Archives March 2021

Everyone wants something different and unique from their juicer. Some may want speed, some may want quality, some may seek a modern look, while others may seek a more vintage look.

Whatever you want in a juicer, it is out there. The Juicer we want to introduce you to is the Norwalk Juicer 290 Premium Hydraulic Juice Press. It is a hydraulic juicer, with a vintage style and high-nutrient extraction.

But, what else does it have to offer that makes it the juicer for you?

Today we want to give you a full run-down on all the good, bad, and amazing factors of owning this particular juicer. 

Introducing the Juice

This juicer, the Norwalk Juicer 290, is a tip-top go-to juice machine for Gerson Institute juice therapy. It is the first ever two-stage hydraulic press to ever pass Dr.Gersons standards for the company’s alternative cancer management.

According to Gerson, a juicer must be able to provide high nutrient levels and be pulp-free to be effective in its natural course of treatment.

At first glance, it may sound as though any slow juicer will fit this description, but Gerson requires that grinding and juicing should be separate in order to maximize nutrient potency.

It is stated that during the grinding and pressing process of a two-step juice, the produce does not become subjected to heat or electricity, therefore the fresh and healing enzymes inside the raw veg and fruit are preserved in the juice.

And that is what makes this juicer particularly special.

Back in Fashion

So with the new Norwalk Juicer 290, what is new, what has it go now that makes it superior to previous models? Let’s find out!

• It has improved motor ventilation to minimize heat transfer to your juice.
• You can also replace the cord if needed depending on what country you live in.
• An attachment clip has been added to the back of the juice tray to provide a more secure fit.
• It has a more retro vintage look, taking you back to the 1950s.
• It has a cleaner housing attachment knob design, no more annoying wing nuts.
• Comes with a 2-year warranty for commercial uses.
• Relocated guide pin of press plate, now moved to the side for an easier deconstruction.

The Best Bits

Wondering what the pros of this machine are? So are we, let’s have a look into what makes this machine superior.

• Provides 72 hours of shelf life for processed juice.
• Components are dishwasher safe.
• Stainless steel build means that the machine is BPA-free.
• Operates quietly.
• Superior efficiency in the juice extraction process.

Room for Improvement

No matter how good a product is, there is always a bit of room for improvement. These are the cons for the Norwalk Juicer 290.

• Maintaining this juicer can be a chore, it is not as easy to care for as some other juicers.
• It weighs a lot so can be very difficult to move around.
• A unique operation can be challenging to work.
• Large, it will take up a lot of kitchen space.
• Not the cheapest option, this juicer is a rather significant investment.

What’s it got?

While the Norwalk Juicer has many pros and cons, it has many features that are highly advantageous to juice fanatics.

Some of its features can give you insight into why it is as highly revered as it is.

Using the Juice

This juicer has two parts, the vortex cutter on the left-hand side, and the hydraulic press on the right-hand side.

These two make up a combination such as you would see in a masticating juicer and a hydraulic press, just in one machine.

A Vortex Cutter

Once you have chopped up your produce into adequate pieces, ready for juicing, drop it into the chute. Be aware that you may have to give it a slight nudge as it is not a self-feeding chute.

The blade inside will then cut up the produce into tiny bits and then shred and grind it down into a pulp. Softer fruits such as pineapple, pomegranate or watermelon, do not need to encounter the vortex cutter. This cutting grid comes with a selection of grids all with different sizes holes and different cutting abilities.

The Pressing Cloth

Once your fruits and vegetables have been grated and ground down by the powerful vortex cutter, you should then catch it with a pressing cloth/bag.

A pyrex cup will also do, but we recommend a pressing bag. Never allow this cloth/bag to come into contact with metal, you can use a pyrex pan as a basin to help avoid this, and we strongly recommend doing so. This gives you enough room to catch your produce and simultaneously fold the pressing cloth.

You should have at least two cups of this grated produce in your cup, cloth, or bag. Having any less won’t yield a prime result and may be disappointing. However, if you have any more than this you may rupture the cloth or bag.

Once the pressing bag/ cloth is filled with these two cups of produce, fold it neatly so that the force is applied even when it comes under pressure. Keep in mind that you will need different types of bags for different types of produce as these can get stained rather easily.

Hydraulic Press

Compared to some other juice pressers, you do not need brute manual force to operate this juicer.

You simply need to rotate the lever located at the bottom right-hand side of the juicing machine clockwise, this will initiate the press. This press uses 1000 pounds of pressure to extract every tiny drop of juice from your produce.

It’s as simple as that.

Cleaning

It takes an average of 30 minutes to clean, as averaged by owners. Cleaning the primary parts of the machine is the easiest part of the job since all the detachable components are made up of stainless steel which can go into the dishwasher. The hard part is cleaning the filter bags.

There are a few things you will want to keep in mind when you are cleaning and also using these bags.

• ! Do not dry these bags, it will make the cloth brittle.
• ! If the bag gets too dirty, you can use warm water to clean it up.
• ! Bags and the cloths must be hand washed using organic liquid soap when needed.
• ! Only use cold water when rinsing the bags before and after use.
• ! Do not wash the filters alongside metal parts, this will contaminate the cloth.
• ! Do not boil, this can also make the cloth brittle.
• ! Fold the bags wet, place them into plastic bags, and store them in the freezer.

All About The Juice

Hydraulic juice presses are tip-top products when it comes to efficiently extracting and retaining nutrients. This one of the few juicers that belongs to this class.

(C=Centrifugal Juicer, M= Masticating Juicer, N= Norwalk Juicer)

The table above shows that the Norwalk juicer outperforms other kinds of juice extractor in its yield and nutrient retention across the board.

A study was carried out to find the results, using equal amounts of carrots, celery, and parsley on a centrifugal juicer, a masticating juicer, and the Norwalk juicer.

Looking at each of the figures on this table, you can clearly see the efficiency of Norwalk is in its juice yield alone. 

It outshines the other machine types by an average of 35%. This is quite something and if you are hungry for those sweet, sweet nutrients, you can bet that the Norwalk will give it to you.

What Can It Juice?

This machine can tackle all types of products thanks to the vortex cutter.

• Dense Produce: Cilantro, apple, celery, pear, asparagus, pepper, pineapple, watermelon, garlic, pumpkin, and more.
• Soft produce: Grapes, peaches, tomatoes, mangoes, avocadoes, blackberries, kiwis, and more. 
• Citrus: Orange, lemons, grapefruits, and so on. 
• Leafy Veg: Spinach, dandelion, beet, kale, wheatgrass, cabbage, pine tree needles, and so on.

Extra Abilities

Not only is this machine an excellent juicer, but it can also manifest itself as a homogenizer, coffee grinder, nut butter churner, food processer, and even as a frozen desert maker or a milling machine.

It has seven grids with varying hole sizes that are included when you purchase the machine, these control how fine your produce will be grated and can help you process many different food types for many different things.

Juicer Specs

Overview

The Norwalk Juicer is the top machine that is recommended by the Gerson Institute, as it perfectly aligns with their alternative cancer management therapy.

It is one of the few machines that have the ability to retain the absolute maximum amount of nutrition in the juice while also keeping healing enzymes strong.

It is also easy to find as it has been around for a while, you may even be able to find it for a cheaper price on third-party selling websites.

It is fantastic for those who need something that gives them top-notch nutrition.

Breville’s Juice Fountain Cold Plus is one of the most renowned juicers on the market, and it’s no surprise why.

It uses Breville’s ‘cold spin technology’ to allow the juice to flow up and through the stainless steel cutting disc which is surrounded by an Italian-made mesh filter to ensure minimal temperature increase.

Through this technology, Breville claims your juice will have a shelf life of up to 72-hours!

Alas, no more lukewarm juice - and fresher juice for longer!

Final Verdict

All in all, the Breville Juice Fountain Cold Plus is a highly efficient juicer that comes in a compact, space-saving design.

The wide chute accommodates a variety of fruits and vegetables and drastically cuts down on your prep time.

It’s very easy to use and is clearly labeled, so you know which settings to use for soft fruits or hard vegetables.

Most of the parts can be cleaned in the dishwasher, though this could wear down the plastic in time.

The best thing about this product is the speed. If you’re looking for a speedy juicer, the Juice Fountain Cold Plus won’t disappoint.

The only drawbacks are the steep price and the fact that it doesn’t juice leafy greens particularly well. It does however claim to keep your juice fresh for up to 72 hours, which is pretty impressive.

The juicer industry is saturated with a long list of models from brands who all claim to do the same thing, produce and yield great juice.

However, extracting the good from the bad can be a tedious process and one that requires expertise to look into what distinguishes the top products from the rest of them.

Luckily, you’ve got us, juice enthusiasts and experts who devote their time to finding out the best juicers out there that can suit a variety of budgets or needs. 

We often see the Bella Juice Extractor whilst conducting our research and have noticed models by Bella being sold in both Walmart and Target over the years, so we thought we’d take the plunge and take some time to discover what this Juice Extractor is really about. 

The Bella Juice Extractor, or elsewhere known as the 5-Speed Digital Juice Station is one of the most prominent blenders in Bella’s juicer collection. Today we’ll be giving an in-depth review of this model and letting you know our thoughts on whether it’s worth investing in. 

Specifications

• Type: Centrifugal Juicer
• Dimensions: 13.98 x 9.65 x 17.32 inches
• Weight: 8.38lbs 
• Motor: 1000 watts
• Dishwasher safe: Yes
• Warranty: 2-year limited

Bella Juice Extractor Review

We tried and tested the Bella Juice Extractor for several weeks to get a firm grasp and opinion of how it works and how we found it.

