Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Juicing using a Blender

Many people who advocate juicing are proponents of juicing will maintain that a juicer of a specific kind is required. If you are dealing with a serious medical issue that has the potential to be cause disability or death such as cancer. The folks at Juice Feasting have found that those who are juicing using conventional vegetables did just as well as those who used organic.

This blog will focus on using the blender to juice instead of buying a juicer. The steps are outlined below. It is great if you have a high speed/power blender like the Vita Mix, but if not, use your normal blender by covering veggies with water and add water as needed. You can also look at my two other blog entries, one on making green smoothies using a blender that is not of the high speed variety and the other provides another green smoothie recipe.

At the end I will show a picture of the container that I had after using my Juiceman juicer, which I do like and has been convenient, but leaves considerably more pulp behind. Which is ok if you are composting!

If you can buy organic that's great but if not, wash them well with vinegar and water or food grade 3% hydrogen peroxide in diluted water. If conventional is the only thing available but is a local product then that's great. Go to farmer's markets and get to know your farmers. They might be using organic practices but can't afford the certification. In any case be grateful for the food you have and ask that it be a blessing to your body and nourishing to you.



1.Peel and cut desired number of carrots, I used 6 for two people. If you are using a blender that is not of the Blendtec or Vita Mix variety, meaning it isn't high speed. Cut your carrots smaller and you will need to blend with a small amount of water until the carrots are pureed. If you want the peel and an earthy taste, do not peel this. If you are serving a child under the age of two, their system doesn't tolerate peels well, so make sure all foods are peeled except the obvious such as grapes and blueberries. That would be a challenge!!



2. Cover with water.










3.Get your equipment ready. A fine mesh strainer.


A nut milk bag or in this case I used a produce storage bag that I bought at my local health food store. They are washable and was $5.00 for 3 bags, two small and one large. This is the small bag. It is a fine mesh.

A bowl to catch the juice.









Place the strainer in the mesh bag and put over the bowl.







This is how I make nut milk also by straining the pieces for a smooth liquid.


4. Place the lid on the container. Start blending. Once there are no carrot pieces left, add water to the top and mix well. If you have a Vita Mix, this should take less than 15 seconds on high. Some raw foodists have concerns that it will heat up your juice, but this is a lot of volume and we are working in less than 30 seconds.




5. Pour carrot juice into the the covered strainer that has been placed over the bowl.
6. Use a spoon to press the juice down.










7. Pull the mesh bag over the mesh strainer.








8. Use your hand like you are milking the bag, gently pressing the pulp down in the bag, extracting the extra liquid.








9. Place your apples in the blender. Again, if using a normal speed blender, cut them in small pieces.Peel the apples (if making for children under age 2) and place in your blender. Cover with water and repeat the blending process. You can add more water if you like after they are thoroughly blended. If you are not using high speed blender, cut apple into smaller pieces, remove cover, seeds and stems. There is a small amount of laetrile (vitamin B17, a cancer killing natural cyanide that is not good for pregnant women, but I like to use seeds as part of my cancer prevention program).

                                             10. Add your carrot juice to the apple mix.


                                              Serve. If you will be drinking your juice later in the day, juice the apples separately and add to carrot juice right before you want to drink it. Remember to keep juices cold, leave very little air between lid and juice to reduce oxidation and drink within 48 hours. You can freeze your juice, Mason jars are good for this. If you do this, you will need some room for expansion between the juice and the lid.





This is the remaining pulp using a centrifuge juicer such as Jack LaLanne. It isn't a bad juicer, it's inexpensive but leaves a lot of pulp behind.
To the right, is the pulp left behind from using the blender. An impressive difference.








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