Wanted to get a feel for all of the juicers out there. I have a press and a centrifugal juicer, but would love to hear what you have. Give us the pros and cons and if you would buy it again.
Fruit press- Love it because it does large quantity, but I feel like it just doesn’t extract every drop out of it. Still a must have though.
Centrifugal (cheap)- It’s ok. It’s quick, but produces TONS of foam, and the screen is hard to clean. To me not worth keeping around and will be replaced.
I’ve been making grape juice for many years without using an actual juicing machine. First, I used a Foley Food Mill, then a similar French food mill, and up to this year a Victorio Food Strainer. These tools made a juice with lots of pulp, which is what I wanted, in order to make a healthier juice. This year, I wondered if I could make a juice that included the skins, as well as the pulp, for maximum nutrition. So, I tried blending whole cleaned seedless grapes before boiling the juice for 10 minutes and then canning it. I found that the raw grape skins did not chop up well enough, but boiled grapes were better. This resulted in a very tasty juice that was strong enough to water down with an equal part of water. Using mostly Himrod grapes (my most productive variety) this juice is sweet enough to not need any added sugar.
I also found that this method works well for making tomato puree, which is even easier because blending raw unpeeled tomatoes works well.
Using a blender instead of a strainer is much faster and provides a healthier product with no waste. A juicer will reduce the nutritional value of the juice even more than the strainers.
I like low tech myself. My neighbor processes most of my jams and uses one of these.
I use a cone strainer. Gravity and elbow grease powered.
Sometimes cheating a little here and there helps things… like freezing things to burst skins or druplets then warming them up then juicing.
For pure juice from caneberries, I have switched to using a mechanical fruit press like the first image, above.
I had to modify mine, as applying a turning motion to the assembly caused the whole assembly to turn. So I had to attach the juicer legs to a board, and clamp the board to the edge of a workbench surface.
The weak point in these juicers is the elbow where the frame goes from horizontal to vertical; I stop turning the crank even though more juice could be had, because of fear of the frame breaking from too much pressure.
For seedless purees, an augur-type motorized juicer is more efficient for caneberries and other soft fruits.
I’ve put some serious torque on mine. They are not as weak as you think. At least mine isn’t.
I press most apples but steam juice some. For tomatoes, grapes, blackberries and cherries, I prefer the steam juicer.
,I think my unit frame is all aluminum, so I am cautious rather than milk the last 10% of juice.
Another vote for steam juicing if you are going to cook the product anyway. I have three similar to this one:
How long does it take to steam out a batch?
I bought one and it snapped first use. I think quality matters.
30 - 45 minutes typically, but it really just depends on what fruit you are steaming and how you put it in the steam basket. For example, if you cut an apple in half it will take longer than if you cut the apple up in little chunks.
After I steam the juice out, I use this to remove the seeds and skin:
Then I can make jelly or sauce with the pulp depending on what fruit I am using.
…yes; during my research some reviews mentioned breakage.
Thinking about getting one of those to use on american persimmons myself. Does the pulp have any taste or use after you steam them? Chicken food?
Has anyone tried a masticating juicer?
The pulp has the flavor of the fruit, but it is not as sweet since most of the juice was removed. I usually add a little sweetner to whatever I’m making to sweeten it up.
I have this juicer:
It works well, but it’s more work than a steam juicer and I can’t use the pulp because it’s mixed in with the skin and seeds. I only use it if I just want to make a gallon or two or less just to drink.
Will seeds pass through the Omega or does it clog? Like grape (muscadine) seeds.
It separates the juice from the seeds and skin. I’ve never had it clog on me.
Omega-type juicers: The pure juice to pulp ratio will depend on the attachments used; using the larger hole piece (less restriction) results in more juice and less pulp. My old Omega also has a number setting (1 or 2); #1 has less restriction.
I would think for grapes, the manual fruit press would result in more pure juice than the motorized augur press that excels for firmer items like rhubarb, quince, and perhaps carrots.
You may be right. I watched some video on the auger styles and it seemed the softer the fruit the less effective they were. Just kept clogging up. On grapes my press didn’t really do that great either though. Left a lot of juice.
With the auger types, less restrictive attachments and settings = fewer clogs but less juice and wetter ejecta. But that is still better than having to beat on my old Omega with screwdrivers and a small hammer, or use a pipe wrench, to free the seized parts.