We also did some effective research into the product and the brand Bella to bring you a complete view and opinion of this juicer based on our views and also other customers' experiences.

Please note that this review is only for the Bella 5-Speed Juicer (model 13990) or otherwise known as the Bella Digital Juice Station, so is not to get confused with the other models offered by the Bella brand. 

About Bella

Bella is a popular kitchen appliance manufacturer based in Canada, whose innovative designs have attracted customers from all over the world. Their ethos is to offer quick and convenient appliances that are reliable to improve the quality of family life.

They produce a range of products away from juicers including toasters, coffee makers, and even cookware to help people enjoy working in the kitchen whilst also making it easier for them. 

What’s Included with the Bella Juice Extractor?

Aside from the juicer itself, Bella also includes the removable pulp basket and juice pitcher with their juicer so you can start juicing to your heart's content as soon as it arrives home. 

You’ll also get a free cleaning brush included, which may seem like a feed upon initial first impressions but it will help you out a lot through your cleaning process of the metal juicing basket. 

Don’t worry, Bella always included easy-to-read instructions to get you quickly informed on how to assemble and use your new juicer. 

Materials & Construction

Size and Weight

The size of this construction is fairly large and will take up a reasonable amount of space on your worktops in your kitchen which is not ideal, especially when you consider your other kitchen appliances you’ll need to keep stored on them. 

However, this is the consensus with most modern juicers nowadays, especially if the juicer produces a high yield of juicer in one setting, it needs a wider and taller design to then be able to put more fresh goodies through to juice.

If you’ve got a decent-sized pantry or larder cupboards in your kitchen to store this device then you’ll be lucky enough not to keep it out on the counter all the time.

Disassembling certain parts of the juicer extractor will help reduce the overall height of it so it’ll fit more neatly in storage.

Despite the overall size of the juicer, it is surprisingly lightweight and only weighs around 8lbs, which does make it more convenient if you do need to place it and remove it from storage every time you use it. 

Materials

The construction is made up of durable stainless steel for the main base and then features BPA-free plastic for the chute and pulp container.

The main base feels very solid and high-quality, however, the plastic components of this juicer bring down the quality as it feels very cheap and not durable at all.

We’ve seen customers comment that certain plastic components have snapped or even come off completely whilst in use.

We have not experienced any snapping whilst we’ve had ours but can see why the plastic components have broken as it doesn’t feel very strong. 

Components

Multiple components make up this design to make the juicer work efficiently. It has an incorporated power 1000 watt motor that can handle most fruits and vegetables with no bother (more on that later). 

At the top of the model, you’ll find the plastic food pusher which is removed when you insert your ingredients and then placed back into to press down to make sure it goes down the chute.

The chute is an average 3-inch size and can be some whole fruits and vegetables without requiring to be cut beforehand, this is pretty typical amongst centrifugal juicers.

The juicer features a so-called high-performance cutting blade along with the filter bowl and filter basket which ensure that all the good stuff from your fruits and veggies get put into the juice container and not the pulp collector.

The juicer collector has to be attached to the base but the juice container sits freestanding and can easily be switched out to another glass if it overflows. 

This Bella Juice Station features an anti-drip spout that can be rotated from a closed position to an open position to let liquid through.

The anti-drip function is very useful when you need to move your juicer to be cleaned as it won’t drip the remnants of juice left in the system out onto your floor. 

This is a beneficial component of the Bella Juicer and also one of the major features which drew us in. Anti-drip spouts are not commonly found on centrifugal juicers like these so it is a nice addition to have.

Of course, with any juicer you need a juice container and the one included with the Juice Extractor by Bella comes with two different parts. The container has a lid but also a chrome sleeve that the container fits in.

The chrome sleeve doesn’t have a function but is just there for aesthetic reasons so the container can be used on its own. The lid for the container is very functional and stops any juice from leaking out when coming through the spout of the juicer. 

The pulp collector is designed especially for this model so you won’t be able to use a container of your own to collect the pulp. It’s a pretty standard size and is large enough to hold large quantities of juicing pulp in without overflowing.

The black color of the pulp collector however is extremely inconvenient as it’s difficult to see when the container is starting to get full and will need emptying from the side of the container, you can see the level of pulp from the clear cover.

Assembly

Assembling the Bella Juice Extractor is not too complex but there are a series of steps to follow each time to put it back together. There is a helpful instruction manual included with the product which will show you a step-by-step guide on how to assemble it, but once you do it a few times you’ll be able to do it by heart. 

As we said, you will have to arrange these components in a particular order for the juicer to work functionally and for there to be no leakages or accidents. Below is a step by step list of how you should assemble the juicer:

1. Place the filter bowl on the main body of the juicer
2. Place the filter basket on top of the filter bowl
3. Place the cover over the filter basket and bowl and secure using the safety locking arm (should hook onto grooves on the cover)
4. Place the pulp container to the side of the main body underneath the cover
5. Place the juice container under the juice spout
6. The food pusher needs to be removed from the chute when inserting ingredients and then pressed on top of ingredients to push through.

It’s not uncommon for these centrifugal juicers to have more complex assembly than masticating juicers, they often always follow the same arrangement procedures as well to ensure they’re used safely and efficiently, so don’t be put off by how routined the assembly sounds. 

Preparation of Ingredients

Thanks to the large diameter of the 3-inch feed chute, your food preparation for this juicer is hugely reduced and for some ingredients, you won’t even need to chop them up. Wider ingredients like apples may need to be diced beforehand to ensure efficient juicing.

Most brands now offer a wider feed chute to make juicing more convenient for the generic user, so this feature on the Bella Juice Extractor is not a new innovation but is still a beneficial one. 

Performance

Motor

The motor is pretty powerful and can produce high speeds to juice stubborn fruits and vegetables like apples or carrots with no problems. The motor is pretty consistent and didn’t dip in power throughout our time of using it.

We did come across customer reviews saying that the motor blew up when they were juicing harder ingredients, which is something to be aware of before purchasing this product. 

Juicers that are not used properly i.e putting ingredients that are too big for the chute in there will be more prone to exploding or just not turning on anymore as the motor has been overworked.

This is not to take away from the Bella brand, however, there should not be this many cases of motors blowing up. 

5-Speed Settings

There are 5-speed settings features on the juicer which can be switched between soft fruits, nectarines, citrus, celery, and hard fruits. Whilst the speed settings are handy when you are juicing harder ingredients, make sure to use the slower settings for softer fruits as the quality of your juice will be better.

However, the speed settings may seem redundant to some seasoned juicers as a lot of other centrifugal juicers just feature a one-speed setting which is efficient at juicing all ingredients. 

Juicing Capabilities

It manages to produce a good yield of juice from most ingredients that we used apart from spinach, kale, and leafy greens, which are always the most difficult foods to juice.

Some pulps we found in the pulp container were still very wet but we like to put them back through the chute again to extract as much juice as possible and deter wastage. 

Soft fruits like grapes, watermelon, and oranges juice very well as you’d expect from any juicer as they are the easiest to juice. Harder foods like carrots, celery, and apples still work well but don’t come out as smooth as other centrifugal juicers that we’ve tested before.

To avoid any pulp from going into the juice container, we like to chop harder ingredients up beforehand to make the motor’s job easier and to ensure we have liquid and not solids stuck in our container. 

We didn’t find that the powerful motor caused the juice quality to decrease (our taste buds can vouch for this) but one of the negatives of a centrifugal juicer is that it does cause the juice to oxidize faster so you’ll need to dry it within a day of juicing it or it will go bad. 

Noise

We’re not sure about the exact noise levels in regards to decibels for this juicer, but we can vouch that it can get pretty loud, especially when juicing the harder ingredients. If you’re looking to juice early in the morning in a family home, then this juicer will probably be a no-go.

Listening to the juicer whilst upstairs, it sounds like a vacuum cleaner which in the middle of the day is not that disturbing but can be if you live in a household full of people. 

Ease of Use

This model is easy to use even for those who have never used a juicer before. Once you get over learning the components and assembly, the speed settings and the food pusher are self-explanatory.

Everything is fully explained in the instructions manual and there are also various YouTube videos online if you do find yourself struggling.

Cleaning

The chrome finish on the juicer is extremely hard to make look clean so we recommend using some cleaning detergent on a microfiber cloth to get that brand spanking new look again once you’ve used the juicer.

One of the easiest and safest ways to wash all the components is by handwashing in mild dish soap and warm water and by using the included cleaning brush. The cleaning brush is not exactly necessary and you could use any cleaning utensils of your own if you wish. 

You should try to clean your components straight after you’ve finished juicing otherwise they’ll make it more difficult to remove. We like to remove ours straight away and then soap them in warm soapy water to soften the remnants so they’ll easily wash off with running water and a sponge. 

Bella states that everything apart from the main body and the filter basket of the juicer is safe to put in the dishwasher, so following the confirmation from Bella’s manual we put it to the test. The parts did survive and none of them came out defective, however, we’re very wary that after prolonged dishwasher processing that they could warp from the heat as many plastic containers do. 

To stay on the safe side, just stick to handwashing and save yourself the possibility of finding your components warped after a dishwasher cycle. 

The additional chrome sleeve included with the juice container is just a pain to clean due to the finish of the metal, so it's best not even using it when you’re juicing.

If you do use it, however, make sure to remove the chrome sleeve from the container before you hand wash it as it’ll become more difficult to remove due to the water pressure. 

