Juicer

"The Juicer" redirects here. For the professional wrestler, see Art Barr.

A juicer is a tool for extracting juice from fruits, vegetables, or wheatgrass. This is known as juicing.

Citrus juicer

The Professional Zaksenberg Juicer

A manual citrus juicer

A citrus juicer is used for squeezing juice from soft-centered, citrus fruits (grapefruits, lemons, limes, oranges). It has a conical ridged center. Centering the halves of fruit with their cut-side down over the juicer, a user presses the fruit down and turns the fruit back and forth to extract juice, discarding the fruit afterwards. An early citrus juicer was invented in 1928 by Isaac Zaksenberg in Jaffa,^[1] Palestine (today's Israel) (see picture). Patent 968344 was issued in 1910 for a citrus juicer that inventor Leslie Hackney described as "having a corrugated center similar to the squeezers now in general use".^[2]

A hand-held kitchen utensil version is known as a "lemon reamer", "citrus reamer", or simply a "reamer". Electric versions exist.

Juice extractor

A juice extractor is a machine that mechanically separates juice from the solid part (pulp) of most fruits, herbs, leafy greens, and vegetables. The pulp is usually discarded, but can also be used in muffins and breads or composting.

Most juice extractors are electric, and require less effort than their manual counterparts. A juicer differs from a blender; a juicer separates the juice from the pulp, rather than blending them.

There are three main types of juicer: centrifugal juicers use blades and a sieve to separate juice from pulp, masticating juicers "chew" fruit to a pulp before squeezing out the juice, and triturating juicers have twin gears to first crush fruit and then press it.

Masticating and triturating juicers can also juice wheatgrass, unlike centrifugal juicers that cannot break the fibers of the grass.

The single auger masticating juicer uses a profiled screw style moulding to compact and crush fruit and vegetable matter against a static screen, allowing juice to flow through the screen while pulp is expelled through a separate outlet.

Twin gear triturating machines are usually the most expensive juicers, offering the best juice yield. Twin gear juicers employ two metal counter-rotating gears to crush the juicing fodder. The precise tolerance of the gears allows the juice to flow through the gap between the gears, while the large pulpy matter passes along the top of the gears and is discharged.

Centrifugal juicer

A centrifugal juicer cuts up the fruit or vegetable with a flat cutting blade. It then spins the produce at a high speed (3,000-14,000 RPMs) to separate the juice from the pulp.^[3]

Nutrition

Juicers make it possible to consume more raw, uncooked produce than conventional eating would allow. A juicer concentrates the nutrition provided by the fruits and vegetables by removing the fiber from the juice. This allows the body to absorb the nutrition more easily than digesting the solid produce. Using a juicer safeguards against the damage cooking and heat can do to some essential vitamins. A juicer also allows the enzymes present in raw produce to stay alive. ^[4] However, available scientific evidence does not support claims that the enzymes from raw foods have any special, health-giving properties, since they are broken down during digestion.

The American Caner Society states that a diet high in fruits and vegetables has been shown to reduce cancer risk and to improve overall health, but there is no convincing scientific evidence that extracted juices are healthier than whole foods.

^[5]

See also

• Juicing
• Lemon squeezer
• Wheatgrass
• Vegetable juice
• Blender
• Smoothie

References

1. ^ http://www.espressohead.com.au/juicers.html
2. ^ US 968344, Hackney, Leslie, "Orange and lemon squeezer", issued 1910 
3. ^ JuiceEnthusiast. [www.JuiceEnthusiast.com/centrifugal-juicers.html "Centrifugal Juicer"]. www.JuiceEnthusiast.com/centrifugal-juicers.html. 
4. ^ http://www.juicing4life.net
5. ^ http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/DietandNutrition/juicing