Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Centrifugal vs Masticating Juicers: What You NEED To Know

juicingFor both beginner juicers and experienced alike, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of juicers on the market. Also, there is A LOT of misinformation online about juicers and about which type is the best of them all.

It’s a lot to get your head around.

We’re here to try to dispel the myths regarding the various different models on the market, and although there are many types of juicer out there, the two most popular BY FAR are centrifugal and masticating juicers.

We’ll be looking at centrifugal vs masticating juicers today and which one is the best for your needs and your budget. The thing to note here is that you will read a lot online about the two different styles, but they are extremely different in almost every way.

You also need to note that you can 100% get juice from both. A lot of people will say things like “you need a masticating juicer to get high-quality juice” or “why spend the extra money when a centrifugal juicer” and these are usually by people with a rather militant attitude to either. You won’t find that here!

So let’s dive in, and start with centrifugal juicers.

Centrifugal Juicers

centrifugal juicerThese guys are the more widespread of the juicers on the market today. They’re the ‘budget friendly’ juicers that you see on TV and on the net. These guys usually go for between $40-$250 on the market, but anything under the $100 range are generally of a very poor quality and will not give you a good experience.

Some centrifugal juicers are A LOT more expensive, but if you’re really on a budget and just want to make juice that suffices for the short term, these guys are for you.

How Do Centrifugal Juicers Work?

Essentially, they chop fruit and vegetables with a blending, flat blade (or numerous blades), which spin at very high speeds to separate pulp from the actual juice itself. The usual speeds these blades would do would be about 3k – 16k RPMs (reps per minute).

It makes juice through sheer power alone. It is quite similar to how washing machines get rid of the water by speeding up the spin towards the conclusion of the wash.

In addition to this power, a lot of the better models will have a pulp remover, which is a seperate compartment that ejects the pulp. This is a good feature on centrifugal models as it relieves you of the annoyance of having to stop the juicing to remove the excess pulp. Particularly handy if you are juicing a lot or for a large amount of people.

Advantages of Centrifugal Juicers

  • They’re very common throughout any major department store or online and are easy to access.
  • They’re budget friendly.
  • They typically have large chutes, meaning you can sometimes juice an entire fruit or vegetable in one motion.
  • They’re very user friendly
  • You can get the juice fast, due to the power and speed through which it extracts the juice

Disadvantages of Centrifugal Juicers

  • They don’t juice leafy vegetables well, and this includes wheatgrass
  • They are noisy as hell!
  • They can produce a foamy juice
  • The pulp contains a lot of the goodness of the juice, and you will yield less juice than a masticating model
  • Needs to be consumed rather soon afterward due to rapid oxidation of the juice
  • The speed causes oxidation which destroys some of the enzymes

Masticating Juicers

masticating juicerThese are also known as slow juicers, or single-gear juicers. They essentially ‘masticate’ (this means to chew or grind powerfully) the fruit and vegetables that are fed to it.

This tears open the food’s cells and shreds it into a juicer. It does this whilst retaining the majority of the enzymes and deep-seated nutrients. It will make a lot of the pulp juice also, which centrifugal juicers simply can’t do. You end up with a more vibrant and nutrient rich juice.

It is much much slower than centrifugal juicers, with an output of about 80-120RPM.  The means that it slowly chews the fruit and veg without oxidation to the nutrients. It preserves enzymes and you are drinking the closest version of the fruit in it’s natural form.

The dominant brands in masticating juicers are Omega and Breville but there are many more.

Advantages of Masticating Juicers

  • It is nice and quiet
  • You get exceptional quality juices from it
  • There will be very little foam
  • The juice from a masticating juicer can be stored for 24 hours, much longer than a centrifugal juicer’s output
  • It is perfect for juicing soft and leafy veg, and is GREAT for juicing wheatgrass
  • The low-speed means very little oxidation, which preserves nutrients and enzymes

Disadvantages of Masticating Juicers

  • They are more expensive than centrifugal juicers
  • They are heavy and therefore less portable. If you need a portable model, get one with a handle
  • They juice slower

Centrifugal vs Masticating Juicers: Which Is For You?

