If you are in the market for a juicer, you better have a good idea of what type of juice you'd like to make before you buy one. There are separate categories of juicers available depending on if you fancy citrus juices, other types of fruits and vegetables, or even wheatgrass drinks. Picking the best juicer is like choosing the best outfit to wear. If it's cold outside, you would wear a jacket. If you are going to a wedding, you'd wear a tuxedo.
Choosing the perfect juicer is much the same; you must match the juicer to what you intend to do with it.
There is not one "perfect juicer" that will do every juicing operation perfectly. While some may create a glass of perfect orange juice, others may handle juicing raw vegetables better. One of the reasons why there is no juicer than can "do it all" is because fruits and vegetables have vastly different properties and characteristics. Fruits have soft cell walls and only require a gentle extraction method, whereas vegetables have very thick cell walls because they are fibrous. Vegetables require a more aggressive juicing action than fruits.
There are many types of juicers available on the market. Here is a list of a few styles and what they do:
Centrifugal - this style is one of the oldest juicer designs. It uses a grater or shredder disk along with a strainer basket to hold the pulp. The produce is inserted at the top of the machine and is pressed through a chute into the spinning shredder disk. As the produce is shredded, it releases juice which is pushed through a strainer basket and then exits the machine. The pulp is collected inside the machine so it must be emptied regularly. This will not be good for continual shredding without stopping to empty the pulp. This style is good for juicing most vegetables and fruits.
Centrifugal Ejection - this works exactly the same way as the centrifugal style except that it has a strainer basket with slanted sides which allows for "self-cleaning". The pulp is ejected out of the machine and collected into a bin or basket which can be easily discarded. There will be no need to stop the juicer to empty out the pulp like you would have to do with the centrifugal juicer. This style is also good for most vegetables and fruits.
Masticating - this style will combine three operations into one. It grates, then chews the pulp to further break down the cell walls, and then mechanically squeezes the pulp to extract as much juice and nutrients as possible. This type of juicer is great with vegetables, including leafy vegetables, and making nut butters, or baby food.
Single Auger - this works by using a single auger that crushes and shreds the produce into the walls, or screen, of the machine to extract the juice. This process creates little oxidation. The juice made with this style of machine tends to be very pulpy, and while it can easily do wheat grass and some fruits, it is not good at processing carrots and many types of fruits.
These are just a few of the styles available. Once you evaluate your needs carefully, you can pick which machine will work best for you. Do the research, and read plenty of reviews before you make any decisions. Like we've said before, you wouldn't wear a bathing suit to an ice skating rink just the same as you wouldn't choose a juicer that is made for citrus fruits when you want to make veggie juice.
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