Basic Juicing Tricks and Tips Plus Juice Reviews

I decided to switch out the Juicing Poll - if memory serves me correctly, it’s been running for over 3 years now! This poll asked respondents what the average amount of time per week spent juicing was.

The results were not surprising in the least. While I don’t do much myself, from watching relatives juice fruits and veggies I know that it can be extremely time consuming. This is especially true if you’re doing it several times a day - it doesn’t even count the amount of time you take to procure quality ingredients, whether at the supermarket or at farmer’s markets.

We had 773 respondents. Of those, 64% spent either less than an hour or between 1 and 2 hours juicing per week. It was pretty much evenly split between those answering less than 1 hour and between 1 and 2. Another 22% clocked in at 2 to 5 hours per week spent juicing. That’s actually still quite a bit in my book. For the 112 (14%) people who answered MORE than 5 hours per week, that’s nearly an hour a day. These people must be pretty dedicated!

There is another poll up - regarding favorite manufacturers of juicemakers. I realize there are many additional companies that make juicers, but I just wanted to cover four of the bigger ones for the poll instead of having “Other” as a response.

Hey there - I just wanted to announce a slight change on the Juicing Basics website. In the past, you’ve seen store-bought juice reviews on the site occasionally - but the focus has generally been on recipes, juicemakers and juicing tips. We had someone helping out with that aspect, but they’ve left to pursue other opportunities. (This is also the reason the site has been updated only periodically the last couple years).

I haven’t really gotten into juicing myself, but would still like to keep this subsite of Bloglander going. So, I’m going to be concentrating more on reviews of juice and juice drinks - whether fresh squeezed, natural or processed. I’ll try stay away from soda and soft drinks - but something like say Orangina is fair game. If you’re a beverage or juice company, we’ll be accepting products for review. Please contact us for more information.

I do have an old juicing book, so I’ll occasionally post up a recipe from it as long as something like it hasn’t already been added in the past. To further increase content, I’ll be posting some general industry news relating to juicing and new beverages as it comes down the wire. I think I can also handle adding to the “ingredients” category. But please keep in mind that I’m certainly no expert in ANYTHING to do with juicing. And I’m not sure how long this new focus will continue, but I suspect as long as it seems worth the time keep putting up reviews.

Thanks for understanding - Bryan.

I always thought that bok choy was an underrated vegetable. If you can find it in the market (no longer strictly an ethnic vegetable, more supermarkets carry it nowadays), it might be a good addition to the juicer menu.

Ingredients:

1/4 lb of bok choy vegetable
3 carrots
2 apples, sweet if possible
1 bell pepper, red preferred

Continue reading “Let’s Talk Bok Juice” …

OK, so I have to admit I know absolutely nothing about Tahitian Noni Juice. And this is more of a do-it-yourself Juicing site, rather than a place to discuss and review store bought juice and supplemental products. However, I just keep hearing about the stuff whenever doing research on different types of juice.

So finally, I went too look it up on Amazon, and sure enough they do sell it in various ways (albeit through 3rd party sellers usually). This particular Noni Juice is sold by “Dynamic Health” and is a raspberry flavored variety sold in a two-pack of 32 ounce bottles. They say it gives 12,500 mg of Noni Fruit per 1 ounce serving.

I was hoping a reader who knew more about this type of juice might chime in on the benefits and usage of this type of Tahitian juice. From reading the information given on the site, Noni Fruit comes from the Morinda Citrifolia plant originally from Tahiti and has been used by native people to promote a “healthy lifestyle.”

It is said to contain “minerals, enzymes, anti-oxidants, vitamins, phytonutrients and bioflavonoids, proxeroxine and scopoletin.” I’m always suspicious about these kind of juices, but people say it’s supposed to be benficial for everything from IBS to the common cold.

Continue reading “Tahitian Noni Juice” …

Starting off the new year with a simple one - just pineapples and pears:

Ingredients:

4 pineapple spears
1 pear (medium, skin ok)

Continue reading “Pear ‘n Pine” …

I saw this one in a juicing book we have… it’s a bit unusual with a combination of tomatoes and pineapple but it looked interesting. It also calls for alcohol, though you can easily skip that if you’d rather not put that in.

Ingredients:

1 tomato, medium sized
1 mango, cut into spears
1/4 to 1/3 pineapple, cut into spears
1.5 oz rum, optional

Continue reading “Tropic Shaker” …

As far as store-bought juice goes, this Northland Cranberry Blackberry blend was pretty decent. The 64oz bottle was on sale at the store for $2.50 the other day so I decided to give it a go. It has 100% juice in it with no sugar added, so because it was a cranberry blend I was thinking it might be a bit on the tart side. I’ve had 100% cranberry juice before with no sugar and it is a bit too much for me.

So I was surprised that this cranberry blended with blackberry was fairly mellow. I think it might have a lot to do with the fact that cranberry and blackberry aren’t the only juice ingredients. Note: it’s always a good idea to check the label and see what else is added. Just because they say it’s 100% juice doesn’t mean it’s 100% composed of the juices in the title!

This blend also has apple, pear and grape juices which I suspect help to contribute to it’s mellow flavor. It’s not a bad thing, just remember to check what you’re actually getting. The blackberry presence is really muted - I’m not sure that what I’m detecting as blackberry isn’t actually grape. Still, a pleasant enough juice blend for store-bought.

Juicing Basics Rating: 7 out of 10
Approximate Price: $2.50-4.00 for 64oz

Here’s another juicing recipe that is meant for your tummy, similar to the earlier Stomach Soother posted earlier. This one has cabbage as well for helping out with stomach ailments like constipation and ulcer-like conditions. As before, having too much cabbage juice can cause gas in some people, so be careful.

Ingredients:

1/2 a head of cabbage
1 celery stalk
3 medium carrots
5-7 sweet cherries, pits removed

Continue reading “Stomach Soother 2″ …

This is a citrus based juicing recipe that adds cantaloupe for a little hint of sweetness. Add more carrot if you’d like to sweeten it even more. You can also subsitute some pears for the 1/2 cantaloupe if you like.

Ingredients:

1 orange, peeled, pith ok
1 large carrot
1 grapefruit, peeled, pith ok
1 apple
1/2 cantaloupe

Continue reading “Citrus-alope” …

If you’re looking to get a shot of beta-carotene (natural vitamin A) in your juicing regimen, this recipe might be interesting. Found it online again, it’s a bit unusual with the plums, I supposed those are there to add a bit of tang to the juice. I sort of feel like maybe it needs even more tang - like with some citrus, but that’s just me.

Ingredients:

2 medium carrots
2 large plums
1 medium summer squash

Continue reading “Better Beta Juice” …