Warranty, Brand Reputation & Customer Service

Bella Juice Extractor Warranty

The Juice Station model from Bella comes with a 2-year limited warranty, limited being the keyword there. A 2-year seems like a pretty generous warranty and is pretty common amongst modern-day juicers, however, it seems like Bella has a lot of limitations in its warranty that prevent customers from receiving a full refund or an immediate replacement when necessary.

The 2-year warranty only covers damage or breakage of mechanical parts e.g. the motor but the non-mechanical parts only have a 90-day warranty period, which probably gives an insight into the quality of some of the plastic used in the juicing components. 

The warranty also states that customers who proceed to try and claim a refund within the warranty period will only receive a partial refund based on how long is left on their warranty period. Which we’ve never come across anywhere else. 

Understandably, some companies are reluctant to hand out refunds for any old thing, but it seems like Bella is trying to con customers out of money even when the product breaking was not the customer’s fault. 

Brand Reputation

Up until we began delving deeper into the Bella brand, we always assumed they were a highly regarded brand loved by households over the country and they still are, but there is more than meets the eye. 

There seems to be a lack of information available online to find out about the brand Bella. We’d presumed that the brand was from the USA, but it's actually based in Montreal in Canada and is formally called ‘Bella Housewares’ and is a subsidiary brand of Sensio Inc. 

None of this information was openly disclosed on the Bella ‘About Us’ page on their website and what stood in its place was a mere depiction of the idyllic housewife is well suited for the Bella brand. 

There seems to be a heartless testament to how the brand tries to work hard to protect the environment by using chemical-free components, but in reality, the brand does just ask its customer to dispose of their broken or old Bella products in a recycling center.

This ‘environmental’ focus from Bella seems completely redundant as they don’t disclose what they are doing to cut back their carbon footprint and cut back on the packaging or non-environmental friendly components. It just seems like a way to try and jump on the bandwagon that companies are fronted to do for PR purposes. 

Customer Service

We don't often comment on the customer service quality provided by a brand as it is very rare that we have to reach out to them. Being pretty happy with our Bella Digital Juice Station that we received, there was no need to engage with their customer service team as there were no defects or reoccurring problems that we encountered. 

However, whilst conducting our research and also looking at some of the reviews that were left when we bought our juicer, we saw a common theme amongst the comments about the customer service, namely the customer service being awful. 

We aren't ones to speculate but comments like these do ring alarm bells for not only us but also other potential customers who may be thinking about buying a juicer from the Bella brand. 

It’s a bit concerning to see numerous complaints not only about defective products or products breaking within the first initial use of them but also to see that these customers were ignored or turned away by the Bella brand when they got in touch with them. 

Some customers claim that the customer service is non-existent after having written hand-written letters, emails and trying calling them on the phone numerous times to receive no correspondence whatsoever back. 

Whilst these findings are alarming and can seem very off-putting, they only summarise a fraction of the thoughts of their customers over time and there is still a good percentage of happy customers who have found no issues with their products from the Bella brand. 

Bella does offer some great priced and innovative products that help the brand remain prominent in this industry, but the team at Bella need to focus primarily on their customer service quality and seek to rebuild trust amongst its customers or potential customers to try and avoid the brand being tarnished from past experiences. 

Final Verdict

Does the Bella Juice Extractor work well?

The Bella does pretty much what every other centrifugal juicer of the same price point does, so it’s hard to pinpoint what sets it apart from the rest.

Which I guess, gives you your answer, it can’t be set apart from the rest and is just to be blunt a decent centrifugal juicer that produces good-quality juice at an affordable price.

We’d recommend this juicer to the juicing amateurs out there or those looking to dip their toes into the juicing community as it’s easy to use and won’t disappoint.

Those with greater expertise in juicing will find this too simplistic and might want to go for something that is more high-tech or produces a greater yield of juice from difficult ingredients like leafy greens. 

We came across no issues with our Bella Juice Extractor apart from the fact it struggles to produce a decent yield from when we try to juice spinach, kale, and greens, but this is more than expected with a centrifugal juicer. 

We’ve been using the juicer every day and it works fine for what we need it for but can’t comment on its quality and performance for time to come as of yet.

If we find any problems with the juicer or if any damages or problems transpire then we’ll be sure to update this article with what has happened and how it was dealt with by the Bella brand. 

We feel like it must be luck of the draw with the quality of juicer you receive and pot luck to whether it breaks or not, which is not ideal when spending your hard-earned money on a new appliance.

There does not seem to be consistency with the quality of products from the brand and there are a noticeable amount of recurring issues which pop up in the reviews. 

Does the brand reputation put us off?

It does make us very wary and we’d maybe have to reconsider purchasing another product from the Bella brand due to the lack of disclosure of their background and where they produce their products. 

We’re also very skeptical of how they regard their customers and their customer service seems to be appalling so we’d probably avoid buying from them in the future to avoid altercations. 

Value for money

For the price tag this Bella juicer has, we have no complaints as it does everything to a good standard of what you’d expect if you paid this much.

However, there are less expensive models from other brands out there that do as good a job as the Bella Juice Extractor and have better reviews from their customers.

If you’re in the market for a new juicer and you’ve got spare money to take the risk to try out this Bella blender, then you’ll be pleased with the results if you get a good one but probably left in despair if you manage to receive a defective or problematic model.

Otherwise, you’re better off saving your money and finding yourself a more reliable juicer at the same price point or even a lower price point.

Recommendations

If you’re trying to stay on a budget then we’d recommend the Hamilton Beach Juicer Machine (67601A) it features the same 3-inch chute as this Bella Juicer and other similar features but is also a fraction of the price and has copious amounts of praise from customers and experts,

If you’re willing to spend a bit more on a high-quality juicer for all your health needs then the Breville 800JEXL is highly regarded by us at Juice Producer.com and other juicing experts in the industry.

The stainless steel construction will sure make you look like you mean business and the power and performance of the motor is faultless. 

Would we recommend the Bella Juice Extractor?

No, we wouldn’t recommend it to our readers or to anyone who may come across this article. There are more reliable models out there and also better brands who respect their customers and pride themselves on top-quality customer service.

Our particular juicer we received worked fine, but there are too many bad reviews noting motors blowing up, plastic snapping, and radio-silence from customer service to recommend this to our trusted readers. 

If you’ve been reading up on the health benefits of carrot juice, you’ll no doubt be aware that it is a fantastic source of Vitamin C and fiber.

But did you also know that it can improve your eyesight, control cholesterol levels, strengthen your brain function, and even reduce your chances of developing certain types of cancer?!

Carrot juice really is a super-juice and it’s delicious too! However, in order to start drinking fresh carrot juice, you’ll need an appliance that can make it for you.

Of course, the best appliance for this would be a juicer, but these can come at an expensive price and not everybody has the option of purchasing one. 

This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the flavor and health benefits of carrot juice, though!

Below, we’ll take you through a step-by-step guide on how to make carrot juice without a juicer. It’s much easier than you might think too and, unlike some other juices made without using a juicer, it’s ready to drink straight away. 

Ingredients:

• 675g (3 cups) fresh carrots
• 435ml (1 ¾ cups) water

Equipment:

• Paring knife
• Blender
• Mesh strainer
• 1-liter jar

Method:

1. Begin by washing your carrots to remove any dirt or organic matter. There’s no need to peel the carrots. In fact, it’s better not to do this as the skins contain a lot of vitamins and minerals. Just give them a good wash under a running faucet. 

2. If you’ve purchased carrots with their green tops still intact, chop these off. Don’t throw them away though, as they are perfectly edible. Save them and use them as an addition to a salad, or make a carrot-top pesto sauce with them. 

3. The smaller your carrots are, the easier it will be for the blender to blitz them into juice. So, take your paring knife and chop them into pieces that are around 1-inch in length. You can go smaller, depending on the power of your blender. 

4. Place your carrots into your blender’s jug along with the water. Whizz everything together at a high speed for a couple of minutes. You should be able to see tiny chunks of carrots floating in the water at the end of this time. If there are any larger pieces still, blend again for another minute. 

5. Take your mesh strainer and place it over the top of the 1-liter jar. Now, slowly and carefully pour the carrot and water mixture into the jar. The stainer will catch any pulp and ensure that only the juice flows through. As more pulp is collected, you’ll need to pause and remove it from the strainer so that the juice can continue to flow uninterrupted. 

6. Once the jar is filled with carrot juice, store it in your refrigerator and pour yourself a delicious glass whenever you want!

It’s worth noting that, depending on your personal preference, straining the juice isn’t always necessary. If you’re a fan of juices that have pulp in them, then you can simply pour the juice directly from the blender into the jar. 

Carrot Juice Recipes

One of the best things about carrot juice is that it is delicious all by itself. However, it’s also a great foundation for creating a range of delicious juice blends that are packed with flavor and vitamins.

Each of the recipes below can be made without a juicer by following the same chopping, blending, and straining process as above. Anything that is particularly juicy, such as oranges, can be squeezed into the blender before blitzing. 

Immunity System-Boosting Juice

• 4 carrots
• 1 orange
• 2-inches of ginger

Energy-Boosting Juice

• 4 carrots
• ¾ cup of beetroot
• 1 orange
• ½ cup of strawberries

Stomach-Soothing Juice

• 4 carrots
• 2 apples
• 1 cup of red cabbage

Healthy Virgin Bloody Mary

• 3 carrots
• 15 cherry tomatoes
• 2 radishes

The ingredient amounts for each of these juices are enough to make one glass of juice.

