I’ve seen this question come up a few different times in forums, so I thought in today’s article I’ll answer just that.
In short, you do not need to add water to your juice. Water adds absolutely nothing to your juice recipes and should only come into contact with your juicer when you’re cleaning it. All water does is take away from the flavor of your fresh juice but can be added if you want to, it’s just unneccessary.
Don’t get me wrong, I loooove a cool glass of water and the feeling of being fully hydrated but I don’t believe it has a place as an ingredient in your juice. Except when you’re using a blender but I talked about that further down this article.
In This Article
Why Would You Dilute Your Juice Anyway?
I know some of you will be scratching your heads and wondering why you’d add water in the first place. I’ll admit, I was with you. But from what I’ve seen it’s sometimes given out as advice for what to do when you’re not used to the taste of your juice.
This can be particularly relevant if you’re using lots of veggies and leafy greens to make green juice and other vegetable juices. This type of fresh juice can sometimes taste a bit bitter.
But even if that’s the case, I don’t think adding water helps. You just get left with the same taste, only not quite as strong and it lasts longer because you’ve made your drink bigger than it was before!
To dilute and change the taste of your glass of juice, there’s only one way you should do it…
The Right Way To Dilute Your Juice
Adding more fruit!
If you’re finding your juice bitter and can’t power through it, then sweeten it up by adding some fruit juice.
Apples are a great choice for this because they don’t have too high a sugar content; have got a really sweet taste; and they’re mostly water. Plus, you get their health benefits without messing with your blood sugar levels too much.
Or, instead of just adding water, why not add and watery fruits and veggies – like watermelon, kiwis or cucumber – so that you get water plus some nutritious vitamins and minerals.
Cucumber is actually another good one because it doesn’t have too strong a taste and works really well to help dilute juice. If you’re really determined to add some water to your fresh juice, do it with cucumber so you get some extra vitamins too.
Celery is another quite watery vegetable that works well but, again, isn’t very sweet. The same goes for celery juice. It’s watery to begin with so you definitely don’t need to add extra water to it.
In my opinion, these are the best ways to dilute your fruit and vegetable juices if that’s what you want to do. However, if it’s a taste problem you’re having, then you’re better off adding more sweet ingredients and weaning yourself off them slowly if you’re worried about the sugar.
When Should You Add Water To Your Juice?
Now, I know I just said you should never add water to your fresh juice, and I stand by that when you’re using a juicer, but with a blender it’s a different story.
If you’re making a smoothie rather than juice (to turn a smoothie into juice you have to use a strainer to filter it after you’ve blended it), you need to add some liquid or the motor is going to burn out.
In a blender you need a little bit of liquid to basically get the process started. A blender spins, which drags your fruits and veggies into the blades. Using a little bit of water provides a lubrication to make this all run more smoothly.
There’s not really a way to get around that, even with the most powerful blenders it’s good practice to do this.
Or you can add water to jucie shots and it can be quite nice. If you’ve made some ginger shots they can be very intense by themselves, but if it’s ginger and lemon you can add that to a big bottle of water and you get some really nice flavoured water.
I’d say that’s adding juice to water rather than water to juice though!
Adding Water For Storage?
One last thing I saw, which I thought was quite clever, was someone’s suggestion that if you’re going to store your juice in bottles in the fridge, and it doesn’t fill the bottle all the way to the top, then pour a little bit of water in to fill it completely. This will minimize the amount of air that is trapped in the bottle.
This makes sense because it’s the air that oxidizes your fruits and vegetables, which causes them to lose nutrition and begin to spoil. So the less air you have in the bottle coming into contact with the juice, the slower it should go off and the longer it should stay nutritious.
Now, I don’t have a science lab so I can’t fully test this, but it does sound like it makes sense. That doesn’t mean it’s true, but I like the idea! Fresh juice in my house never lasts long enough for this to be a problem! I would always recommend storing your juice in an airtight container in the fridge – that will maximise how long it lasts.
Conclusion
Ultimately, there’s no harm in adding water to your juice, but at the same time there is no good in adding water to your juice either! I say don’t do it!
But if this is what you’ve always done and you like it, more power to you, juice with water is better than no juice at all!
As always, please leave a comment down below if you still have any questions or if you have anything to add that you think I’ve missed here. I’m always trying to keep these articles up-to-date but occasionally I do miss things so let me know if there’s anything.
And if you have the same question about putting water in smoothies check out this article
Happy Juicing!
I’ve just started juicing- a week;. Without adding water
the concoction is just a green mush and has to be ‘ eaten’ not drunk? Actual juice squeezed out barely negligible. Don’t understand.
Hi Lawrence, what juicer did you use and what ingredients are you juicing?
U asked her what kind juicer did she use. What kind of juicer is best one that’s Beneficial but not hard on pocket book. Like to be able find one between 50 n 100 dollars. See some alot higher.
Hi Allan I’ve got an article on cheap juicers here
Thanks for the articles on juicing. I’m just starting to utilize a juicer and my other half she purchased a damn good one, excuse my French. In doing so it squeezes every bit of juice out of vegetables or fruits and only leaves the pulp , which my dog loves. I am not a fruit eater because my body does not Digest them very well. vegetables do very well with me. Questions. Do you have any advice to a new juicer that bikes, gym work, golf, and walk.. age 62. The same for my other half. What are some good juice or fruit cocktails that we can enjoy with such an active life Style?
Hey Mel!
Congrats on leading such an active lifestyle! My biggest advice would be not to substitute meals for juice, if you’re active you need the calories and protein so I’d have juice as snacks and meal additions, it’s what I do too! As for recipes if you head over to the homepage(juicebuff.com) you can sign up to the newsletter and you get sent 5 essential beginner recipes that’ll start you out right! Enjoy your juicing!
I’d say there may be 2 good reasons to possibly add water to your juice.
Adding water and diluting juice may to some extent lower how much sugar your body absorbs so quickly especially if it means you are drinking the juice alot slower because there is more of it. There are numerous reasons why high blood sugar spikes can be a negitive to ones health and diluting juice may help to reduce this.
The second reason is that juices are very acidic and damaging to teeth. Drinking through a straw could help but diluting juice could also decrease the damage done to teeth.