I juice fresh fruit and vegetables once a week. Each session I fill 6 300ml mason jars which I vacuum seal with my trusty vacuum blender. The juice is good for a week when kept under vacuum and refrigerated. After that it looses it’s nutritional value due to oxidation and it doesn’t taste so good.
I have been juicing now for about 9 years. For the last 4 years I have been growing my own greens which easily make up over half the ingredients.
Your juice is only as good as the ingredients you squeeze and the shelf life of your juice is dependent upon how it is juiced.
The slower the RPM (revolutions per minute) of the juicer the less heat generated, the longer the shelf life.
There are many juicers available on the market and juicing technology has come a long way in the last decade. When choosing your juicer look for one with the slowest RPM (70-100) you can afford.
If you are serious about your juice take the time to research and purchase the best juicer your money can buy. The best juicer on the market is the Angel. Kudos to you if you can afford one. I wish!
I have a Greenpower Kempo twin gear, slow cold-press juice extractor. I love it. It’s easy to use. Easy to assemble. And most importantly, it’s easy to clean. Greenpower juicers cost around $650.00 au brand new. I was lucky enough to score a 2nd hand, hardly used unit for $200. I am so happy with it.
Here is what I juice weekly. Trial and error over the years has got me a good recipe of ratios. All the greens add up to 2/3 of the mix. I use a good sized thumb or two of ginger and turmeric. I use firm crisp apples and pears as they move thru the juicer better than soft fresh fruits that tend to clog up the process requiring me to strip and clean the juicer mid juice.
- Kale – Thrives in my little greenhouse. I have 2 main varieties. A curly leaf and a straight leaf. One of my straight leafs is close to 4 feet tall. I just keep cutting the lowest (oldest) leaves and it keeps popping new leaves out the top.
- Spinach – I have 3 bags of perpetual spinach growing about the yard that yield me a good handful when I need it.
- Moringa – my trees are young so I collect what I can. The younger leaves are best but i go for the older branches just because my trees are young.
- Fennel – I have 2 huge fennel plants in my greenhouse. I snip the fine leaf and stem. Before growing my own fennel I used to buy the thick stem and used 1/2 in each batch.
- Mint – I grow standard mint, chocolate mint and peppermint. I collect a few stems of each. Adds a nice twist to the flavour.
- Celery – 1/2 celery bunch per session. I don’t juice the leaves because they are bitter and will change the juice flavour not to my liking.
- Cucumber – I grow pretty good cucumbers. These are great for juicing just for the high water content alone but cucumbers also help with healthy bones, eye sight and blood pressure.
- Apple – I add apple mainly for flavour. The bonus is all the good stuff apples offer. You know what they say ‘an apple a day…’
- Pear – Assists with nutrient uptake, so i figured if i’m going to drink a nutrient high juice I might as well boost it’s effectiveness.
- Ginger – just really, really good for you. And I love the kick it adds to anything it’s combined with.
- Turmeric – stains like you wouldn’t believe. My wonderful juicer has permanent tinge of golden yellow to it. But Turmeric is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.
As I said at the beginning, I juice about 2 litres at a time and make sure I drink it all within the week. I would like to juice daily but in all honesty, I’m too lazy and my kitchen is too small to leave the juicer set up ready to go.
It is important to note…if you do not vacuum seal your juice it will only last about 3 days refrigerated before oxidation sets in.
Drinking green juices one a regular basis is one of the best things you can do for your body. It provides a booster shot of all the good nutrients your body needs in a readily available form that your body will absorb almost immediately. At the same time you are detoxifying from the inside out.RPM
