Got yourself a new juicer but not sure how to use it?
I can help.
Juicers can be a little bit intimidating when you first look at them, you don’t know what to put in it, how much you’re supposed to use, do you need to peel things? What’s the foam on top? What about the pulp?
Let’s take it step by step and get you using your juicer in no time.
In This Article
Step 1. Choose a Recipe
When you’re staring at your juicer you’re going to want to pick a juice to start with, so let’s start with a nice tasty orange, carrot, apple and ginger juice. This is the first juice I started and where I start most people off.
Green juices are healthier but they’ve got a strange taste that can take some getting used to, so let’s start with this.
Ingredients:
- 2 Carrots
- 2 Oranges
- 1 Apple
- 1 inch Ginger
Step 2. Wash and Chop Ingredients
Most things don’t get peeled and nothing’s getting cooked to kill off any bacteria on the outside of the produce so washing is a must.
As for what needs peeled, the rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t eat the skin then make sure you peel it because the taste can be a little strange. So for this recipe you want to peel the ginger because the skin from that is tough to juice and can be bad for your juicer.
But then I’m going to break my own rule of thumb and say don’t peel the orange! Because I know you wouldn’t and shouldn’t eat orange skin but I juice my oranges cut into segments with the skin on and it always tastes fine, absolutely no problems at all, it just comes out in the pulp.
For size you want things to be about 2 inches x 1 inch x 1 inch, but it depends on the juicer, your produce should fit easily down the feed chute so it hits the bottom before needing pressed through.
So chop up the oranges, the apples, the carrots and peel the ginger then we’re on to the next step!
Step 3. Put juice collection jug in pulp bucket in place
A very important step, your juicer has two spouts, one for juice and one for pulp, you want to put the juice collection jug under the juice spout and the pulp collection container under the pulp ejection spout.
Your juicer should have come with these jugs but if you’ve lost them or you’ve bought a second hand juicer that doesn’t have them then any size of glass or jug will do.
Just make sure they’re in place or you’re going to be left with a hell of a mess!
And if you don’t know which is which don’t worry, as long as both spouts have something underneath them to catch with you’ll soon figure out which is which once you turn it on.
Step 4. Juice Ingredients
Now comes the easy bit, you’re going to juice all your ingredients!
My advice here is to not put in too much at once, you don’t want to clog up the feed chute at the top of the juicer, just take it one, maybe two pieces at a time depending how small you’ve chopped them and put them through the chute. Push it through with the long tampe rthat should have come with the juicer and once each piece if juiced get the next one in.
Watery things should be done last, oranges and cucumbers stuff like that to clear everything through.
For our above recipe you’re going to want to juice the carrot, the ginger, the lemon then the orange.
Then voila! You’ve got yourself a tasty glass of juice, pour your juice into a glass, add some ice cubes if you like it cold and put your pulp in the compost.
Step 5. Wash Your Juicer
Afterwards you’re going to want to clean the juicer (there’s always a catch right?) this is pretty straight forward, you just disassemble it, unscrewing all the different parts and then rinse everything under the warm tap.
You might have got a scrubbing brush that looks like a big toothbrush that can help you do this, scrub away all the pulp and get it looking clean. I clean mine under running hot water then wash it with soap every third or fourth use to save time.
You can also have a look at the manufacturers instructions and see if anything you have is dishwasher safe, if it is then your clean up just got even easier!
Then let everything drip dry and once it’s dry you can reassemble everything and store it away for next time.
A pro tip is to keep it out on the counter if you want to use it often, otherwise you have the hassle of taking it out of the cupboard which gives you a good excuse not to use it. Intead, if it’s all ready on the counter and assembled you can just dive straight in and get your delicious juice under way.
What Not To Do With A Juicer
So the above is everything you should do with your juicer, now let’s take some of the things you shouldn’t do with your juicer.
Don’t Leave It Sitting Dirty
This is a mistake you’ll make once then regret and never do again, so do yourself a favour and don’t do it in the first place.
After you’ve finished juicing, wash your juicer, it’s so much easier to clean when it’s still wet, if you leave it the pulp starts to dry and seems to turn into concrete. And solid pulp mashed into the parts is not easy to clean up. You have to soak it, scrub it and it just becomes a whole ordeal that could have been avoided if you’d just cleaned it when you were done with it.
I wash my juicer before I’ve had my juice, that way I know it’s clean, leaving it till after is too easy to then not come back to it.
Don’t Put Anything Else Other Than Fruit And Veg In Your Juicer
You might be looking around what else you can put in your juicer. Just don’t bother, if you’ve got a centrifugal juicer you’ll blunt up the blades and if you’ve got a masticating juicer you’ll just jam it.
So unless your jucier says otherwise don’t put any nuts in your juicer, don’t put in seeds, don’t put in sugar cane because they’re not juicy enough. Also don’t bother with anything dried, you can’t juice a raisin so don’t bother trying. You’ll regret it!
Don’t Put Frozen Fruit In Your Juicer
This one can be more tempting, because frozen fruit is still fruit right? Yes but when it’s frozen it’s like trying to juice a rock…
And unsurprisingly that’s not very good for your juicer, the same goes for ice cubes, if you want to put ice in your juice put it in after, putting it in your juicer is a recipe for disaster that’s going to leave you with a broken juicer.
But!
If you defrost the fruit first then you can juice it. This can be a good way to get out of season fruits that are still fresh and tasty. But I personally prefer putting frozen fruit in a smoothie because then I don’t have to defrost it. I’ve talked more about juicing frozen fruit here.
Bonus F.A.Qs answered
What’s the foam on top of the juice?
A fair question, when you first make juice this is normally the first thing that goes through your head. I’ve talked more about it here but fortunately it’s just juice mixed with air, air gets into it while juicing, especially if you’ve got a centrifugal juicer, leaving you with foam on top of your juice that tastes a little bitter if it’s green juice.
It’s nothing to worry about and you can scrape it off with a spoon if you don’t like it but I normally don’t bother and just don’t drink it when it’s at the bottom of the glass.
Do I add water when juicing?
You do not, if you’ve made a ginger shot you might want to add some water to calm the flavour down but generally it’s not necessary. Water doesn’t add anything and takes away from the flavour, it doesn’t do anything bad and extra water throughout the day is no bad thing but I don’t think they need to be had at the same time.
If you want to have more water then you can have an extra glass of water after you’ve had your juice.
What do I do with the pulp?
Good question! At a minimum you should turn it into compost but you can do a lot of fun things with the pulp, add it to muffins, make dog biscuits, use it to make vegetable stock, and I’ve got even more uses in this article.
I will say that you shouldn’t use fruit pulp in stock, that’s not going to be a good time!
How long does juice last?
It depends on what type of juicer you’ve used, juice from a centrifugal juicer will last about 24 hours because it heats up and extra air gets in causing it to degrade faster. But if you’ve got a masticating juicer then your juice will last 2-3 days when it’s sealed properly and in the fridge.
Conclusion
I hope that cleared things up for you and you’re able to get stuck in. That’s one of my favourite juice recipes so I really hope you like it!
If you’re still confused or you need some extra help with anything then please leave me a comment at the bottom of the article and I’ll get back to you!
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