My life just got juicier

Everyone, I would like you to meet my new friend.
It is an Omega J8005 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer, and I haven’t named it yet.  So, please help me welcome it to the family and if you have any naming ideas, do share.

Why did I choose this specific model?  I listened to everyone who responded to my polls and gave me suggestions (thank you, all!), researched, contemplated, and finally concluded that I like my juicers slow, masticating, and multifunctional.  And this one appears to fit the bill just right.

I learned that there are 3 basic types of juicers: centrifugal, masticating (or single-gear) and twin-gear. Plus, I’ve consulted with some juice aficionados who recently converted from juicers to turbo-blenders (such as Vitamix or Blendtec) and swear by them.  In other words, it was a tough decision, and here are some of the factors that determined my choice.  (You can also get an independent overview of different juicer categories here or just skip to the bottom of this post to see more photos of my new friend.)

(1) Price range.  Twin-gear juicers are very good but also the most expensive category. They probably make most sense if you’re looking to open a juice parlor.

(2) Centrifugal juicers are the cheapest but a big no-no because they leave a fair amount of juice in the pulp and destroy a fair amount of precious enzymes — the very reason why you want to drink freshly squeezed juices — as a result of high operating speeds and ensuing heat. I used to own a centrifugal juicer, and it did a very poor job processing leafy greens and herbs.  And I like green juices.  Especially now that I have so many leafy greens and vegetable parts that would otherwise go straight to the compost pile, e.g. kale and chard stems… Things like kale and parsley leaves would just get stuck unshredded to the walls of the centrifuge, hindering the extraction process.  In other words, according to my research, centrifugal juicers tend to be a bit wasteful.

(3) The Omega Vert model, for instance, does an even more thorough extracting job than my new Omega J8005. And it seems that you can feed it larger pieces of fruit and vegetables. However, it is at least $100 more expensive, and I was immediately sold on the idea of a “nutrition center” that can do some food prep tricks in addition to juicing.  I’m especially excited to try out its mincing, grinding, and pasta-making capabilities (although, I’m sure, there are some limits to its versatility).

(4) As far as the powerful new fiber-liquifying blenders are concerned, they sound awesome and I do want to get one eventually.  Smoothies that don’t waste any pulp whatsoever are probably the healthiest option but I thought that juice extraction is a more relevant feature for my current harvest-processing needs.

Anyway, the first thing out of James’ mouth this morning was: I wonder, what kind of juice will we make for breakfast? So, here’s what we used:

4 kale leaves, 1 pear, 1 apple, 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots, 1/2″ peeled ginger and 1/4 peeled lemon — which yielded a pretty impressive amount of 18-19 oz.

The pulp was very dry but I ran it through the juicer once again anyway, just to see if it’s generally worth the effort.  The juicer extracted about 2 more ounces; so, the answer is: I don’t know…

The only real concern I have so far is that you have to cut up larger fruit (apples and pears) into thinner (1-1.5″) pieces because the feeder funnel is a little narrow. All other ingredients in the photo went in just fine. Overall, I’m very happy that my juicy dream has finally materialized.  My heartfelt gratitude to everyone who helped make it happen, and cheers!