The Advantages of The Hand Powered Juicer Device

On 08.15.10, In Kitchen, By Stevie Wonder

Drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juices can be an excellent way to naturally improve your health, by incorporating more fruit and vegetable matter into your diet. Health practitioners are always telling us that we need to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, but this is easier said than done. Although there are many interesting and healthy ways to prepare vegetables, there is no easier and faster delivery system than juicing them in the raw state, and drinking 2 to 3 glasses of this juice daily.

The reason that fresh juice is so healthy is that it preserves all of the goodness that was found in the original fruit or vegetable. This means that in a glass of juice, you can be getting significant amounts of nutrients, vitamins, and enzymes, which would otherwise be very difficult to obtain. Of course you could take artificial supplements and medications, but these are not only expensive but also questionable in terms of their long-term safety.

In order to make juice at home, you are going to need a juicer machine of some sort. Although there are many excellent electric machines on the market, you might want to consider buying a hand powered juicer device. A hand juicer, or manual juicer as they are sometimes known, will achieve the same results as an electric one, but will require a bit of effort on your part and take a bit longer. In some cases this may not be practical (say if you have a large family) but for the single person, or anybody who has some time on their hands, a hand juicer is an inexpensive and effective way to make healthy juice at home.

The best kind of hand juicer design to look for is the sort which clamps to your work surface, to eliminate movement while you juice. These juicers generally have a large metal clamp at their base, which you can screw to a counter top or kitchen table, and will hold the machine totally still. This is quite important because you’ll be using one hand to turn the handle, and the other hand to feed in ingredients. If the machine is loose and moves around, you will not only expand more effort in operating it, but you also likely make a mess and spill your juice!

Ideally, try to buy a hand juicer which is constructed of metal and not plastic. A stainless steel hand juicer will cost slightly more, but will long outlast any plastic juicer and provide years of reliable service.

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Everyone Needs a Lime Juicer

On 07.21.10, In Kitchen, By Stevie Wonder

One of the most delicious fruit juices is lime juice. Lime flavour is so very popular, and is found everywhere, in icy poles and cordials, to cocktails and fizzy drinks. But what if you want to make your own lime flavoured treats at home? Fresh lime juice is far healthier than any concentrates or commercial cordials, and making it is actually quite easy.

Basically you need two things: a source of limes, and a lime juicer. If you are lucky enough to have your own lime tree, or have a neighbour or a family member who has a tree, then this problem is solved. A good alternative method to procure these fruit is to visit local grocery stores, especially in the growing season. In season, limes can often be bought for as little as one dollar per kilogram, meaning that you can easily stock up and make a lot of juice for very little cost.

The best way to juice limes is with a small hand-held juicer. These gadgets are really quite cheap, costing between $10 and $15 for most home supply stores. For a little bit more money you can buy a high quality stainless steel lime juicer, which would probably be easier to use and last for a lot longer. Stainless steel is of course corrosion resistant, and is also taste and chemically neutral. It also looks better for longer.

An old tip when juicing lemons or limes is to give the fruit a solid thump on a hard surface before you try and juice it. This sounds weird, but try it next time – it actually loosens the fibres inside the fruit, and makes the juice come out more easily.

Using most hand juicers for citrus fruit requires you to cut the fruit half first. You can simply load the fruit into the juicer, and squeeze the hands together – preferably over a bowl! I always find it best to make lime juice over the sink, to avoid the inevitable mess that results as some juice goes astray.

So what should you do with your fresh lime juice?

Some of my favourite things to do with juicer to freeze some into ice cubes, to use in cocktails and drinks later on. The fresh juice is also great for using in cocktails, which may or may not contain alcohol. It depends what you like. Of course the other thing to do is to make your own lemonade (or Limeade). The best way to do this is to dissolve some honey or sugar in water, and then mix with lime juice. Gradually add water, until you are comfortable with the concentration for drinking.

Making your own lime juice drinks like this is far healthier than buying them from the shop, as well as being a lot cheaper. It is particularly good idea if you have children, whom you don’t like to feed products which contain colours, flavours or other artificial additives. Home made things like this are always safe, and can give you a real sense of satisfaction to make.

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Is a wheat grass juicer a worthwhile investment?

On 07.17.10, In Kitchen, By Stevie Wonder

If you enjoy drinking wheat grass juice as part of your detox or weight loss diet, you probably don’t need to be told that it is a fairly expensive habit! Wheat grass juice is sold in small shots of about 30 mL, and these can range in price from four dollars to up to 8 dollars. If you follow the recommended consumption guidelines from many experts, you should be drinking at least one or even two shots daily – and if you do this five days a week, you’re looking at a lot of cash!

A really good alternative is to make your own wheat grass juice at home. This is not hard – you basically just need a source of wheat grass, and a juicer machine to crush it with.

Let’s do a quick cost analysis on the home made stuff: assuming you buy the wheat grass in trays from local grower, you can expect to pay about $4 per 12 inch square tray. Each tray will make about four shots of juice – so that would be one dollar per shot, in ingredients.

Now the juicer machine. A hand juicer is by far the best option for juicing wheat grass, for various reasons. Firstly, it takes about the same amount of time to make each shot of juice (about two minutes) plus a hand juicer is much faster and easier to clean and look after. Then there is the purchase cost – you can buy a good quality stainless steel hand juicer for around $40-$50, while an electric juicer with the same capability will cost upwards of $150.

So assuming you buy a $50 hand juicer – how long will it take for this gadget to pay itself off? Let’s just assume that the average cost per shot of juice you would be buying would be $5. This would in fact be quite cheap, but let’s just use it for arguments sake. Because we have worked out that it will cost you one dollar per shot in materials (grass) we can allow four dollars per juicing shot to contribute towards paying off the $50 investment. $50 divided by four dollars is 12.5 – so let’s say that after making your first 13 shots of juice, you have already broken even! Everything you make out of this can be considered at a one-dollar-per-shot-of juice rate, which is an absolute fraction of the cost of buying it ready to drink.

As you can see, a good quality hand juicer is an excellent investment if you are serious about your health. As with many other things in life, many people are hesitant to put out an initial outlay, but if you are prepared to do this, then you will benefit significantly in the long run.

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