Should I Get A Juicer Or A Blender?

Eric Bakker N.D.May 1, 2022
8 Mins

When you use a juicer, you will be able to extract the juice from fruits and vegetables by crushing, grinding, or pressing the liquid out of them, leaving behind only the thin juice and none of the fibres. The blender doesn't separate your ingredients, but rather blends them together for a thicker consistency.

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Eric Bakker Naturopath » Recipes » Should I Get A Juicer Or A Blender?

What Should You Get?

There are three main types of juicers, I own all three options and can tell you that the last option, the Vitamix, is the only you will want to seriously consider if you are really into good health and want the best. Let me explain the three different types and you can make up your own mind.

Talk to people who own these types of juicers and they will be quick to tell you that one of the most important things to consider is how long it takes to clean

The Centrifugal Juicer

I call these juicers “screamers” because that is what they do, they scream when you use them. These juicers operate at a very high speed and can make a lot of noise. The centrifugal juicer cuts up the fruit or vegetable with a flat cutting blade. It then spins the produce at a really high speed (anywhere from 3,000 up to an incredible 14,000 RPM) to separate the juice from the pulp. Although this style of juicer can juice most types of fruits and vegetables, it unintentionally heats the juice from friction and exposes the juice to significant amounts of air to cause oxidation, both of which causes large amounts of vitamin loss in the juice and greatly shortens the juice’s shelf life. Besides, it takes ages to strip it down and clean it and all that engine speed is going to guarantee that it probably won’t last too long.

Can you really be bothered spending all that time in the kitchen cleaning your juicer after you have made juice? I have my screamer still from years ago buried somewhere in the back of a kitchen cupboard, complete with a box full of parts. I must get around to putting it on E Bay one of these days.

The Masticating Juicer 

The masticating juicer is a better choice in my opinion rather than the screamer, especially if you want a quieter and more robust juicer that will last for years and produce a good quality juice. A masticating juicer uses a single auger to compact and crush the chopped up fruit and vegetables before squeezing out its juice along a static screen while the pulp is expelled through a separate outlet. Unlike centrifugal juicers, masticating juicers can juice wheat grass and other leafy greens and herbs like parsley.

The drawback is that this type of juicer tends to be more expensive than a centrifugal juicer and slower, but it is certainly more efficient and produces higher yields of juice. The juice also tends to be more nutritious and has a longer shelf life because the juice has not been exposed to as much heat or air as the centrifugal juicer. But once again, be prepared to strip it down and clean it after you juice, but the good news is that it doesn’t contain quite as many parts as the screamer.

I have used the Champion juicer for a several years and found it to be excellent. Masticating juicers can be single or twin gear, but the principle is still the same. I like mine for carrot or wheat grass juice but only use it infrequently these days because I bought the Vitamix. I think I’ll keep the Champion, so it’s not up for sale.

The Vitamix Blender

The Vitamix is my personal choice and the juicer I now recommend, it is in fact a super blender. After having used several different types of juicers and blenders over the years I now just use the Vitamix, simply because it produces a high quality juice in seconds and takes seconds to clean! I love it because it is fast, juices anything and is extremely tough and will most probably outlast me. If an appliance is easy to use and quick to clean you tend to use it every day, and a glass of fresh juice daily is one of the best ways to build good health on any health program.
I have a Vitamix, the Champion masticating juicer and a Panasonic centrifugal juicer which is gathering dust. We use our Vitamix on a daily basis and the Champion juicer occasionally, I do like to use this juicer it for wheatgrass juice at times. The clean up with most kinds of juicers is the big deterrent for me. And you end up wasting so much fruit and vegetables. We love our Vitamix for so many reasons, it can also make so much more than a juicer as it makes batters, dressings, soups, smoothies, ice cream, bread dough, perfect nut butters, excellent nut milks, creams, shakes, Frappuccino thingies, etc.) But best of all, it is super easy and quick to clean. The Vitamix blending container is really tough and made of a special type of indestructible plastic, when I bought mine, salesman even jumped on it with all his weight to demonstrate how tough this appliance really is.

 

At the top of the container is a lid to prevent ingredients from escaping during operation, and at the bottom is the high quality blade assembly. The container rests upon a base that contains an extremely powerful and very long lasting motor for turning the blade assembly that has several variable speed controls.

This baby is even capable of milling grains into flour and crushing ice cubes into slush in seconds without assistance. The biggest drawback with this superb machine is the hefty price tag, but I do believe in the saying that the quality long remains after the price is forgotten because the Vitamix truly is the Rolls Royce of the juicers and blenders.

Because it only takes a minute to make the juice without generating heat unless you let it run for ages, the Vitamix is more efficient and does produces a higher yield without waste, and the result is a top quality juice. When I make juices, I just cut an apple in four and leave the skins, stalk and seeds intact, thrown in a roughly chopped carrot, a stalk of celery (broken into three or four pieces) and hit go for 30 seconds – done. I drink the lot including the pulp, which incorporates ground up seeds, skins and even the stalk as well as the skin of the celery and carrot.

If you are serious about juicing and can afford the very best, get a Vitamix or otherwise settle for the Champion or Omega masticating juicer.

If you own one of these long enough you will probably end up buying the Vitamix down the track like many do. I’d recommend that you bypass the centrifugal juicer, unless you want to spend time with some form of hearing protection when you operate these screamers and then spend ages stripping it down and cleaning it, in comparison to how much time you will spend drinking the actual juice.

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