Basic Juicing Tricks and Tips Plus Juice Reviews

Maker: Black & Decker
Model Number: G5-PG-710
Weight: 24 lbs.

OK, so this professional juicer looks more like a meat grinder than a juicer to me. This is the G5-PG-710 made by Champion who’ve been on the juicer market for quite awhile now. Everything about this juicer just screams well-made. It has a 1/3 horsepower GE motor and a larger 1 3/4 inch feeding tube so you can just toss in the bigger veggies without first cutting them up. Stainless steel blades and solid construction all around. I saw in the description that it won’t do stuff like wheatgrass, but will do pretty much all other fruits and veggies.

Ok, so maybe there’s some cheating going on here because this juicing recipe uses pre-made orange juice. But you could just as easily make your own orange juice in advance and then use it for this. I don’t know why, but for some reason pineapples are a good wake-me up fruit - they’re in a lot of morning juices I see.

Ingredients:

1 cup of strawberries
1/2 pineapple (cut up into “spears”)
1 cup of orange juice

Continue reading “OJ Morning Pickup” …

Although many people consider garlic to be one of the natural wonders of the vegetable world, few people would consider using it as a major ingredient in juicing. It’s more of a flavoring additive than anything for most people.

Garlic juice can be used to add some extra zing to your favorite tomato based drink. Whole books have been written on the nutritive benefits of garlic and these include doses of potassium, copper, iron, phosphorus, selenium, magnesium and iron among others.

Continue reading “Garlic Juicing” …

This is probably more of a summer recipe but I’m including it here now in order to refer to it later. You want to use up those berries when they’re ripe. But anyhow, this recipe relies on two types of berries - cranberries and raspberries. You may want to add some other ingredients to sweeten things up a bit, since cranberries can be quite tart. To make this a “real” blizzard you can use shaved ice instead of normal crushed ice.

Ingredients:

1 pound cranberries, stems removed
2 pounds raspberries
2 oranges, peeled but pith ok.

Continue reading “Berry Blizzard Blast” …

This juicing recipe makes use of what are traditionally known as more exotic fruits for most people. If you’re living in Hawaii, however, these will probably be a bit more common. Don’t forget that the pulp an be used in Hawaiian themed ices. As an optional touch, you can make this drink an alcoholic beverage by adding rum.

Ingredients:

1 guava, skin and seeds removed
1 papaya, skin removed, cut into spears
1 pineapple, skin removed, cut into spears
2 oz. rum, optional

Continue reading “Aloha Special” …

I ended up trying this Trader Joe’s Cranberry 100% Juice because the in-laws had bought it and claimed it was just way too sour for their tastes. Now, I’m a big fan of tart or sour things and I’ve accepted all manner of juices, fruits, and other items from them previously because they said it was too sour. In every case, it wasn’t ALL that sour.

This cranberry juice was different though. I could see what they were talking about. I’ve only had TJ’s cranberry juice blends previously. This is a 32 fl. oz bottle of pure 100% Cranberry Juice with nothing added. I tasted it straight up and it is unbelievably sour. I always wondered what perfectly natural cranberry juice tasted like and now I know. It’s like sour bitter medicine. I know there are those who drink it straight up, but I just couldn’t have more than a few sips without my mouth puckering up.

I’ve ended up mixing it with other juices, like Apple, and then it actually tastes good. I tried adding sugar straight to the cranberry juice and it didn’t really help because it didn’t melt in. Sugar syrup might work better. In any case, the overall cranberry flavor of their juice is rich and robust. It just needs to be mixed with something.

Juicing Basics Rating: 5 out of 10
Approximate Price: $3.00 for 32 fl. oz.

There are a ton of different takes on this vegetable juice mixture that contains a large amount of various colored veggies. That’s why it’s called Super Rainbow. It makes the most of summer squash and zucchini, and balances it out with apple. You can change the ingredients up endlessly, depending on what’s in the fridge.

Ingredients:

1 yellow summer squash
1 zucchini
4 carrots
1 stalk of celery
1 cucumber, skin peeled
1 apple

Continue reading “Super Rainbow Juice” …

A lot of people I know shy away from Cranberry Juice because of it’s acidic mouthfeel and almost tannic taste. If this is you, perhaps you might like to try some white cranberry juice instead.

The first time I saw this, it was pretty puzzling because everyone thinks of cranberries as having that familiar deeper red, almost magenta color that adorns Thanksgiving tables. White cranberries are harvested prior to them developing that deeper red color so they’re different in color and much more mild in taste.

Ocean Spray, like most other manufacturers of this kind of juice, cuts the white cranberry juice with other juice mixtures to make it even more smooth. From what I can gather, it’s mostly white grape juice that is used to dilute it, along with water and other sweeteners. This is 23% juice which isn’t super outstanding, but better than buying fruit punch. The flavor of the cranberries is sort of hesitant, but it’s definitely there on top of the white grape juice flavor.

Continue reading “Ocean Spray White Cranberry” …

You can try out this cooler minus the rum as well, though it does add something nice and smooth to the taste. I found parts of this recipe online. The grapes combined with pineapple is a sort of interesting mix. Lemon rounds out the zing in the drink, which should be great for sitting on the beach if you happen to be lucky enough to live near one!

Ingredients:

3 pineapple spears
red seedless grapes, 1 bunch or so
1/4 of a lemon, white pith OK
1/2 cup club soda
1 ounce of rum (light or dark OK)
1 cup of ice, crushed

Continue reading “Cool Hula” …

I guess the main “surprise” in this juicing mixture is the jicama, although the bell pepper is also a bit unconventional to drink in the morning. Jicama is quite usable because it is mild. You mostly see it julienned into salads and stuff. It makes a good juicing base upon which you can layer other vegetables and fruits. In this case, it’s standard apples and carrots. Maybe this isn’t so much of a morning mixture, but it is rather refreshing. Red Bell peppers are surprisingly sweet and are a nice complement here.

Ingredients:

4 jicama spears, skin on
2 medium apples
4 large carrots
1 red bell pepper

Continue reading “Sunrise Surprise Juice” …