Types of Juicer Machines

Making fresh fruit and vegetable juices certainly requires the use of a good electric juicer machine or fruit juice extractor. These helpful kitchen appliances are used to extract the juice out of the fruit or vegetable pulp with less difficulty than manually squeezing it out.

If you are planning to invest in a juicer machine it may be a good idea to get to know the major types of juicer machines which can be found in the market. Basically, there are two types of juicers: Centrifugal and Masticating.

Centrifugal Juicer

Centrifugal Juicers are very popular and work using a high-speed spinning blade. They are very quick to produce juice and do not require much preparation of the ingredients. They are designed with a large feeder chute in which you place your ingredients. You then push down gently with the plunger supplied. The ingredients are funneled into the spinning chamber where they are squished and shredded to a pulp very fast. The juice is spun out through a fine metal mesh into a jug and the pulp is channeled into a residue bucket or pot. Once you have finished juicing, the unit can be unclipped very quickly and rinsed under the tap to remove the fruit juice and remaining solids.

The advantage of centrifugal juicers is the speed at which a juicing job can be done.

Popular Centrigual Juicer makers include, Jack LaLanne Power Juicer, Breville Juice Fountain, Hamilton Beach, Waring, Juiceman, etc.

One drawback of centrifugal juicers is that it cannot be used to juice vegetables that contain leafy greens. Additionally, the pulp generated by a centrifugal juicer is often relatively wet, meaning that some juice goes to waste.

Another disadvantage is the shelf life of the juice from a centrifugal juicer. Because of the high speed required to extract juice, the juice gets aerated, or in other words a great deal of oxygen is dissolved into the juice. The oxygen bubbles in the juice causes the juice to oxidize (spoil) quickly. As a result, the juice from a centrifugal juicer should be consumed right away and can’t be effectively stored for any length of time without loss of nutritional value.

Masticating Juicer

The term masticating is the scientific expression for chewing – and it describes how these machines extract juice. Masticating juicer machines use a system of slowly revolving augers or gears to physically crush the liquid out of fruits or vegetables. They are often slower and more expensive than centrifugal juicers.

There are two types of masticating juicers – Single gear and twin gear.

The single gear masticating juicers use a single, slow turning auger to crush or mash the produce into the screens or walls of your juicer. These juicers can accommodate a large selection of production types as they are extremely versatile. The juicers first grate the produce, then they masticate it and finally they juice it to ensure that what they dispense is what you require.

The twin gear masticating juicers (also known as Triturating juicers) work by having two interlocking gears that are aligned very closely together. The produce to be juiced such as vegetables, wheatgrass and fruit are fed into the rotating twin gears where the produce is crushed and pressed thus releasing the juice from the fibres. Twin gears tend to operate at much lower RPM than other types of juicer and so less air is introduced into the juice. This means the juice quality benefits because the oxidation or nutrients occurs at a much slower rate.

Twin gear juicers are the most efficient type of juicer available and can extract higher yields of juice from fruits, vegetables, wheatgrass, pine needles, spinach, and other greens and herbs. The pulp that comes out of twin gear juicers is the driest of all the types of juicers.

Masticating juicers can be used for a variety of functions such as making ice cream, nut milk and butter, baby purees, making pasta and noodles and will also process wheatgrass and lemongrass. This type is not such a beauty in appearance but does its job well. Cleaning is fairly simple, unclip or unlock the parts to scrub quickly.

Popular masticating makers include Omega, Samson, Champion, Greenstar, etc.

Manual Press Juicer

There are also juicer extractors that are operated manually or are done by hand alone. This method is done by those who travel frequently but still need the health benefits of drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juices. Juicing by hand only requires you to have a greater and heavy-duty cloth bags. What you only need to do is to use the grater to mash the fruit or vegetable into a paste then use the cloth bag to squeeze out the juice from it. And although it can be a tiring and time-consuming process, manual juicers can be very efficient in producing the best kind of juice from fruits and vegetables.

Pulp-ejection and Non-Pulp ejection Juicers

Juicers can be further sub-categorized into two categories, pulp-ejection and non-pulp ejection. With pulp ejection machines the pulp is ejected into a separate container allowing continuous juicing. This is more advantageous when juicing large quantities of juice.

With non-pulp ejecting machines the pulp collects inside the basket and one must stop and clean it after juicing about one quart of juice. Using the paper filters make cleaning a much simpler process and yields a finely strained juice.

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