There is only one instance where I would say get a centrifugal juicer over a masticating juicer, and that is if you are just starting to juice, and are not sure if you will continue beyond a very small timespan.

You can pick up a good, cheap, easy-to-use juicer online at Amazon (they usually have the best deals) and you will be quite happy.

There are two pretty good models (the Breville BJE200XL and the Hamilton Beach 67601A) that will give you a moderate quality of juice and are under $100.

These guys are THE ONLY TWO centrifugal juicers under the $100 mark that we are comfortable recommending. Usually the quality of juicers under $100 is extremely suspect, and although these guys certainly aren’t the cream of the crop, they will get a lot of what you need if you are on a low budget.

If you intend on lasting longer than a month or so, get yourself a masticating juicer, as you’ll soon see that it makes WAY more sense to do so.

Why Should You Pay More For a Masticating Juicer?

It is a double-edged reason: nutrition and taste

Nutrition

99% of people who buy a juicer are doing so to nourish their bodies with minerals, enzymes and all that other good stuff that lots of fruit and vegetables provide it with. We all know that juicing is good for your health. With a masticating juicer, you are guaranteed to be locking in the entire array of nutrients into the juice, and not become overly oxidated.

Taste

The juices you get from a masticating juicer are a lot more vibrant, full and tasteful. You really get the full goodness of flavor and texture from a juice from one of these machines.

Yes, we know that they are more expensive initially, but they will eventually save you an awful lot of money. Week to week, it will be cheaper. You need less veg and fruit to fill up a juice, as it really gets the most out of the ingredients. They honestly extract about 2 or 3 times as much juice and centrifugal juicers.

Also, a centrifugal juicer’s motor is a lot more likely to die earlier than a masticating juicers motor. The high speed, high tension functionality of the centrifugal machine means that it can burn out quickly. They usually only have 1 year guarantees also, whereas you get a much bigger warranty with a masticating juicer.

Slow vs Fast: Why Slow and Steady Wins The Race

The centrifugal system is one of brute force. Slash and pulp the ingredients as fast as possible, as loud as possible, and with as much force as possible.

The speed of the motor has a big impact on oxidation. Deterioration of enzymes and nutrients occur when they are exposed to oxygen. Think of an apple after you bite it and leave it. It gets kinda crumby and brown right? That’s the oxidation process.

Masticating juicers slow down the oxidation process by preserving the enzymes in the food. The juice will ultimately taste better (and more natural) and the slow motor is exceptionally powerful.

Gotta Get Those Leafy Greens

leafy greens

Eat your greens ~ spinach, broccoli, curly lettuce and asparagus. Healthy eating.

The best part of juicing for me is that I can get a lot of leafy greens into me. I usually am not much of a fan of them on their own, or as part of a meal, but when I can ‘mask’ them with a kiwi, apple or orange, they become a lot more palatable to me, and I know I’m filling myself up with good stuff.

If you want to get the most healthful juices, you’re going to need plenty of leafy greens. Simple as that.

Masticating juicers are the only suitable type of juicer that can deal with leafy greens effectively. We’re talking about wheatgrass, lettuce, broccoli, kale, spinach etc. Even the very best centrifugal juicer won’t be able to deal with this. They will simply shred the leaves through speed and force, with very little juice extraction coming from the vegetables themselves. Pointless, really.

Choosing The Right Juicer

A lot of this will be a personal decision. For example, if you have a young family and like to juice in the morning, a priority would be a quieter juicer. If you want your juice to last longer – ie: juice in the morning but leave half for that evening, then you will want a masticating model so that the juice lasts longer.

If you are always in a rushing the morning, then a fast juicer with machine-washable parts is what you’ll be looking for…

If you have decided to go for the longer term investment and get a masticating juicer, we have reviews of our favourite three on this site:

 

Breville BJS600XL Fountain Crush Masticating Slow Juicer

Breville BJS600XL Fountain Crush Masticating Slow JuicerThis vertical masticating juicer is one of the finest slow juicers on the planet! It’s a serious machine, and is the ‘brother’ machine to the Omega VRT350.

