Let Me Put You On: Fresh Juice

September 22, 2011 by Charish Halliburton Leave a comment

Fresh Orange Juice

“Juicing” is a relatively new concept to me. I have a hand juicer that I’ve used when I needed fresh juice for a recipe, but I had never really thought of making large quantities of juice. My husband got me a second-hand juicer a few months ago and it has changed my life! Let me tell you, you have not had juice until you’ve had fresh juice. Even the natural (but pasteurized) juices on the market don’t compare. I thought “Simply Orange” was the best thing until I simply made my own orange juice! The flavor is amazing. It’s pure, sweet, heavy, and delicious. But the best thing about fresh juice is that you are getting a ton of unadulterated vitamins and nutrients with every cup. When things are uncooked and unpasteurized (unheated) the enzymes in the food are alive and active (enzymes aid in digestion, i.e., constipated? drink some fresh green juice). Since the nutrients are unharmed, they enter your bloodstream instantly. I hardly drink coffee anymore and when I do it’s decaf. I get incredible boosts of energy when I drink fresh juice. Unlike with caffeine, my heart rate doesn’t speed up and I don’t feel jittery. You can also drink it anytime of the day without worrying about having trouble sleeping.

My favorite fruits to juice are pineapples, apples, and oranges. The juicing process usually produces a thin layer of foam on top of the juice and it is heavenly. My favorite vegetables to juice are spinach and carrots. You have to be more careful when juicing vegetables though because too many ingredients (in any juice) can throw the flavor off, and vegetable juices usually benefit from the addition of a sweetener. I usually add an apple to my veggie juices, but you can

add lemon or lime juice too. I’ve found that with veggie juice you have to do some experimenting. My favorite veggie juices thus far are a half bag (about 8) long carrots and one apple and this same combination with the addition of a half bag/container of baby spinach.

Juicers can run you anywhere from $30-$200 depending on the type you want. I would wager that the more expensive ones are a little higher quality, but buy what you can afford. After I juice, I usually have to strain the mixture through a coffee filter to get all of the pulp and “leftovers” out. I don’t imagine I would have to do this with a more expensive one. You can of course use a hand juicer which are less expensive. My only issue with the hand juicer (when it comes to making a larger quantity of juice) is that it takes longer and there is a lot of wasted produce. With a juicer you can chop and throw most things in as is (excluding seeds and skins from certain fruits and veggies). With apples I just quarter them and remove the seeds, then throw them in with their skins on (that’s where most of the nutrients are). Store bought apple juice is very light in color because skins are removed and the juice is pasteurized. Fresh apple juice will be darker in color if you leave the skins on and my oh my is it divine in taste. I peel oranges and break them into quarters and juice them. The white on the orange is abundant in nutrients and with a hand juicer you would be discarding that part.

Here’s what I had for breakfast today:
Homemade whole wheat bread toast
with sunflower seed butter and fresh orange juice