This means you’re able to find your favorite without having to make a whole batch, and they’re also a great way to use up any leftover veggies you’ve got in your kitchen. 

Summary

Carrot juice is one of the easiest juices to make without a blender and, as you can see from the recipes above, it can be made into a range of delicious variations.

However, before you start making your carrot juices, you need to make sure the carrots you’ve chosen are in good condition. 

Look for carrots that are firm and inflexible. These will be easier for your blender to process and they’ll be fresher too, which means they will have a higher number of vitamins and minerals. Don’t be afraid to use wonky vegetables either! 

Just because a carrot doesn’t look perfectly straight, it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with it. In fact, irregularly-shaped carrots are often marked down at grocery stores as they are considered ‘imperfect’. Buying these gives you the opportunity to save even more money!

Coining the phrase, ‘That’s the power of the juice’, Jack Lalanne understood the impact an electric juicer could have on lifestyle and health.

The problem is that there are so many options on the market now, it can be difficult to navigate.

Some juicers are better at retaining nutrients by preventing oxidation, others have powerful motors that could blitz through breeze blocks, and some are just poorly designed products. 

That’s why we’re reviewing one of the popular juicers available at the minute, the Fusion Juicer. Living to the ripe old age of 96, Jack almost survived to witness the release of his 100th anniversary juicing product.

What we’re here to do is find out whether it’s a worthy legacy of the great health guru and whether it’s worth your hard-earned cash.

The Fusion Juicer at a Glance

With two speed settings and an 800-watt motor, the Fusion Juicer is said to harness the cyclonic power to tackle both hard and soft produce á la the Nutribullet, inspiring a creative approach to keeping fit and healthy.

This centrifugal juicer instantly began catching the eyes of juice fanatics around the world due to its elegant aesthetics, wide feed chute, and reasonable price tag.

For a quick look, you can check the Fusion Blender out now, here: 

Is the Fusion Juicer Easy to Use?

Some juice presses, particularly high-end hydraulic presses, make juicing an art, both easy to do and hypnotic to watch, and while the Fusion Juicer doesn’t quite fit into this category, it is a delight to use.

Probably our favorite feature of the whole machine is the extra-wide feeding chute.

Measuring 2.8 inches in diameter, you rarely have to dice your ingredients before blitzing them, which is fantastic on those Monday mornings you wake up late and dreary and need that quick juicy boost before facing the workday.

The no-drip spout is another small yet brilliant aspect of the Fusion’s design. It ensures no drop is wasted, clean-up is a breeze, and you get the maximum amount of juice from a blending session.

What’s more, with the large pulp receptacle, you can juice harder for longer!

The controls are reminiscent of the switches on a hairdryer. It’s a single button that’s switched off in its central position, set to its 1700 RPM low speed by clicking the top end and its 19200 RPM high speed by clicking the bottom half. Simple, right?

Is the Fusion Juicer Easy to Clean

The happy answer is, yes, the Fusion Juicer is very easy to clean. Mostly made of durable plastic and a small amount of stainless steel, every component bar the motor base is dishwasher safe.

Having said that, if you want to extend their life, We’d recommend soaking and handwashing the blades. Do be careful, though, as they arrive quite sharp out of the box. 

We’d also suggest only using the top shelf of your dishwasher for the plastic components of the Fusion Juicer. With most dishwasher heating elements housed in the base, keeping plastics as far away as possible is the most effective way to avoid the dreaded warp.

While we love the practicality of a dishwasher-safe juicer, we’re not so thrilled about the BPA content. BPA is a chemical used to reinforce hard plastics, but it can leach into food and drinks and mimic estrogen in our bodies. You should always avoid BPA plastics where possible.

The Final Product

If pulpy juice is your idea of a living nightmare, you’re in safe hands with Fusion Juicer. The sharp blades and 800-watt motor make short work of soft produce.

On a nutritional level, it’s not the most effective juicer, but that goes for all centrifugal blenders, not just the Fusion.

Advertised as being fully capable of tackling harder produce, it can handle tough root veg and even some seeds to a certain extent, but it’s not really designed to whiz things like nuts and ice.

What Can the Fusion Juicer Blend?

Any soft fruits and veggies get the go-ahead with the Fusion. It doesn’t find standard juicing and issue, but you may have to add in a little water if you want a true juice rather than thick smoothie or purée.

Soft ingredients include strawberries, pears, peaches, avocado, plums, cranberries, etc.

As we mentioned above, the Fusions can handle some tough-to-blend items like broccoli, sweet potato, pepper, garlic, apples, fennel, ginger, and carrots, but nuts and protein powders won’t be properly processed.

Even things like soaked cashews won’t fully smooth out.

As is the case with a lot of centrifugal juicers, leafy greens can pose a problem, but this can be overcome by learning a few handy tricks.

Wrapping them around your harder ingredients will help the blades get a hold on them. You could also try rolling them up into big green cigars and feeding them through like that.

Volume

We’re not going to cherry-coat it; the Fusion juicer is a pretty loud bit of kitchen equipment, so beware if you’re an early riser.

You may end up with some pretty ticked-off cohabitants. On the other hand, it’s not that much louder than most other centrifugal blenders currently on the market.

Price

The Fusion Juicer is by no means a cheap product, but compared to juicers of similar sizes and functions, it’s actually a really great deal.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a large capacity blender of this quality for less.

A Note About Juicers of Tristar Past

Despite Jack’s good intentions, his namesake juicers produced by Tristar have often been marred by design flaws. His very first foray into the juicing world was the Juice Tiger.

After becoming a huge hit, selling all over the United States, 9% of all models were recalled due to 14 concurrent juicer-related injuries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Make Nut Butter with the Fusion Juicer?

We’re afraid not.

Food processors that can make butter from raw nuts are very in vogue at the minute, but the Fusion Juicer isn’t quite powerful enough to pull it off.

Is the Jack Lalanne Fusion Juicer Good?

We certainly think so, yes, but it’s not for everyone. Some may need more power from their juicer.

Is the Jack Lalanne Fusion Juicer Good for Beginners?

Even though the Fusion Juicer is incredibly easy to use, we wouldn’t recommend it for beginners as it’s not too durable.

If you accidentally process ingredients it’s not designed for, it can easily damage the motor and connected components.

Verdict

This 100th-anniversary juicer was pegged to be the pinnacle of Lalanne technology, the very thing Jack dreamed of creating a century ago when he took on the self-appointed mission of keeping America healthy, but is it really all that?

Well, the Fusion Juicer is pretty good, but we think we’re in accordance with most juicers when we say, Jack could have dreamed a little bigger.

Don’t get us wrong, for the average juice lover, the Fusion is just fine. It blends soft and hard produce efficiently, and the pulp extraction is amazing, but for the enthusiasts out there, it might not quite cut it.

When you are looking to invest in a juicer, the market can be overwhelming.

There are fantastic products left, right, and center, and it’s very difficult to know which one is the best overall fit for you and what you want to use your juicer for. 

If you have a wide-open budget it can be even harder because you have more options.

That is why we have taken the time to research, test, and give you all the information you need about the Omega NC800HDS Juicer and Nutrition Center. Any juicer is a good juicer, but some of them take the gold. 

Let’s see what this juicer can offer you, how it will benefit your life, and what are its juicy benefits.

Omega NC800HDS Features

Whatever you are buying for food and beverage use, there are a few things that you want to know about before buying.

Things such as cleaning, ease of use, what the quality of the result is like, and what it has to power to process. The Omega NC800HDS has plenty of features that will help you in all aspects of these. 

Take a look at its primary features and how these will help you when you are juicing the day away. 

What is it like to clean?

There are few things more tedious than when you buy a juicer or processor you love, only to end up spending more time cleaning it than actually using it.

While the best way to care for a slow juicer is to wash it by hand with warm, soap water immediately before juicing, it is still easy to clean. 

It comes with a nylon cleaning brush that will easily remove the pulp from the juicing screen. However, if hand washing is not your thing, and you have a dishwasher on hand, then you’ll be jumping with joy to learn that everything is top-rack dishwasher safe.

Although you still need to pre-clean the juicing screen with the cleaning brush, but it is still much better than having to hand wash the whole thing! 

You must do this because you never want any pulp left on any juicer parts, especially the screen. After all, when pulp hardens it builds up and becomes a work-out trying to remove it.

If this does happen by accident, do not fret, simply place the screen into some warm and soapy water for a few minutes to soften the hardened pulp before you give it a good scrub and rinse. 

Is it easy to use?

When it comes to setup, this juicer is just as easy as the previous generations of Omega Juicers. 

Its feed chute is 2”x 1.5” which makes it easier to fit large pieces of produce through, so you do not need to shop things up as small as with previous versions. However, items like apples will still need to be small.

When you juice, don’t go chucking things down the chute in bulk as it can overload the machine, as feed things slow and steady to get the optimal results from your machine. 

If you are using soft fruits, you should alternate with harder products too as this will yield the best extraction results.

This juicer has settings to adjust the tension to extract higher juice levels, you will need to learn to use these, which although it sounds hard, is pretty easy to learn after a few tries.

You can set it on 1 for soft produce juicing, or on 5 for hard produce juicing, and anywhere in between for medium-soft or hard-soft options. 

Is the juice quality good?

With the use of dual-stage mastication extraction, this machine can extricate juice by crushing the produce and then pushing the pulp against the screen.

