I want to start mashing some of my food(s), but I’ve never done this for myself.
Any suggestions about what product to use?
I’m looking at blenders b/c I think the pulp is useful fiber, but the juicers might make a more distinct liquid. On the other hand, the blender and juicer probably make distinct final products- each with their own texture and range of inclusions/exclusions.
Can I toss into a blender things like avocados without removing the seed? Apricots? Peaches? —What if I get a “commercial grade” blender? Then can I toss in the fruits whole without removing the pit?
You toss an avocado seed into anything & all you are going to end up with is a mess. Double ditto apricots & peach pits.
Buy an Acme juicer on craigslist or ebay. Get the OJ option. Combined should run you $50 or so. Use it for 3-6 weeks until you realize what a PITA it is to clean/juice daily. Then put it in the attic for 5 years until you sell it to the next sucker on ebay/craigslist.
Just kidding on the last—we pull ours out every year for about 5-6 weeks when the oranges come in & its good for that…but it is a PITA to clean. They last forever though.
Don’t buy a Vitamix (aka blender) or the Jack Lalane thingamajiggy (blender).
I recently got a Breville Juice and Blend. The best of both worlds. We’ve been juicing and no, you can not toss in fruits with big pits. Apples, yes, avacado, no.
I do think that we’re missing out on some of fiber from just juicing. There’s an amazing (and pretty!) amount of pulp in the waste catcher. If I were really motivated I would take some of the waste pulp then reblend it in with the juice. The juice is fantastic though. It’s a bit of a pain to clean, but that hasn’t deterred us from using it twice a day.
Simply b/c they are so expensive, and little more than glorified blenders (at least the Vitamix is). The ACME juicer gets the job done, is fairly efficient (extracting most of the liquid from pulp), and easier to clean than the Lalane/Brieville style.
Apple seeds are not good for you. Ditto some of the other stuff left over from juicing whole fruits/vegetables. If you want some xtra pulp in your drink, nothing is stopping you from scooping out a couple of tablespoons from any of these machines & adding it to the juice.
Well if you’re looking to juice, then a juicer makes more sense… That said, I’ve used both over the years, and prefer having a decent blender, mostly for the variety of treat-like smoothies it can churn out. Currently using a basic Osterizer from wal-mart with a single switch on/momentary (the momentary is at lower speed). After several years of intermittent use, a leak from the base drove me to look at new ones, and I found there was rebuild kits for the glass jug on my unit; new base (with chopper) and gasket, and it’s as good as new for 11 bucks.
Juicer is a…well juicer and a blender is a blender.
I wouldn’t recommend throwing the “Pits” into anything anymore than I would recommend throwing in a tree branch.
Some “Pit seeds” are supposed to be poisonous, but I also just found out that apple seeds are supposed to be poisonous as well…and I’ve been eating them all my life as well as completely juice them.
The biggest issue I’ve found with juicing is that the “Juice” tastes almost nothing like the item you’re juicing with a few exceptions.
What you’ll find is that a few “Base” items will be in almost everything you drink, one of or mixture of, carrot, beet, apple or cucumber with other things added for flavor.
Many vegetables and a bunch of fruits simply taste aweful by them selves once juiced without being mixed with something else usually the base listed above.
Simply b/c they are so expensive, and little more than glorified blenders (at least the Vitamix is). The ACME juicer gets the job done, is fairly efficient (extracting most of the liquid from pulp), and easier to clean than the Lalane/Brieville style.
The Vitamix is not a glorified blender, it is the choice of nearly every smoothie and juicing company for their products. Name a blender that wouldn’t be in flames if you ran it at the power load a Vitamix reaches when it heats up cold soup to just short of boilding through simple friction.
For the OP, do the research on juicing and blenders and make the decision that fits your needs the best. Me, I opted for the whole food concept and bought a blender that can handle everything short of a peach stone or avocado seed. A juicer does not give you the whole fruit or vegetable, much of the solids and peel is deposited in the waste chute or left for you to clean up. Some juicers might be better than that now, but that was not the case when I was looking for such a product a few years ago.
Think about things like celery strings, most blenders will not process those and will create a big tangle when you drop a whole stick of celery into the blender. That means you have to add a step to cut up the celery with less capable blenders. The Vitamix is not the only blender that can double as a motor for your boat, but it is a good one. Check out the smoothie shops near where you live and see what they use. In my experience, about 80% of the smoothie shops use Vitamix units, which is a testament to their quality and durability.
And no, I do not sell Vitamix blenders, nor do I own stock in that company. The only connection I have to Vitamix blenders is that I have one and have used it without a single problem for more than a decade now.
We have both and we use the blender 90%/juicer 10%.
With a blender you can make fruit smoothies and add things like spinach or beets in there as well. I finally found a blender that I like and hasn’t broken or burned out within a couple of years of use.
I bought one of these,http://www.brevilleusa.com/…-blend-bjb840xl.html,and use it all the time. It is expensive but I’ve found that it is worth the money and I don’t find it that much of a trouble to clean.
If i want my OJ to have a little more pulp, I just take some of the pulp from juicing and add it to the juice and blend it for a few seconds in the blender attachment.
No it’s super powerful and quite large… very similar to the type of commercial ones that you see at smoothie stores. You can fill it from bottom to top with ice and it vaporizes it instantly.
whatever you use… dont throw the pulp/skin out, it has the most vitamins/minerals and fiber
lol I know what you’re saying, but that depends on the juicer. I work with a guy that is a tool-guy has the best of everything, and the right tool for every job. During a period when many of us got into juicing, he bought a special “press”, and when it was done with say, a carrot, there was pulp only, virtually no color even left in it.
That said, I’ve used both over the years, and prefer having a decent blender, mostly for the variety of treat-like smoothies it can churn out. Currently using a basic Osterizer from wal-mart with a single switch on/momentary (the momentary is at lower speed). After several years of intermittent use, a leak from the base drove me to look at new ones, and I found there was rebuild kits for the glass jug on my unit; new base (with chopper) and gasket, and it’s as good as new for 11 bucks.