It is made from ultem, which is 8 times stronger than the usual plastic that most slow juicers employ.

Cuts the power when it’s overworked, which stops it breaking and voiding your warranty.

Click Here to Read the Full Breville BJS600XL Fountain Crush Masticating Slow Juicer Review

New Generation Juicer by SKG

SKG Wide Chute Anti-Oxidation Slow Masticating JuicerThis model is one of the sturdiest and most solid juicers going, weighing in at a heft 16lbs.

It’s incredibly powerful, with a 240W motor. It also masticates slower than most other.

There will be an extremely small amount of oxidation, more enzyme and nutrient retention, which ultimately leads to a more natural and flavorful juice.

It has a brilliant clogging resistance feature in the fact that it has a nice wide chute.

Click Here to Read the Full New Generation Juicer by SKG Review

J8004 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer By Omega

Omega J8004 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating JuicerThis is an Omega, which means it is the cream of the crop. These guys are usually incredibly expensive, but the pricing on the J8004 is wonderful!

This machine isn’t just a juicer. It can mince and grind food. It can make soymilk, food for babies, almond milk etc. It has a number of nozzles for different functions, and we just can’t get over how great this makes it.

The cleanup process of this Omega J8004 is so easy and painless.

Click Here to Read the Full J8004 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer By Omega Review

Take Your Kitchen Into Account

kitchenThis is something that a lot of people do not do. Your kitchen counter is not an endless space – you need to prioritize where things go. Measure how much space you have for a juicer on your counter top and this will inform you as to what you can and can’t get in a juicer.

I’ve heard it from so many people who buy a juicer for it to arrive WAY bigger than what they were expecting. Don’t get yourself in that mess. A small bit of preparation goes a long way and will help you pick the right juicer first time around.

More Juice, Dry Pulp

juiceOne of the main things about centrifugal juicers is that you need get a lot of really wet pulp. There is lots and lots of juice tied to them, and so you need a lot more ingredients to get juice, and lots goes to waste.

If you’re waste conscious in any way, centrifugal juicers won’t sit very well with you. It’s estimated that masticating juicers will give you approximately 18-25% more juice than its centrifugal counterpart.

Masticating machines produce a dryer pulp, as they suck a lot more juice per fruit or vegetable. You really do get every last drop when using a high quality masticating juicer.

That means less purchasing in the supermarket, and more money in your pocket. Yeah, it’s a small amount, but it all adds up and you will find that a masticating juicer will pay for itself before too long.

We’ve said it before, but if you plan on juicing long-term, then there really is no argument against buying a slow juicer. The best slow juicers are the ones with long warranties and always look at the amazon reviews – they tell a lot.

Why Do You Have a Juicer? For Taste or Health?

If you want to make delicious fruit smoothies with lots of berries, strawberries, apples etc, then you can get away with this with a centrifugal machine. It is important to be wary, however, of the amount of sugar that you are ingesting with all of those fruits. Too much sugar, even from natural sources like fruit, isn’t a good idea health-wise.

Many people juice so that they can get more of the green stuff into them, ‘masking’ the sometimes bland taste behind something a bit more palatable. If you want my favourite juice, I get a green apple, a kiwi and LOADS AND LOADS of spinach. I throw them into the masticater, and voila! I have filled myself up with spinach and it taste delicious with the apple and kiwi in with it! This is the kind of thing that is really only possible with a masticating juicer, as a centrifugal one will simply shred the spinach without creating much juice from the green leaves at all.

Conclusion: It’s Up To You

Of course at the end of the day, the decision is completely up to you. We have tried to give you a detailed resource on whether you are interested in space, longevity, health and budget in order for you to pick the machine that is right for you.

The question of centrifugal vs masticating juicers will not end soon. It’s a question of budget, convenience and health.

We have a pretty detailed article on the top masticating juicers on the market today. Check it out using the button below.

Happy Juicing!

Click Here to Read the Best Masticating Juicers Article

The post Centrifugal vs Masticating Juicers: What You NEED To Know appeared first on JuiceTheJuice.com.

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