This separates the juice and the pulp, providing you with a healthy juice that is jam-packed with all the key nutrients, vitamins, and enzymes that we need. 

Masticating juicers, such as the Omega NC800HDS, will always produce a higher yield of juice with better quality than a centrifugal juicer will, despite being slower. 

If you are the kind of person who is avidly health conscious then you will be pleased with the variety of nutrients that are delivered to you with this juice. It is advised to drink the juice immediately after juicing for full benefits though.

However, you can also juice in large batches and saved some for later. If you do decide to save some for later then you should store it in a glass container that can be sealed. You can then store it for up to 72 hours when you use a masticating juicer. 

Does it provide additional functions?

This juicer provides you with more than just juicing abilities, it can also be a food processor, homogenizer, coffee grinder, and even a pasta maker. You can use it as a food processor to chop meat, fruits, and veg for meals that you are making.

It also has a mincing and grinding ability that can help you make ingredients for salsas, soups, and marinades. It could also process soaked rice or beans to produce a puree. 

It can also make healthy deserts, freeze juice into ice cubes and then let your machine turn it into a summertime treat by adding milk or yogurt. This part can also make nut butter and even baby food. 

You can be adventurous, making pasta or different shapes or sizes, making round or flat noodles and you can even add flavor to it this way too. The nozzles with the larger openings can also be used to create breadsticks, although you will still have to hand-make the dough yourself.

Finally, you can also grind up your coffee beans, some beans may have a high oil content and these will need to be dried overnight for processing. It can save you having to buy a separate coffee grinder. 

What can it process?

You can juice and process a whole manner of products with this juicer. 

• Dense foods: Apple, coconut, beets, pumpkin, pineapple, sweet potato, yakon, broccoli, cauliflower, ginger, and more. 
• Leafy Green Veg: peppermint, dandelion, spring onion, sprouts, lettuce, pine tree needles, and more. 
• Citrus: lime, orange, lemon, grapefruit, and more. 
• Soft produce: Grapes, papaya, avocado, melon, tomato, and more. 
• Also capable of creating soy or almond milk. 

Omega NC800HDS Specs

To Conclude 

One of the best masticating juicers on the market with multiple uses and technology while staying affordable.

You can do so much with this juicer, it is a fantastic choice for anyone who needs more juice in their life. 

When it comes to maintaining a healthy diet, then juicers are one of the best accessories that you can have in your kitchen.

These things can reduce fruit and vegetables into a drink that will give you all the nutrients, antioxidants and protein that you’ll need in your daily diet.

However, luckily, or perhaps unluckily for some of you, there are literally hundreds of models and brands to choose from, so you might have trouble picking out your next juicer.

Whether it be a centrifugal juicer or a cold press, each one can give you different results with every single juice.

One of the main things you might not have considered is how the heat of your juicer affects the composition of the contents of your juice.

Too much intense heat from the motor will kill off some of the healthy microbiotics and nutrients that will give you that much-needed health boost on a Monday morning.

A juicer is probably the best natural method of increasing your daily vitamin and nutrient intake. Instead of having one orange a day, you can juice two or three to boost your vitamin C.

Even after a few weeks of using the juice maker, you will notice the difference in your energy levels.

This doesn’t mean that every juice you make has to be simple. In fact, one of the best things about having your own juicer is that you can mix up a few different fruits and vegetables to give you unique flavors and, more importantly, boosts for your immune system, your energy levels and healthy gut bacteria.

A juicer is quite different from a blender in that it separates the pulp from the juice itself, leaving you with a completely smooth vegetable or fruit drink.

This is perfect if you want to feed your children more healthy snacks and juices and you know that they’ll have a certain aversion to pulpy foods.

Traditionally, a juicer comes with a few chambers: a feeding chute for the original fruit and veg, a nozzle where the juice comes out, a grinding chamber and a bin for the pulp.

Some juicers come with numerous settings that will allow you to extract more or less pulp, as a lot of users will want to get as much pulp as possible.

But where can you find the best juicers? What features does a juicer need to give you the best quality liquid at the end?

What materials should a juicer be made out of in order to get it nice and clean? How much can you be expected to pay for a decent juicer?

Well, juicing enthusiasts won’t have to worry about these questions any longer, as we’ve compiled a list of some of the best juicers currently available on the market.

We cover all manner of juicer types, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the materials that they’re made out of.

Then we follow that up with a buyer’s guide that will better help you determine the differences between the good juicers and the bad ones, giving you more of a critical eye when your shopping for your next model.

We then round off with some frequently asked questions that will help alleviate any anxieties you might have over your first juicer.

But let’s not grind our gears any further, let’s get straight into our list of some of the top juicers currently available on the market.

The Best Juicers Buying Guide

Buying your first juicer will all depend on the frequency and intensity at which you will approach your juicing.

However, there will be a few basic things that you’ll want every juicer to accomplish, here are a few must-have features:

How Efficient Is It?

Some of the juicers listed above are very efficient when it comes to extracting the juice.

If you want speed, then we would recommend that you opt for a centrifugal juicer, although remember that this might have increased heat transmission.

How Easy Is Your Juicer To Use?

One of the last things that you’re going to want is a simple interface that will give you the maximum level of control when juicing your vegetables and fruits.

You’ll want to be able to do it at the flick of a switch, ideally with a reverse function that will help you unclog any excess matter without having to disassemble the unit.

How Easy Is It To Clean? 

Cleaning is one of the most important aspects of a juicer, as food matter can dry and become stuck to the inside, increasing the risk of bacteria as well as impeding the overall functionality of the unit.

Types Of Juicer

There are many different types of juicer that are available on the market, here is a brief rundown of each type and what they can offer you and your raw fruit and vegetables:

• Centrifugal - These juicers run at around 15,000 RPM and are the fastest method of gathering juice from your organic fruit and vegetable matter. These units are usually very affordable and ideal for first-time juicers.
• Cold Press - These are the opposite of the centrifugal juicers in that they churn the food a lot more slowly, which results in a lot less heat and minimizes the level of oxidation that can occur in your final mix.
• Masticators - These come in various different shapes and sizes, from vertical to horizontal and slow masticators. You can easily grind up a whole apple and still retain a lot of the juice.
• Twin Gear - These are cold press juicers that use two gears to extract the most juice from your single fruit or vegetables. When it comes to nutritional value, these are probably the best units to invest in.
• Hydraulic - this is another great unit for grinding, having you press the foods into your grinder, which might require a little bit more work from you. This might not be appealing for senior users or users with mobility issues.
• Functional Juicers - these come in various forms and are operated manually, that is, you determine the RPM with the motion of your arm. This is for people who want to grind wheatgrass and citrus in order to preserve as much of their original organic health properties as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is A Cold Juice Press?

This is just another name for slow juice extractors. They do not use high powered motors, so the blending is a lot slower and more thorough.

They are known for their high nutrient retention, which will give you that extra boost when you drink it.

Hydraulic and twin gear grinders are different types of cold juice press, the former using a powerful hydraulic system that will be able to handle high quantities of fibrous vegetables and whole fruits at once.

Which Is Better: A Masticating Juicer Or A Cold Juice Press?

Essentially, there is not much difference between the two.

A masticating juicer aims to replicate the motion of the human jaw, compressing the organic food matter very tightly and pressing out as much of the liquid as possible.

If you value efficiency over speed, then we would recommend a masticating juicer, as it will give you a finer and more nutrient-rich drink at the end.

If you are using your juice as an ingredient for something else, then having this pulp-free mixture at the end might be exactly what you’re looking for.

If you are looking to buy a juicer, the two most common words you will find are “centrifugal” and “masticating”. These are the most popular forms of juicer and are both very different from one another.

Regardless, it can be quite confusing to understand the difference between the both if they seem to make the same product (juice). 

As both have their differences and work in different ways, it’s important to understand their advantages and disadvantages to know what is best for you.

You may be looking for a quiet juicer or a fast juicer - but which one is that? 

We have made the ultimate guide to deciphering the difference between centrifugal and masticating juices, from their benefits to their downfalls, and which is best for making the healthiest juice. 

Centrifugal Juicers 

Centrifugal juicers are the most commonly found juicers in department stores and online, as they are generally the most affordable type of juicer.

You are most likely to see these juicers on television ads due to the cost point.  

How Centrifugal Juicers Work

Centrifugal, by definition, is moving something away from the center. These juicers work primarily by spinning the produce using spinning blades.

These blades grind the produce by separating the juice from the pulp - the juice falls through to the cup as the pulp is pushed to the sides of the juicer (or moved away from the center, according to the definition).

The speed of these blades is fast - often 3k to 16k reps per minute. If it wasn’t this fast, the food would merely be chopped and ground to a mushy consistency rather than juice. 

So, how do they get rid of the pulp? The pulp is moved to the sides of the juicer as the blades move. In cheaper models, the sides of the juicer will simply have a filter where excess juice from the pulp can be collected.

Some products will talk about how “dry” the pulp residue is, which essentially means how much juice has been drained from the pulp. With this in mind, cheaper centrifugal juicers don’t dry out the pulp enough just by the fast blades.

More pricey options will often have a pulp container which makes it easier to extract and remove the pulp.

The pulp is one of the main downsides to centrifugal juicers, especially if they don’t have designated pulp containers, as it makes the cleaning process slightly more tedious.

Centrifugal juicers with pulp containers mean that you don’t have to consistently stop the juicing process to remove any pulp that could be blocking the juice - especially if you are juicing a lot of produce!

