Basic Juicing Tricks and Tips Plus Juice Reviews

Tomatoes are a standard favorite for many people who juice vegetables, although a lot of people just think of a V-8 when they picture tomato juice.

But canned tomato juice is often salty and loaded with unwanted additives. It’s also cooked before canning. There are tons of varieties of fresh tomatoes to choose from, so why not use them instead when they’re in season? When juiced, fresh tomatoes give off a liquid that is significantly different - much more fresh and light tasting.

In addition to being an easy addition to your juicer recipes, tomatoes also have a very useful by-product which is the pulp. It can be used for salsas or for thickening up pasta sauces. Because of this, I usually try and juice it separate from other items (unless of course, they’re completmentary to the salsa in question like onions, cilantro, or parsley).

Juicing Buddies: goes with carrots, celery, asparagus, cabbage, spinach, bell peppers, onions, parsley
Vitamins and minerals: Vitamin A, C, Potassium

With summer here, we all start to think about making up tropical juice combinations. Here’s one that features pineapple and papaya as the two tropical contributions, along with carrots and orange to smooth things over. You can also use a mango instead of papaya if you’d like, or half of both.

Ingredients:

1 papaya, peeled and seeds removed
1/2 pineapple, skin removed and cut into spears
1 large orange, peeled but pith ok
2 large carrots
1/2 lime, peeled but pith ok

Continue reading “Tropical Dew Juice” …

More Langers juice? That’s right. Lately, I’ve been getting away from the more watered down stuff that relies so heavily on concentrate. Though to be clear, many juices that claim to be 100% juice forget to mention that it’s actually 100% juice FROM CONCENTRATE. A significant difference.

The Langers Apple Juice is all pure though. They blend their apples, but it’s all apple juice with no sugar or preservatives. Tastes really refreshing and, well, “apple”-ey. I think they use Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and Fuji apples to make their blends (no idea on the relative amounts, though I suspect it varies).

Continue reading “Langers Apple Juice” …

I saw this recipe in a book I have… it’s not necessarily all summer fruits and veggies but it does seem like a juice recipe to use in the summer. The cucumbers in particular just seem like a vegetable that makes a big splash after spring when it’s hot out.

Ingredients:

2 large carrots
2 large cucumbers, peeled
1 sweet apple
1/2 lemon, peeled, pith ok

Continue reading “Summertime Juice” …

The other day I was at the store specifically to pick up a couple of bottles of different juices. I’d gotten standard orange juice and apple juice, and was now hunting for a cranberry variety to complete the mix.

I’d seen commercials for Northland cranberries before so I decided to take the plunge and try out some of their juice. The bottle I picked was the Northland Cranberry / Raspberry Juice blend. One thing to note about all bottled fruit juice is that even when they say 100% fruit juice this DOESN’T necessarily mean that it will be 100% of the juices that are listed in the name. That is to say, this Cranberry Raspberry also contains a mix of Apple, Pear, and Grape juices. Also, the Raspberry Juice and some of the others come from concentrate, though I expected that.

Still, the 100% juice taste and feel is definitely there. Here’s a little blurb about the company from their website:

Since 1995, Northland has been bottling the goodness of cranberries to bring you one of America’s healthiest drinks. Northland juices are delicious, flavorful and refreshingly good for you. Our Cranberry Blends feature only 100% fruit juice with no added sugar or artificial ingredients, and delicious combinations like Cranberry Raspberry, Cranberry Apple, Cranberry Grape and Cranberry Blueberry. Check your favorite supermarket, drug or club store for Northland juices and drink to your health!

Continue reading “Northland Cran- Raspberry Juice” …

Actually, this recipe isn’t so much a surprise at all. In fact, the ingredients sound pretty much like what you’d put in salsa. I guess you might have to be more open minded to think of this as juice when drinking it, although there are many fans of V-8 type drinks out there. Bonus on this one is that the pulp you get out of it can definitely be used to enliven some homemade salsa. But otherwise, it’s a bit of a strange juice recipe. Note, that you can easily omit the cilantro, thus taking the “surprise” out of the recipe - I know there are a lot of haters of cilantro out there…

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of cilantro leaves
2 medium tomatoes
1 small onion

Continue reading “Cilantro Surprise?” …

I’m sure you’ve all done it at one time or another: you go to the supermarket on a last minute trip intending to pick up a particular bottle of juice, but in your rush to get in and out of the store, you pick up a different variety of juice. This is what happened to me with the Ruby Red Tangerine Juice from Ocean Spray.

Happily, the accident was a good one. You’re sure to know Ocean Spray from their Cranberry Juice but they make a ton of other juice combinations. This one is quite good… I’ve had their plain Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice as well and while it’s quite tasty and refreshing (and not as bitter as some other grapefruit juices) it has a bite that some people find hard to get used to.

So, I didn’t even know this was a Tangerine blend… I was just sipping it thinking, this is awfully mellow! And a bit sweet. And hey, how come it tastes like oranges? Then I looked at the bottle again and all my questions were answered.

Continue reading “Ocean Spray Ruby Tangerine Juice” …

I have to admit that I haven’t tried this exact combination of juices out yet, but it sounds interesting. I saw it in a juicing book the other day. I just don’t happen to have red bell pepper around usually. I don’t know if green bell peppers could be substituted, since they seem to be quite a bit more bitter and less sweet than the red variety.

Ingredients:

1 large red bell pepper
2 apples (Red Delicious variety)
2 medium carrots

Continue reading “Big Red Juice Drink” …

This juice combo mimics the taste of Apple Pie with the cinnamon and nutmeg flavoring, though you can easily omit this from the mix for just a standard apple-carrot concoction.

Ingredients:

4 large apples
1 large carrot
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Continue reading “Apple Pie Delight” …

Just as the carrot is the king of Beta Carotene in the vegetable world, the Apricot takes the crown in the fruit world. Similar to look to peaches and nectarines, the apricot has long been touted to have tons of restorative properties and preventive substances.

It’s been used throughout history as part of treatment for tumors and ulcers. The seeds in particular seem to contain cancer fighting ingredients (the drug laetrile is extracted from the seeds).

Continue reading “Apricot Juicing” …