About a year ago, I took a trip to New Orleans — home to every delicious food vice imaginable. What surprised me, however, was a random little juice shop by my friend’s house off of Magazine Street. It was one of those swelteringly-hot, everything moves slower type of Southern days, and in our usual fashion, my friend and I chose to spend most of the day walking around. Typically, I can walk for hours and hours before I start feeling the need to sit down, but when the backs of my knees began to sweat and I had to wipe the moisture from my eyelids, I knew that I needed a break.
What I really wanted was a smoothie. Instead, I was faced with a dizzying array of vegetable juice options. Beets and kale, carrots and celery. Pureed into a juice? I could only think of one thing: V8. Remember that stuff? My dad used to buy it in bulk from Costco, along with his favorite tomato juice. Drinking juice made out of vegetables was out of the question. Fast forward to the front of the line of previously-mentioned juice shop in New Orleans. I saw the woman behind the counter pouring a bright burgundy-colored, COLD drink into a cup and thought it was worth a shot. I ordered a concoction of beets, apples, and strawberries, nearly swallowing my gum at the price — $7.00 for a small cup. When my lips touched the juice, I understood why. It was perhaps the freshest-tasting thing I had ever drank. Surprisingly sweet, it tasted nothing like vegetables. I’ve thought of this juice often.
Above: the Hurom Slow Juicer and its features (image via Hurom Slow Juicer website)
When I started researching juicers, I simultaneously discovered a new phenomenon: juicing. Like the South Beach Diet, Raw Food diet, etc., juicing is a craze that seems to be taking over the celebrity world, tech world, and apparently, everyday people world. While I’m not planning to replace regular meals with juice, I love the addition of juice to my weekly diet. It’s a great afternoon pick-me-up, and a delicious start to weekend breakfast.
I was intrigued by the Hurom Slow Juicer ever since I read about it on the Kitchn. This juicer is what is called ‘masticating,’ meaning it slowly squeezes the juice out of vegetables and fruits (instead of just mashing them down into oblivion). When my juicer arrived, I was excited to try it out, but being admittedly helpless when it comes to putting anything with a list of instructions together, I was scared. My fears were completely squashed when I followed the juicer’s simple (think: 5 step, visual) instructions. It literally took 5 minutes to set up on my kitchen counter and took up significantly less space than most of the juicers I had researched. This is important for anyone who lives in a small city apartment. The juicer itself is composed of a base, several components that quickly fit together, and two containers (one to catch the juice, and the other for the pulp that the juicer spits out as it juices).
The first juice I made was, of course, one with beets and strawberries. After peeling my whole, uncooked beets, I sliced them up into smaller pieces, halved and hulled the strawberries, and started throwing everything in. The juicer is incredibly fast and, amazingly, incredibly quiet. In just about 30 seconds, I had 2 cups of smooth, silky juice, and a container full of dried, compacted pulp. Unlike other kitchen machines, it doesn’t feel like it’s about to cause an explosion, or scare your neighbors. A lot of people initially recommended that I get a Vitamix, but I find the Hurom Slow Juicer to be a much better choice for my juicing needs. I’ve already experimented with a few different juices, and I’m really excited to try making my own almond milk.
Also, I must say that I whole-heartedly agree with Emily’s assessment that the juicer is incredibly easy to clean. Each time I have made juice, I’ve cleaned up in under 5 minutes. The juicer’s components come apart quickly and need only a quick rinse. The pulp gets dropped into my compost, and the juicer’s base rarely needs a quick wipe down with a sponge.
Overall, I must say that a process so easy is convincing me that juicing is cheaper at home, not super time consuming, and a great way to fill up on some vitamins and antioxidants (Hurom claims that its juicing technology extracts more vitamins, and more juice than competitors).
So tell me, have you tried juicing? If so, what are some of your favorite fruit and vegetable combinations?
Give yourself some tender love post-4th of July drinking and eating with some bright orange juice!
Carrot-Ginger-Orange Juice
*makes 2 cups in a Hurom Slow Juicer
5 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1 inch-wide sticks
1 orange, peeled and divided into segments
1-inch wide knob of fresh ginger, peeled (more or less, depending on how much your like ginger)
Feed the ingredients through the juicer, and give the juice a nice stir once it’s processed.
Please note: this is NOT a paid advertisement for the Hurom Slow Juicer. I did receive a loaner sample of the juicer (I requested it), and have since chosen to purchase the juicer myself. As a policy, we only review products that we ourselves are interested in, have tried, loved, and believe our readers would enjoy learning about as well.
