As you can see by the title of this post I recently got a new juicer. I had been putting off upgrading to a masticating juicer from my centrifugal juicer because I really didn't see how it could be that different and why it was worth spending $100-200 more.
But two weeks before my birthday, a accidentally dropped a part of my centrifugal juicer on the floor. it broke and as a result my juicer would not work anymore. That was the sign I needed to finally splurge on a masticating juicer.
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| The broken piece of my old centrifugal juicer. |
Now before I tell you about the juicer I purchased let me explain what these two words I'm been saying mean (if you're new to juicing):
Centrifugal Juicer: (centrifugal means to move away from the center) fruits and veggies are ground into a pulp by a fast spinning blade and then the pulp is (pushed away from the center) and pressed against a fine mesh strainer and out comes the juice.
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| Here's my old centrifugal juicer. As you can see the produce goes down the chute, hits the blade, gets ground into a pulp (as you can see it's all splattered inside the front of the juicer) and then it's pressed through a fine mesh strainer and comes out the front. |
Masticating Juicer/Slow Juicer: (masticating means to grind/chew) This juicer slowly grinds fruits and vegetables by squeezing out their juices.
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| My masticating juicer in action. That's the juice coming out in the front, and the pulp getting pushed out the back. |
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| Here is the inside of the masticating juicer mid-juice. There in the middle is the "juicing screw" which grinds/chews the produce as it goes down. |
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| The inner-workings of the masticating juicer. |
The masticating juicer I purchased is a Breville Fountain Crush Slow Masticating Juicer. I got mine for $246 off Amazon.com and beware the price can fluctuate daily if not more often because at the time I linked the juicer to this post it cost $270. This is a good one to sit and wait on to get to the price you want it to be...then jump on it and buy it!
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| As you can tell, it's a bit smaller than the my pervious centrifugal juicer which makes it easier for storing on the counter top. |
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| Here's a close-up of the masticating juicer. |
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| The on-off switch and reverse button as well. |
Before this juicer, I had a Breville Juice Fountain Plus Centrifugal Juicer ($150). And before that I had a Jack LaLane Power Juicer ($135). So for the past 8-9 years that I've been juicing, I've always been a centrifugal juicer kind of girl. But along came that new masticating juicer of mine and I'm forever changed.
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| See my centrifugal juicer in action here: "My Daily Green Juice" |
When I first used the masticating juicer I obvious difference was how quiet it was (watch the video to really hear the difference between the two). It was also noticeably slower, but from the info I've read about masticating juicers, this slowness was actually it's main benefit because instead of rushing and juicing the veggies at high speeds that sometimes heat up, the slow juicer juices them slowly and as a result more nutritionist are left intact.
I see it similar to the story of "The Tortise and Hare" in how the cenrifigual juicer is the Hare, it's fast, and gets the job done. Where as the masticating juicer is the Tortise in how it's slower, but in the end, more effective.
For those of you who are new to juicing, the two probably don't seem all that different since they make a similar quantity of juice and they both "seem" effective. For me the main difference comes in the quality of the juice and the types of juice the juicers make (one is more high in water content, where as the other is higher in nutrient content).
Here's my breakdown of the two juicers:
No time for the video? Here's a picture breakdown:
Centrifigual Juicer:
Pros:
- Cheaper cost $120-150
- fast juicing time
- you don't have to chop fruits and veggies very small since it has a large chute, cuts down on prep time
Cons:
- some say the heat generated from the fast blade can destroy some of the nutrients
- has a hard time juicing greens (not much juice is produced from them)
- really loud
- takes some muscle to cram those veggies and fruit into the chute
- more clean up (scrubbing of the mesh strainer)
- produces more foam
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| Centrifugal green juice. Quite a bit of foam. And although you can't see it here, after 5-10 minutes, the juice starts to separate and the dense juice goes to the top and the water portion of the juice goes to the bottom. |
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| Masticated green juice, although it still looks like there's some foam on top, a main difference is that the juice does not separate out like the centrifugal juice...instead it stays combined, the entire time you drink it! |
- pulp was still wet (seemed as though not all the juice was extracted)...see below to see what the pulp of the masticating juicer looks like
Masticating Juicer/Slow Juicer:
Pros:
- more capable of juicing greens
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| My green juice has taken on a much greener color since switching to the masticating juicer. |
- nutrients are more in tact because no heat was generated (obviously I have no way of checking this, but one can tell that the slower juicing process is more gentle and slow on the produce)
- much quieter!
- no muscle required, drop in and watch it work
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| My juicing helper. It's so easy even a 3 year old can do it (with supervision of course!). |
- clean up seems easier (less scrubbing than I used to have to do of the fine mesh strainer of the centrifigual juicer...still not a walk in the park though-see note below)
- produces less foam (more actual juice as you saw in the picture above)
- pulp is drier (proving more juice was extracted)
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| Here's what the pulp looks like after a round of juicing. |
- More expensive $250-400
- slower juicing time
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| As you can see it's more of a slow drip than an instant flood of juice. |
- you have to chop fruits and vegetables smaller since the chute is smaller
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| Smaller chute... |
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| ...means smaller produce. It takes more time to chop, but it's worth it. |
Now for a few other details of the masticating juicer...
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| It does have this annoying little section that is somewhat difficult to clean where the pulp gets stuck. |
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| But it comes with this toothbrush-like scrubber tool that makes it easier to clean it out. |
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| One thing they actually recommend is to run some water through the juicer (after you've removed the juice) to help with the cleaning. |
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| Here's the water coming out as it does some cleaning for me. |
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| After cleaning it, I usually set it up on my counter in the corner to dry on a dish towel. I used to cram it all into my drying rack but that's what caused me to break one of my juicer parts of my previous juicer (since I had too much balanced in it and when I went to get something else, the juicing part fell to the floor and broke). |
So as you can tell I listed way more "pros" for the masticating juicer and I can definitely say that it is my new favorite type of juicer. I feel like there should be a saying, "Once you go masticating, you don't go back." It's true. Once you experience the quietness and slowness of masticating juicers, it's hard to want to go back to the loud and rapid centrifugal juicers. To be honest I think the centrifugal juicers actually stressed me out when I used them, at least for the several minutes I had them "turned on" to make my juice. I would feel my whole body tense up and I worked hard to shove the produce down the shute and push it to make sure the juice came out, not to mention the loud noise it generated.
But it's a whole other scene with the masticating juicer. Maybe it's because I used centrifugal juicers for years, but the masticating juicer actually relaxes me. It's slow and gentle like a little bubbling creek of green juice. Ahhh...I always take a deep breath and relax while making juice now. Such calmer and more peaceful juicing experience.
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| Juicing is much more relaxing and fun with the masticating juicer. It makes juicing more fun for my girls as well, since they aren't running away from the crazy loud sound! You can see more about my juicing helpers in next week's post. |
Also if you're interested in comparing juicers, here's a great guide that helped me when I was shopping for a new juicer from my favorite health idol, Kris Carr: "Best Juicer to Buy: A Crazy Sexy Smackdown & Juicer Buying Guide."
Happy juicing!
*Disclaimer: I purchased this juicer with my own money and this is my honest opinion of it.*
The author
