New to juicing vegetables? No worries! Here are some tips that will get you juicing your veggies like a pro!
CUT THEM UP!
A simple enough tip, but one that will save you – and your juicing machine – a lot of trouble.
Just before juicing, take the few extra minutes to cut any produce that might be too large to fit through the juicer.
Remember that once you cut most fruits and veggies, it starts the oxidation process so make sure the cutting is the last thing you do before juicing!
ROLL IT UP!
I love juicing leafy greens like watercress, kale, spinach, collard greens…you get the picture. But they’re not always so easy to feed through the juicer machine.
The best way I’ve found is to roll up the leafy greens into little balls before feeding them through the juicer – especially if you’re using a centrifugal juicer.
It prevents the delicate leaves from getting stuck somewhere on their way down so you can rest assured you’re getting every last drop of leafy green you put in.
And if that doesn’t totally get every last bit of leafy green…
SOFTIES FIRST!
Most juice recipes call for various fruits and veggies – make sure you always start with the softies.
It’s best to start your juicing off with soft veggies like leafy greens since these are a little harder to push through.
To make sure all of the soft veggies make their way through the juicer machine, finish off your juicing with the firmer vegetables like cucumbers, apples, and carrots as these will help to push any bits of softer veggies that are stuck in the feeding tube of your juicer and haven’t found their way down yet.
START WITH A BASE!
Some veggies are pretty much tasteless. Like celery. And cucumber. And lettuce.
These watery, slightly-tasteless veggies will be your best friends when you’re first starting with juicing vegetables.
They provide great nutritional benefits while keeping the taste of your veggie juice pretty neutral. Adding a base of these veggies sets the perfect stage for introducing one or two slightly stronger veggies since the watery tastelessness of these ‘base’ veggies help to dilute the taste of the stronger veggies.
Always, always include a base veggie (or two). See a list of greens for ideas here!
SAVE THE PULP!
Pulp happens. And fortunately, it has plenty of uses. The first and most obvious thing you can do with pulp is to add a little back into your juice for some fiber benefit.
But that’s not all – there are tons of things you can do with your juice pulp. Like make a yummy soup. Or use it as a face mask. And even feed it to your pets as a healthy treat. So save that pulp!