Due to the potential pulp issues, centrifugal juicers are better suited for hard and dense fruit and vegetables. This is also because the fast-spinning blades can grind harder and larger chunks of produce than a masticating juicer (which we will discuss further later!).

One of the biggest advantages of centrifugal juicers is their ability to handle large produce, which is mostly down to its wide feed chute.

The feed chute is where the food is dropped or pushed down into the juicer. The narrower the chute, the more you will have to cut your food.

Although this isn’t exactly the biggest issue and it doesn’t take long to chop fruit and vegetables, it’s quite a nice bonus to simply drop your fruit or vegetables into a larger feed chute.

Feed chutes on centrifugal juicers can be up to 3-4” wide, which means you can drop entire apples, oranges, and other foods of similar sizes straight into the juicer!

This feed chute will come with a lid and, depending on the model, may come with an object to help push the food down if need be. 

Whilst larger chunks and whole pieces of fruit and vegetables are suitable for centrifugal juicers, they are not suited for leafy greens and soft produce such as wheatgrass or spinach.

This is because the pulp to juice separation isn’t as good as a masticating juicer, which means you will probably spend more time clearing away the pulp than waiting for the juice.

The fast blades will just spin and spin the leafy greens, cutting them into pieces, rather than press them into a juice. 

The simplest way to describe a centrifugal juicer is to imagine a washing machine. A washing machine will rinse and squeeze out the water from clothes at the end of its cycle by forcing a faster spin.

A centrifugal juicer works similarly to a washing machine, as they work quickly to release the juice from larger volumes of produce. 

Pros

• Generally more affordable as they are so common
• They can handle large chunks of produce and even whole pieces of food, which means they are great for large families
• They produce juice faster than other types of juicer
• The feed chute size and power of the motor means centrifugal juicers are best for dense fruit and vegetables 

Cons

• The pulp can get stuck if a model does not offer a pulp container, which can make the cleaning process more tedious
• The speed and power of the motor means they are noisy
• Fast spinning blades means there is more oxidation, which shortens the shelf-life of the juice as enzymes are destroyed
• Juice can often come out foamy or bubbly due to the speed of the spinning blades

Masticating Juicers 

To masticate is to chew food, which is the best way to quickly explain how masticating juicers work.

Like a human mouth, masticating juicers work to chew produce and separate the juice from the pulp.

Imagine you’re eating an orange: your teeth will chew the orange segments and squeeze the juice into your mouth, leaving the rest of the segment pulp behind. 

How Masticating Juicers Work

Masticating juicers are often also called slow or single-gear juicers due to the way they create juice. They slowly chew and grind the produce that is fed to them, and effectively separate the juice from the pulp.

The juice and pulp go into separate containers, which means there is barely any cleanup from the pulp as this is already sorted for you. 

This method does take longer than centrifugal juicers, which could be considered a disadvantage for those who want to create juice quickly. However, this is a hugely beneficial method for maintaining the nutrients and healthiness of the juice.

The chewing process takes away the cells from the fruit or vegetables and forces out the enzymes and nutrients that are closer to the core.

There is minimal oxidation as the speed is so slow (80-120 RPM), which means that all of the fresh enzymes from the original fruit and vegetables remain the same in the juice. This also means the juice can keep for up to 72 hours, as oxidation shortens the shelf-life of juice. 

In short, if you want your juice to be the ultimate liquid version of your favorite fruit and vegetables, a masticating juicer is your best option. 

Another bonus to this slow speed is that these juicers are virtually silent. Perfect if you want to make juice at 6 am without waking up the kids or neighbors! 

As masticating juicers offer healthier and more nutritious juices, they are generally more expensive and less common than centrifugal juicers. This can be a major disadvantage for those who are on a budget, or for those who don’t plan to use it daily to make the most out of their money. 

The feed chute is also significantly narrower than centrifugal juicers, which means there will be more prep time to cut up the fruit and vegetables into smaller chunks.

Mastication juicers also require the fruit and vegetables to be pushed into the juicer, so they are not as automatic as centrifugal ones.

This being said, they can suitably chew and grind juice out of dense foods as well as leafy greens and softer fruits and vegetables. 

Pros

• The best juice quality is produced due to the lack of oxidation - meaning all of the enzymes are fresh and haven’t been destroyed
• Juice keeps for up to 72 hours and doesn’t have to be drunk immediately due to minimal oxidation
• Silent due to lack of spinning blades and powerful motor
• Separate pulp and juice containers for easy cleaning
• Juice is not foamy

Cons

• Generally more expensive than centrifugal juicers
• Slower juicing time than centrifugal juicers
• Smaller feed chute requires more chopping of fruit and vegetables

Which Cleans Easier?

How well and easily a juicer can clean can be a huge advantage or disadvantage for some buyers. You don’t want to spend 10 minutes having to scrub the juicer after each use, especially if you plan on using it daily. 

Fortunately, the majority of juicers (both masticating and centrifugal) are made of BPA-free materials that are dishwasher safe.

Even if you don’t have a dishwasher, they can be easily rinsed and cleaned in warm soapy water - just make sure you do this quickly before any residue sticks to the juicer!

The majority of juicers also come with a small cleaning brush to get through to the small corners and edges as well as through the feed chute.

Despite this, centrifugal juicers tend to be the harder juicer to clean. If they don’t have a separate pulp container, not only will you have to scoop out the pulp during the juicing time, but this can also be a nightmare for cleaning.

It’s important to get all of the pulp and juice out of the juicer before you use it again to prevent any bacteria from growing on residue. 

Masticating juicers are generally easier to clean due to the pulp and juice separations, and the lack of spinning blades means there is less to remove and clean from the juicer. 

Nutritional Value and Oxidation 

One of the main reasons people want to buy a juicer is because of the nutritional value. Ideally, you’d like to get all of the nutrients from your juice as you would if you ate the fruit or vegetable naturally.

Juicing these foods can help people to have their 5-a-day in a fast liquid form rather than eating them all separately. So, you want to receive all of the nutrients from the fresh produce, right? 

Let’s discuss oxidation. Oxidation has come up several times in our guide, so we should explain this further. 

Oxidation occurs when fruit or vegetables are cut open and exposed to oxygen for some time. For example, an apple that has been cut in half will begin to turn brown as it oxidizes. This process destroys the enzymes and therefore decreases the nutritional value of the apple. 

Oxidation in a juicer occurs when the juice is exposed to too much oxygen. This is why centrifugal juicers are more likely to oxidize the juice, as the fast-spinning blade pumps so much oxygen throughout the juice.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the juice is already oxidized, but it means that it needs to be consumed within 24 hours to make the most of the fresh enzymes. 

Masticating juicers, on the other hand, don’t pump oxygen throughout the grinding process. This means that the enzymes are maintained and deep-seated nutrients are pushed out.

Juice from masticating juicers can last up to 72 hours when stored in the fridge, as they can withstand oxygen for longer.

This is highly beneficial for those who like to make large batches of juice to take to work or to drink throughout the day. 

Is Slower Better Than Faster?

As the main difference between masticating and centrifugal is the speed, you may be wondering whether one speed is better than the other.

In reality, it all comes down to personal preference. Some people may want a juicer to quickly make a juice before work, whilst others may prefer a slower juicer for the sake of less noise. 

This is where masticating juicers have their biggest downfall. The speeds at which they create juice are much slower, 80 - 120 RPM, compared to centrifugal juicers, which work between 3k - 6k RPM. Whilst this may not seem a problem to some people, others may require convenience over quality. 

However, if you are looking to make the most out of your juicer to consume all of the nutrients from fruit and vegetables, faster options aren’t always the best.

As we explained earlier, centrifugal fast-spinning juicers force more oxygen into the juice which shortens its shelf life and lessens the number of enzymes. Whilst it may taste great, it won’t offer the flavor that a slow juicer has to offer. 

Masticating juicers, whilst slower, do offer the best quality juice. There are no spinning blades to whip up the juice which can often create a foamy or bubbly texture (something that can happen with centrifugal juicers). 

However, it also depends on the type of food you intend to put in your juicer! Centrifugal juicers are fast and powerful for a reason: because they can grind larger and harder fruits and vegetables.

Masticating juicers, on the other hand, are the best for soft fruits and vegetables and leafy greens such as wheatgrass. This means that the quality of the juice will be different depending on what type of food you put in what type of juicer. 

A centrifugal juicer will grind hard produce better than masticating juicers which can juice softer produce better. 

Pulp and Waste

You will want to make the most of your money and your juicer, which is why it is important to understand which juicer leaves the driest pulp. 

The spinning design of centrifugal juicers pushes the pulp to the sides, which means that there is potential juice that has been pushed to the side.

This will all get chucked in the bin. If you are conscious about waste and making the most out of your food, a centrifugal juicer will not make the most juice. 

A masticating juicer, on the other hand, literally pushes everything from the fruit and vegetables. When the pulp is pushed into the pulp container, it comes out in a thick consistency that is fairly dry.

It is said that masticating juicers give around 20% more juice than centrifugal juicers due to the “chewing” design and process. 

Whilst masticating juicers are more expensive than centrifugal ones, they could be more worth your money in the long run as you won’t have to buy as much produce.

The difference may only be the cost of an apple, but this will add up eventually!

Taste vs Health 

If we have confused you with all of the health benefits of juicers and you’re only interested in making juices from berries, a centrifugal juicer will work fine for you!

Fortunately, there isn’t a difference in taste between both centrifugal and masticating juicers. So, if you want a juicer to make sweet juices, a centrifugal one will work well - but remember that berries contain lots of natural sugar which isn’t necessarily healthy in excessive amounts! 

