juicers
 

Figured thid would be the best place to post this.

What are yalls thoughts on juicers? My wife and I just picked one up today and so far we love it. The idea was to help get my 1 1/2 year old daughter away from over pasturized, sugary fruit jucies (apple, grape, etc) and into healthier drinks. Shes like me, drinks like a camel and LOVES things like V8 Splash, etc.

So far, we love the jucier, made and drank at least a half gallon today of assorted mixes.

The problem though I've come across is the juicer book says the drink the juice right away to keep the viatmins and enzymes from oxidizing.

This kinda threw a wrench into my plan on juicing up a gallon or so at a time and keeping it in the fridge till its gone.

So, should I really just make it one glass at a time(pain in the butt) or is it ok to store at least a few quarts?

The other question, what would be the best way to put this up for storage? I was thinking mason jars, but then youd have to put them in the canner/water bath to seal em, which kinda kills the point since youre then boiling the juice for over 10 minutes. Any ideas? or should I just keep it fresh.

Re: juicers
 

Hey cannin,

I was hoping youd pop on here. My first thought was freezing. Put em in some good freezer bags and seal em up. But I was thinking to of options that didnt require electricity, but I after thinking through it more and more, it seems that a hot canning is the only way to do that. Im just not as experienced a canner/preserver as many here.

Re: juicers
 

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I do have a blue book. thats a good suggestion, I should look through it. All this juice is for drinking, but I was thinking of doing some for jellies and jams too.

I've never seen a steam juicer, to be honest. Interesting.

Re: juicers
 

I have an old (20 years now? LOL) Champion juicer that I like to use. I prefer to can juice as I keep the freezer mainly for meat.

The juice you can from fresh fruit will be hands down better and more healthy for your child than anything you buy in the store, don't worry about canning it.

Re: juicers
 

This is the one we just got.

http://www.buysell.ph/adpics/49c5c4c...afa10009c8.jpg

The Power Juicer Deluxe. I like it so far. The ceterfuges screen gets a bit clogged up after 2-3 quarts, especialy if youre doing carrots, buts its fairly easy to clean it so Im not worried.

Cannin, I commend you for juicing with a hand crank. I guess my generation really is spoiled; we like our electricity :)


CJT:
Thanks for the adivice!

Re: juicers
 

Then hopefully Ill have canned enough to last :P. Really though, you have a good point. I figure use the power while its here, be prepared for when/if its not.

Hopefully SHTF will be a few years off(if ever) and I can just throw the fruits and veggies in a bug tub and tell the kids to have fun stomping. And they better not stop until my cup is full, dang it! :tongue_ma:


All that said, I have sucessfully juiced almost 2 gallons in the bast two days. Best combination so far was :

Red Grape, Golden Delicious Apple, Carrot, Anjou Pear, Celery, Florida Orange, Cuccumber.

Second best was the same as above, but with blueberries.

Another good one was with mango/carrots/apricots/strawberries/peaches/pears/oranges.

It was ok to me but my wife loved it. I dont like drinks with strawberry in them that much and Im not big on smoothies and this one was VERY thick and smoothie-ish due to all the soft fruits. The 2 qts of the first recipe I made above for my daughter and I, I strained through cheese cloth to get some of the pulp out since I dont like pulp much either and it clogs up her cup lids. Still, taste fantastic.

Gonna try with some broccoli and what not next too, I want to get more veggies in than fruit, but we started small.

Re: juicers
 

Get a dometic freezer/fridge. They are very expensive, but well worth it.