The masticating juicer, however, does a really unique job, and it plays a vital role in extracting maximum goodness from your raw foods.

Centrifugal juicers do have the advantage of being roughly a quarter of the price of the cheapest masticating juicer, and they make a fruit juice that has less bits in it, so if you’re not sure about whether juicing is the way to go, or you just want to get the children drinking real fresh juice, this could be a way to start.

The masticating juicer is the one for you if you feel at all drawn to drinking vegetable juices for health and vitality. The masticator turns slowly, so as not to overheat and spoil the liquid, and it is relentless and unforgiving, destroying every fibre in its path! And this is the important part, because contained in the vegetable fibres are lots of vitamins and nutrients that we rarely benefit from, simply because cellulose plant fibre is indigestible to humans. Vegetable fibres can pass through the digestive system without ever releasing their locked-up goodness. Way back in human history, our teeth, the original masticating juicers, may have been more efficient at tearing the fibre of the fruit and vegetables in our diet, and extracting the goodness therein.

The masticating juicer allows you to experiment with any raw vegetables or fruit you want. Familiar foods are suddenly seen in a totally new and exciting light. I remember the first time I juiced a celery stick, along with an inch or so of cucumber, and an apple, skin and pips and all. The colour was enchanting, a beautiful, unique, delicate spring green. The taste, delicate, a little savoury from the celery, was light and alive.

I still get immense pleasure from juicing beetroot and enjoying the mad, extroverted pinkest of hot pinks in a glass! Beetroot juice has a silky, substantive quality, it has a thick and earthy flavour, and with the addition of an apple, carrot or an inch of pineapple, and a slice of lime, it makes a juice that’s almost a dessert.

The masticating juicer takes the experience and potential of juicing way beyond what I ever imagined it might be. Whatever I’m left with in the fridge, be it an end of cucumber, a head of broccoli, some kale, a pepper, whatever, into the juicer with the addition of an apple and a chunk of lemon or lime with rind on, and you have a refreshing drink, which is as nourishing as a meal.

One complaint you do hear about juicers is that they need cleaning after every use. And this is very true. When I’m on a three-day detoxification, I will juice four times a day, and yes, I clean the juicer after each use. You just don’t want to leave the machine’s interior filters covered in pulp; it’s sweet, moist and full of the sort of goodness that bacteria love to munch on.

I love my juicing so much that I’ve even learned to love the washing up! Seriously, we have become so used to instant gratification in this day and age that we want the reward without being prepared to do even a few minutes of menial work. There is a goodness in caring for the things that serve us, and its possible to learn to actually relish the little rituals that surround the preparation of food.

My first move, when I’m about to prepare a juice, is to fill my sink with warm soapy water, and I dismantle and soak the mechanism before I take the first sip from my glass. It’s not complicated at all, there are only four parts and I give thanks to them as I clean them. My stomach juices are then getting ready to digest the juice, which is good, because you don’t have to actually chew it, which is one of the normal stimulants for gastric juice production.

It is actually quite important to consciously remember to give a little chewing action and hold the juice in your mouth, for this very reason. Most cool liquids are swallowed really fast, so its good to be mindful with your juice, and use it as a chance for a little time out to be thankful, and revel in the feeling that this beautiful, live plant essence is bringing you the gift of nourishment and supporting weight-loss. ( and you can improve on perfection! Just throw a handful of ice either mashed through the machine or cubed into your glass!)