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.
Juicer types vary widely, but I own all three main options and can tell you that the last one, the Vitamix, is the only one you should 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.
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 it to significant amounts of air, causing oxidation. Both of these factors lead to large amounts of vitamin loss in the juice and greatly shorten its shelf life. Besides, it takes ages to strip it down and clean, and all that engine speed means it probably won’t last too long.
Can you really be bothered spending all that time in the kitchen cleaning your juicer after you’ve 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 eBay one of these days.
The masticating juicer is a better choice, in my opinion, than the screamer, especially if you want a quieter and more robust juicer that will last for years and produce good-quality juice. A masticating juicer uses a single auger to compact and crush the chopped-up fruit and vegetables before squeezing out the juice along a static screen while the pulp is expelled through a separate outlet. Unlike centrifugal juicers, masticating juicers can juice wheatgrass 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 it 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; the good news is that it doesn’t contain quite as many parts as the screamer.
I have used the Champion juicer for 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 wheatgrass juice, but I 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 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 because it produces high-quality juice in seconds and takes mere moments to clean! I love it because it is fast, juices anything, and is extremely tough—it 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 that is gathering dust. We use our Vitamix daily and the Champion juicer occasionally; I do like to use this juicer for wheatgrass juice at times. The cleanup 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 many reasons—it can also make so much more than juice. 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 tough and made of a special type of indestructible plastic. When I bought mine, the 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 long-lasting motor for turning the blade assembly, which 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 believe in the saying that quality long remains after the price is forgotten because the Vitamix truly is the Rolls Royce of 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 produces a higher yield without waste, resulting in top-quality juice. When I make juices, I just cut an apple in four and leave the skins, stalk, and seeds intact, throw in a roughly chopped carrot, a stalk of celery (broken into three or four pieces), and hit go for 30 seconds—done. I drink it all, 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; 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, then spend ages stripping it down and cleaning it in comparison to how much time you will spend drinking the actual juice.