Cutedeedle | Monday, March 22, 2010
Like many of you, I searched all over the internet for reviews of a quality juice extractor. This particular model seemed somewhat pricey -- no, make that very pricey -- but hey, if it does the job for many years, it will surely pay for itself. When the gigantic box arrived I was afraid to open it -- it was huge, heavy and scary looking! Finally, I dragged the thing out from all that Styrofoam packing, washed all the parts, then sat down to read the instruction manual. Once you've put it together, which is easy if you look at the pictures and read the instructions, there isn't much to operating the device. The feeder chute is large enough for a whole apple or orange. I personally prefer to peel my apples because after doing taste tests with several varieties, Duh Hub and I agreed the peels made the apple juice a little bitter. So, we prefer to peel the apples first but no need to core, since the juicer does all the separating and hard work for you.
Also, a tip I learned from a great book is to boil your oranges, unpeeled, for about 5 minutes, and the peels come off very easily. This works even if you want to refrigerate the oranges after boiling but before peeling!
How to Repair Food
The best and sweetest juice is from Valencia oranges. If you absolutely must use Navel oranges you need to drink the juice within a couple of hours or it becomes bitter.
This juicer looks like the space shuttle about to launch, it's that large, but it's also well made and appears perfect for large quantities and constant use. It's not unreasonably heavy and I can move it around by myself, all 88 lb. of me vs. this 20 lb. appliance. Believe me when I tell you Duh Hub never lifts it up for me so I'm on my own. There's a high speed button for hard fruits and veggies, a low speed button for softer fruits and veggies (like those yummy oranges), and an off switch -- very simple. I haven't found any leakage around the collection basket nor around the juice chute that pours into the included pitcher. There is one caveat -- you'll get a lot of foam with this juicer. Let your collected juice sit for a few minutes and just skim it off. I've only tried apples and oranges but I'm guessing it will do well with most fruits and veggies other than leafy veggies. For those you'll want a macerating juicer. The juicer really does extract every drop of liquid -- you can tell by the very dry debris left in the collector basket. I was quite impressed.
Okay, now that you've juiced to your heart's content, it's time to clean. I strongly advise either in the dishwasher or, if by hand, washing it right away before everything hardens into concrete. It really is quite the snap to wash. The toughest part is the little basket that helps filter fine particles, but Breville has included a handy small stiff brush that is quite useful to scrub the mesh part of the basket, inside and out. You need to pay attention to this because it's easy to miss some of the debris -- for some reason it tends to blend in with the mesh basket and you might miss it. So be sure to scrub both sides of the mesh filter. Another added benefit to cleaning right away, then putting all doo-dads back together, is you'll become very familiar with how the parts go back on. It looks complicated but honestly, it's really not. I can't even hammer a nail in straight but I can take this baby apart and put it back together with no stress, no worries.
Okay, now buy the juicer and enjoy fresh delicious juice, not heated or pasteurized, healthy, yummy ..... you won't be sorry about your investment.