If you want a juicer to fit in your five-a-day, a masticating juicer will be your new best friend.

These juicers can squeeze the juice from healthy leafy greens (unlike centrifugal juicers). The slow-motion also limits oxidation, which means you get every benefit from the enzymes and nutrients if you were to eat the fruit and vegetables normally. 

Final Words 

At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference as to which juicer is the better option.

There are multiple factors why someone may prefer a centrifugal juicer over a masticating one and vice versa, which we hope we have explained in this guide! 

If you’re looking for speed, convenience, and taste - a centrifugal juicer is the best option. 

If you’re looking to improve your health and consume as many nutrients as possible - a masticating juicer will be your new companion. 

When you work long, hard days at work, it can be difficult to fit your five-a-day in, especially if you’re out of the house for the majority of the day.   

Insufficient fruit and vegetable consumption is often associated with the increased risk of a number of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, so it is essential that you make sure that you’re eating a balanced diet.

If you have limited time on your hands and minimal space in your kitchen, yet need a simple solution for incorporating more greens into your daily life, a small and compact juicer is the answer for you.   

Check out our top pick below.

The Best Small Juicers Buying Guide

There are a few things to consider when purchasing a small juicer, but it mainly comes back to how easy it is to maintain, its durability, and RPM.  

You'll ideally want a small juicer that still packs a punch, so don’t be persuaded into buying a lower-quality juicer.

Lower quality juicers can often be less effective at removing the pulp and fruit from your juice, and you are more likely to find that you’re not satisfied with the outcome.  

Have a browse of these factors before making your purchase.  

Maintenance 

Something important to take into consideration when purchasing a juicer is how easy it is to maintain. Ideally, you will want to invest in a small juicer that is easy to clean, as the less convenient it is to clean the less you are likely to use it.   

You’ll want to make sure that you clean your juicer after every use, to ensure that it is clean and ready to go the next time that you wish to use it.  

No one wants to waste hours of time cleaning one appliance, so make sure you get a low-maintenance juicer!

If you're buying a juicer as an easy method to incorporate more fruit and veg into your life then you don’t want the maintenance of the appliance to get in the way of your healthy, balanced lifestyle! Make sure that you pick a juicer that is easy to clean. 

Durability   

An important factor to take into account when choosing a juicer is its durability. Although this will largely be revealed through testing out the product yourself, there is another method of figuring out whether a product is durable.

A good indicator of this is to check the product reviews section. If someone has experienced any issues with the product that you’re looking to purchase or has had a negative experience to report about a brand’s customer service, it is likely that they’ll tell you in the product reviews section.  

If in doubt about a product, always make sure that you check the product reviews section to ensure that you have a realistic perception of the product before you buy it and can see whether it is durable by doing your own research on the product.  

RPM 

Something to consider when purchasing a small juicer is the RPM (rotations per minute). Cold press juicing at low speeds of 80 RPM minimizes heat build-up and oxidation.

This is in contrast to the fast juicers which usually employ centrifugal juicing technology and rotate at over 1,000 RPM, sometimes reaching 16,000 RPM or more. 

Which juicer you opt for will be largely down to personal preference and the intended use of the juicer, as well as the types of fruits and vegetables you intend to juice.

Generally speaking, slower juicers tend to produce more pulp, so this is something to take into consideration, also.  

Safety features   

You should also consider the safety features that come with your juicer.

Some juicers come with a safety locking arm to ensure that the juicer will not operate without the juicer cover in place and safely locking the arm in place in the vertical operating position. 

As a result, there is less chance of your juicer leaking everywhere or causing an accident.  

Warranty 

You should always check the warranty of a product before purchasing it, especially if you plan to be using it on a regular basis. 

If you’re buying a juicer to incorporate more nutrients into your daily life, you will need it to withstand the test of time and you will want to be covered should anything go wrong with your product sooner than anticipated.

Typically speaking, a warranty tends to cover one year, but this can vary depending on the company in question. 

To avoid disappointment, always make sure that you’re happy with the warranty before making your purchase.  

Frequently Asked Questions  

What are the benefits of juicing?  

There are multiple health benefits of juicing. Namely, it allows you to incorporate more fruit and vegetables into your diet and can therefore work to help boost your immune system. 

Juicing can also help remove toxins from your body, aid digestion and help you lose weight. Juicing is great if you live a busy lifestyle on the go or simply don’t enjoy eating greens.

Simply pair them with your favorite fruits and you’ll hardly taste them!   

Juicers are some of the most sought-after kitchen accessories for those who can afford them.

Whether you are a family in a large home who wants to increase the amount of healthy content in their diet or a fitness fanatic who lives alone and wants to boost their immune systems and energy levels.

A juicer releases the enzymes, nutrients and vitamins in food and allows you to boost both the flavor and supercharge the nutritional benefits of multiple foods in one single drink.

It is simply much easier to consume many fruits and vegetables in one drink than eat them all over the course of the day.

The Jack Lalanne Juicer is one of the most remarkable juicers currently available on the market.

It utilizes a centrifugal style blender to churn your food with a presser in the top to make sure that every drop of nutrition in even the toughest fruit and veg is drained out into your cup.

To look at it, it’s a very hefty yet compact unit that will compliment most kitchen styles, whether modern or bespoke.

The clear plastic elements will mean that you can see through the casing and check on the process of your blended foods.

Having this level of control will give you the option of determining how much pulp is left in your final drink.

But what are the features of the Jack Lalanne Juicer? What materials is it made out of and how do they help with the efficiency of the juicing process?

How much can you be expected to spend on this device? What marks this juicer out from all the other models that you have on the market?

Well, allow us to allay your fears, because we’ve compiled an in-depth review of the Jack Lalanne Juicer (SLH90) so that you know exactly what it is capable of before you go out and purchase one.

We’ll cover the assembly as well as the performance and whether you will have to chop your food before feeding it into the tube. We’ll cover cleaning, use and durability too.

First off, we’ll start with some of the basic pros and cons of this juicer before getting into a more comprehensive review of its performance.

Pros

• This unit is very easy to assemble - all you have to do is place a few components into their housing and you should be good to go.
• Cuts down on prepping time - that’s right, you can put into your vegetables and fruits whole with this unit, simply feeding them into the wide chute and pushing them down with a tamper.
• This has a decent performance, able to mince up plenty of fruits and vegetables in one simple action.
• This is a very hygienic unit - with a composition of stainless steel and plastic, you can get this one spick and span in no time at all.

Cons

• This product definitely struggles with blending certain chunky foods such as apples, which have an awkward shape and don’t feed into the chute well.
• There is a lot of pulp in your final juice - if you don’t like any solid matter in your final juice, then we would recommend that you don’t opt for the Jack Lalanne Juicer.
• This unit doesn’t have the lifespan of a lot of the other units that you can find and some users might not find it worth the price.

How Much Do You Have To Prepare Your Food Beforehand?

This unit is a centrifugal juicer, so it will rotate at a high speed of 15,000 RPM and upwards.

You’ll be able to dispatch kilos of vegetables and fruit quite easily and efficiently. The feed chute is around 3-inches in width, so you can fit more or less most vegetables in completely whole.

The 3-inch entry point is the standard size of a lot of the juicers that you can find on the market, including ones manufactured by Breville, Cuisinart and Jamba.

All these are leading juicer makers and Jack Lalanne has gone to no expense to make sure that this juicer conforms to the industry standard.

However, you won’t have to chop any of your foods for insertion into the juicing machine.

The single food that most users have had difficulty inserting whole into the machine is apples. Because of their spherical, slightly uneven shape, you might have to slice your apple in half before pushing it into your machine.

If you are planning on skipping this citrus fruit, then you should have no problem with this juicer, as it can plenty large quantities of food in a single session.

This is a great unit if you want your juice fast, for example, as a quick boost before you go to work in the morning or as a little immune top-up before bed at night.

For example, with juicers such as the Omega 8006, you have to dice up your wheatgrass and spinach before you feed it into the machine.

You’ll have to cut oranges into eighths and apples into sixteenths if you want to get that extra smooth texture in your cup at the end.

When we tested other models such as the Tribest Solostar 4, we found that the performance was roughly the same, with food having to be thoroughly diced and chopped beforehand to give you that smoother texture at the end of your juicing.

This will be a dividing factor if you’re planning on giving juice to children who might be averse to the pulp.

All-in-all, the Jack Lelanne juicer will cut down on a lot of your prep time, moreso than these other juicers and might be a boon for those that are in a hurry and don’t necessarily mind about having a super-smooth quality to their final product.

However, it will probably give you a lot less of a nutrient output than a slow presser whose design is geared towards vitamin and mineral retention.

How Good Is The Performance?

If you are planning on juicing large quantities of fruit and vegetables in one single sitting, then we would recommend using this juicer.

Using centrifugal technology, you can be sure that you will be more than capable of producing a healthy out-of-juicer yield in your cup.

We used a simple test to determine the yield that this juicer produced and how well it compared to its rivals. The method is simply juicing a single fruit or vegetable, then taking the resulting juice and running it through a sieve to see how much pulp remained in there.

With the Jack Lalanne juicer, the results of the final juice were around average, with there being a moderate amount of pulp left in the remaining juice.

The amount of pulp that remained is weighed separately and the overall performance of the juicer is determined by how much ‘after-sieve yield’ is left.

