I’ve been using a centrifugal juicer on and off for the last 18 months. It’s a Philips HR1861 and cost around €100 when I got it. I’m now upgrading to a cold press juicer, even though they’re considerably more expensive.
For someone who was new to the entire concept of “juicing” that kind of investment seemed reasonable. I wanted something that would “do the job” and wouldn’t break, but I didn’t see any point in investing several hundred Euro in it. Like a lot of people I’m happy to try out new things, but I don’t always stick to them, so spending several hundred euro on something that I might have used two or three times before leaving it to gather dust at the back of a kitchen cupboard seemed silly.
Over a year later and I’ve re-considered my options.
Why?
While I might not make fresh juice every single day, I have gone through phases where the juicer is used at least 5 times a week. It isn’t sitting in a cupboard gathering dust and is one of the kitchen gadgets that permanently “lives” on the worktop.
The other reason is economics.
If you live in a country like Ireland buying fresh fruit and vegetables in the kind of quantities needed to make juices all the time, smoothies when you feel like it and like cooking with fresh vegetables or living off salads, it can get quite expensive.
According to several sources the more expensive cold press juicers are more economical, as they get more juice out of the fruit and vegetable.
So if you could get a glass of apple juice out of one apple instead of two you’re not only getting more of the fruit’s goodness, but you’re also saving yourself money. And I won’t even mention the more expensive fruits and vegetables.
This video, which doesn’t have any audio, illustrates this very well:
http://youtu.be/fs1L_J9KkN8
What about nutrients?
This graphic illustrates the difference:
Nutrient differences between cold press and centrifugal juicers
The buying guide here is very helpful and the Horum models are available via a number of online retailers in Europe, though the pricing does vary quite a bit!
If you’re considering getting one shop around a bit. I generally compare prices between eBay, Amazon and a few of the specialist online retailers. While the specialist shops are generally more expensive for electric goods than Amazon or Pixmania, they’re more likely to run special offers on this kind of equipment. A bigger retailer will probably stick to discounting the cheaper equipment, like my trusty Philips machine, as they sell in higher volumes.
Do cold press juicers work better with some types of fruit and vegetables?
The Horum “slow juicer” range appear to be a lot better at handling things like kale and other leafy vegetables. My centrifugal juicer “can” handle them, but not particularly well:
http://youtu.be/hCGOviSKN9s
I also like the way the device is “self-cleaning”. While my Philips machine is relatively easy to clean you still need to take it apart if you want to get all the pulp out of it.
Another advantage with the Hurom machines is their physical footprint. They take up less counter space than centrifugal juicers.
My kitchen worktop space isn’t particularly big and for things that need to be plugged in they usually end up squeezed in the space between the draining board and the microwave. While this could be down to bad design, I suspect a lot of people are a bit tight for space in their kitchens. (Admittedly my mother’s kitchen has a very generous worktop space, so maybe my theory is flawed!)
Are there any obvious drawbacks to cold press juicers?
From what I can tell the only drawback is that you need to cut the fruit and vegetables up into smaller pieces before feeding them into the machine. So it might take a couple of minutes longer to slice up everything, but that’s not a big deal. I usually use a good sharp knife to prepare vegetables – I got a set of Wüsthof knives a couple of years ago and they’re in constant use.
I placed an order for my new cold press juicer this afternoon and hope to take delivery of it towards the end of next week. I opted for the Hurom HU-400, partly because I was able to get a refurbished model for a lot cheaper than a brand new one.
