Well, I got the results of the first poll here on Juicing at Bloglander and they’re not terribly surprising. Of course the poll was somewhat limited because only four ingredients were offered as choices, which were Apple, Carrot, Tomato and Berry. Here’s how the numbers came out:

I put Apple and Carrot at the top because those two ingredients are both “staples” for juicing fruits and vegetables respectively. These two both came in approximately tied, with more than 3 times the votes each compared to the other two choices. Carrot edged out apple by a few more votes which sort of surprised me.

Many people use apple juice as a universal base for adding other fruit juices to, or to thin out juices which are unnaturally thick. It’s also common for commercial manufacturers of juice to use it as a base. It’s also nice that it can be juiced skin, seeds, and all.

Carrot juice is also used in a great many juicing recipes. Unlike many other vegetables, it lasts for a long time in the fridge unjuiced, which means that whenever you need some you can just grab it and go - no need to head to the grocery store. Some people find that it adds a little too much overall “sweetness” and cut it with other vegetable juices. Carrots are also very good for you with a ton of different vitamins and minerals, and the pulp can be used for numerous recipes.

The other two choices were Tomato and Berry. I chose them mainly because I wanted to contrast harder juicing ingredients with softer ones. Only 13 people chose Tomato and 20 picked Berry as their favorite juicing ingredients.

I suspect that in many places it is difficult or expensive to get fresh vine ripe tomatoes year round… and you definitely want these types of tomatoes for juicing. There is light years of difference in juicing between standard tomatoes in the market and the “good kind” that’s either grown yourself or appear as specialty tomatoes in the market.

The same goes for Berry Juice. I think the areas that DO have a ton of berries that ripen in the summer (I know that certain types of berries have such rampant growth that they are even considered weeds) may actually opt to enjoy the delicious fruit as is, put them in pies, or make jams out of them. It’s more of a seasonal thing. And berry juice is fairly strong to start with so it often needs to be cut with other juices, like apple.

Oh, the new poll up asks how many hours a week you spend juicing which is something I was curioius about. Juicing isn’t known to be an extremely quick way to get a drink-to-go and the preparation and clean-up can be time consuming.