When it comes to juicing apples, this machine tends to struggle, with quite a substantial amount of apple pulp left in the sieve afterward.

Some users have reported that the ‘juice’ extracted from an apple with this juicer is actually more of a thicker, ‘puree’ style consistency. This puree would barely sieve during our own trials.

Apples are a popular way of sweetening up a juice drink, as well as having many healthy bacterial properties. So if you do want to add apples to your celery or asparagus juice, then you might be struggling to get the right consistency.

It might also throw off the consistency of your original juice if you are adding apples in towards the end of the mixture.

All-in-all, this juicer rates averagely when it comes to blending. It might be able to juice your vegetables and fruits quickly, but it might not be the most efficient model for this process.

Also, if you want to add apples, the most common fruit, into the mix, then you might want to choose another juicer for the task.

How Easy Is It To Assemble?

The manufacturer of this juicer boasts that it is a fusion juicer, in that it blends the features of a centrifugal juice with some of the components of a slow press juicer.

However, it doesn’t really deviate from the standard elements that you might find in a centrifugal juicer - this one is certainly fast, but it can also run the risk of overheating your juice.

However, when it comes to assembly, this juicer is quite easy to lash together, coming with simple parts that you can probably guess by sight alone rather than having to pore over the manual.

It has very few detachable components that are dishwasher friendly and can be quickly removed, rinsed and replaced if you are in a hurry.

This one comes with a press that you use to push the vegetable or fruit safely into the funnel.

It also comes with a chrome locking arm that can be slotted into place over the cover to prevent any juice from spraying out as well as preventing any fingers from straying in and potentially causing serious harm while the machine is switched on.

There is an optional anti-drip cover that you can choose to put over your spout if you want to prevent any excess juice from spilling onto your kitchen counter. 

However, some users have decided against this as they have found the operation too fiddly and sometimes causing more mess than it seeks to prevent.

Overall, this is a very easy unit to assemble and will be a perfect starting machine for those people who might not be used to working a juicer.

If you are short on patience and time, then we would certainly recommend getting the Jack Lelanne, which could see your juicer up and working out of the box in less than half an hour.

How Easy Is It To Clean?

Having a clean juicer should be on the top of your priority list, as it will prevent the transmission of bacteria from one juicing to the next, as well as removing dry food matter that will become stuck to the inside of your chute or filter and severely impede the function of the machine.

The body of this juicer is made from stainless steel, which is a remarkably good surface to keep clean. The plastic filter containers are removable and very easy to clean, being dishwasher and hand wash friendly.

This juicer comes in a wide variety of different versions, all categorized in terms of color: black, blue and stainless steel.

As we have mentioned above, the stainless steel option only has a body that is made of metal, whereas its components such as the chute and the feed nozzle are all plastic and detachable.

The black version of this juicer is probably the best to clean, as a lot of the stains that you might get from fruits such as oranges and blueberries will not show up that well against the black body. However, with the blue and stainless steel, this kind of tinting can become commonplace.

You must also be aware of the fact that if you’re juicing large quantities of vegetables on a regular basis, then the chances are that you’ll be experiencing a lot of staining on the inside of your juicer.

The light blue plastic elements of the blue model will be particularly susceptible to this.

This juicer also comes with a remarkable cleaning brush that will help you to chisel off some of the more stubborn stains.

The brush itself is extremely tough and resilient, with a short and thick handle and rounded end that you can use to get into all the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.

The brush head is long and you can use it to get into the gears that can become gummed up, giving you the ability to remove any stubborn food matter that might have dried and will impede the overall function of your machine.

The brush bristles are white so you can see how much matter that you’ve removed, with some extra bristles that you can replace when your brush gets too worn.

The brush’s design is what makes it so unique and gives it that extra advantage over cleaning your machine.

Combining this with the detachable elements of the juicer, you can easily pop out the parts that get overly exposed to food matter and juice, giving them a hard scrub over every inch.

You can also clean the filter basket with this brush to a decent standard. Luckily, thanks to the design, this basket is designed not to retain much waste matter anyway, depositing the pulp into a storage bin in the bottom of the unit that can be unclasped and emptied in your waste bin once it is full.

Dishwasher Safe Parts

The manufacturer has stated very clearly that you can use all of the components of this juicer in the dishwasher except for the electric motor hub unit that powers the juicer itself.

You should put these detachable components in the top rack for a light soaking, away from the washers heating elements that might end up warping the plastic.

Being able to put your juicer in the dishwasher will make all the difference between it being lightly cleaned and having that in-depth clean after every use.

If you have the time, we would recommend you put your juicer in the washer after every use to minimize stains and increase the functionality of your machine.

The Jack Lalanne Juicer earns major plus points for its cleaning abilities. It comes in materials that are very easy to wipe down afterward, with detachable plastic components that you can remove and stick in the dishwasher.

The cleaning brushes will also help you get rid of the more stubborn dry matter.

How Easy Is It To Use?

This machine operates very easily at two different speeds, which will definitely make it an attraction for those users who don’t have too much experience operating a juicer.

All you have to do is juice the harder, more fibrous foodstuffs on the more intensive setting, while softer fruits like bananas and oranges should be juiced on the lighter setting.

This is probably one of the easiest juicers to use, with this multi-speed option that is clearly printed on the side of the machine, we would probably even suggest that you wouldn’t have to consult the manual before using your juicer.

However, the Jack Lalanne does come with a very simple-to-understand and comprehensive manual that details all the instructions and components parts and how you should use them.

It even has a section on juicing tips that give a much better understanding of proper juicing techniques and what to expect from certain types of fruit and veg.

It even goes into the water content of each fruit and vegetables, which will give you a much better idea about the volume of juice that you can expect to be expunged into your cup.

How Portable Is It?

This juicer, when completely put together, only weighs around 5-pounds, making it a great unit to carry between countertops, ideal if you’re planning on using it at an event or function.

A lot of people run health food kiosks at festivals and might want to offer freshly blended juices as part of their menu.

This is one of the lightest units that we have on this list, which also makes it much easier to store. If you are pushed for countertop space, then you might have to put it back in the cupboard after every use.

The portability of this unit will also be great for senior users who might find it difficult to carry bulkier pieces of equipment.

The power cord of this juicer is around 48 inches long, so you can operate this one quite some way from the original power source.

In terms of juicing volume, you can churn out around 36 ounces of fluid from one single juicing, which is fairly average for a juicer of this caliber. This comes with a 60-ounce pulp container too.

However, if you do want a larger fluid and pulp container, you can find others on the market that go a lot higher than this. The Breville Juice Fountain Duo, for example, can produce upwards of 48-ounces of juice and a 108-ounce pulp container.

So if you fancy making juice for more people, then you might want to save money and splash out on a heftier unit.

How Durable Is It?

When it comes to having the best juicer that will truly be able to stand the test of time, you’ll want to look at the build quality as well as some of the materials that it is made out of.

This model of juicer’s materials definitely matches up with the price and the overall durability of the machine.

However, there are various components of the Jack Lelanne that are less resilient than others.

The juicer’s container and the froth separator that you can put inside the juice container are less than optimal when it comes to containing the amount of juice that your machine will produce.

The handle is quite susceptible to snapping off over repeated use, as it is very thin and made from a plastic material.

It is attached to only one point of the container, which is a design flaw that could result in it breaking off if you handle it with more than delicate care. This will certainly be a problem when your container is full of juice.

Having exerted force on this part of the handle will certainly lead to it coming off.

You can still hold the juicer cup in your hands even with a broken-off handle, so it won’t lead to the functionality being compromised, but it will look very unsightly and might even lead to scratches and scrapes on your hand.

The froth separator is also prone to wear and tear, constructed from thin plastic pieces that create a sieve over the top of the cup to drain away some of the thicker elements of your juice.

Because of the thin constitution of this sieve, then it is certainly susceptible to puncturing, as well as increased mild perforation.

Obviously, the durability of this model will be affected by how much you plan on using it. If you are a once-a-week juicer, then you can guarantee that your juicer will last a lot longer.

With some tender loving care, this machine will certainly last you a number of years.

However, if you want intense juicing in a shop or market scenario, then you might be looking at a more expensive unit that is made entirely from steel composition that can handle the extra knocking and banging without getting damaged.

If you plan on using your blender frequently and intensively, we would recommend that you steer clear of this model.

How Versatile Is it?

This is a centrifugal juicer, and as a rule, centrifugal juicers are only able to produce juice, they cannot be adapted for making milk, purees, sauces or other types of paste.

Slow juicers, on the hand, can do these things, so if you are looking for a wider pallet of sauces then we would recommend that you get a slow juicer, also called a slow cold press.

A slow juicer uses a cold-crushing device that will be able to crush harder foodstuffs like almonds and cashews into a kind of butter-like substance.

However, these are a much slower process than the centrifugal, which usually operates at an average speed of 15,000 RPMs.

Masticating juicers are also very versatile, you can mix and match all sorts of ingredients with this device, which replicates the movement of the human mouth to extract as many nutrients from the organic food matter as possible.

Our Final Say

The Jack Lelanne juicer is a great starting juicer, with plenty of features such as a centrifugal blending style and a durable wipe-clean body and components that can be placed in the dishwasher.

If you want speed but not necessarily efficiency, we would certainly recommend this unit for most users.

However, the durability and versatility are really where this unit lets itself down. It has a very flimsy plastic construction in the juice cup and does not really produce anything other than juice.

So if you are looking to buy a juicer that you can use intensively and regularly, there are plenty of other units that would probably be more suitable for your needs.