The entire point of having a juicer is to make life easier, save time, and minimize effort. Most juicers, if not all, are designed in such a way that anyone can use them, assuming they follow the basic rules.
If one’s intention is to simply place a fruit or a vegetable in a machine, switch it on, and watch it process until juice comes pouring out, there really is no need for a guide or much explanation. That said, simple extraction doesn’t do justification to some of what modern day juicers are capable of offering, as the entire process can turn out to be a delicate art with dos and don’ts that make juicing a special experience. The objective of all of this is to get the most out of juice both in nutrition and taste, and for that, a guide is needed.
Fair warning: Juicing as a hobby can be an addictive activity once you reap all the benefits of doing it right.
Best Practices
Habits make a lifestyle and healthy habits make a healthy lifestyle. When it comes to using a juicer, a few sub-habits need to be practiced in order to consistently get good results over an extended period of time. The first of these is prepping. If you plan to make juicing a constant habit, including it in your daily routine as many do, then having your ingredients ready for processing can prove to not just be a convenient time saver, it could spare you from making up the excuse that you don’t have time to start slicing and dicing. Setting aside a day once a week to prepare and store all that’s needed will prove pivotal in facilitating making juicing an everyday habit.
Regularly cleaning your juicer is another habit that needs to become second nature so as to make the most out of your appliance in the long run. The ideal scenario would involve cleaning a juicer right after it has extracted, and right before sitting down to drink what has been produced. Nothing deteriorates a product’s integrity more than negligence, and just as that is true with just about anything anyone owns, keeping regular check on your juicer’s overall condition will assure it lasts as long as the manufacturer promised it would.
Juicers come in different shapes and sizes, so reading up on your particular juicer’s limitations is just as important as discovering all it can do. The many designs may require slight differences in use, and though this can be somewhat daunting for someone who has already owned a juicer with different requirements, knowing your appliance’s specific needs saves on time, makes life easier in the long run, and helps you get the best results possible.
Common Mistakes
It may seem that the simple nature of operating juicers does not leave much room for error, since all one needs to do is place ingredients into the machine and voila! Still, there are a lot of mistakes that can be made when juicing with an electrical device. The first of these is in assuming your juicer can handle more than it actually can. This involves placing either the wrong types of ingredients for processing, placing the right type in wrong quantities, or assuming it functions in an entirely different way than it does. Though most quality juicers take measures to help one regulate the amount they put in, those that don’t have this built-in safety feature are likely to spoil quickly. Placing the wrong sort of material is something any juicer is susceptible to, which is why it is of the utmost importance to understand what each product can and can’t do.
Furthermore, learning the difference between centrifugal juicers and slow masticating juicers is important before making a purchase because each type is better suited for different needs. The variation in juicers can also lead a number of people to assume that any type can be used to process food in different ways, such as making butters, milking, and making creams, to name a few examples. While this is true of some juicers, not all are capable of performing such a wide range of tasks, so that is yet another thing to look closely at before making a purchase.
Despite producing sweet tasting juice, one of the more bitter truths about juicing is that it is no more nutritionally beneficial that eating the raw material from which it is produced. In truth, juices are of great health benefit because they allow users to habitually consume what they would usually have a harder time getting themselves to do, and in a much more enjoyable way.
In short, there is no substitute for extensive knowledge building, so as to avoid being disappointed in your juicer. Once you understand their range of functions, and more importantly, what your particular juicer’s limits and advantages are, there should be no difficulty in getting it to work the way you expect it to.
Tips and Tricks
A few suggestions might best sum up what has been discussed in three easy-to-remember points:
- Practice: Constantly using your juicing will make you a pro at it.
- Read-up: Going through your juicer’s manual is only one part of a learning process that involves immersing yourself in a world with loads of helpful articles, blogs, and forums that make you a better juicer.
- Add-ons: Don’t be afraid to purchase accessories to go with your juicers. These can help with results and make things easier than they already are.
Conclusion
The paradox of having to learn to use a simple appliance such as a juicer should be clear to readers by this point. The need to learn how to use a juicer all boils down to the experience one is to get from it. If you expect minimal results, and you have little regard for how long your juicer is going to last, then there really isn’t much to it. If, however, you are concerned about getting the most out of your product, then there is an exciting sea of learning material to explore, a sea that is constantly refreshed with new and enriching material.