The New York Times recently published an article about the growing juice trend––not your run-of-the-mill orange and apple varieties found on grocery store shelves, but all-natural, cold-pressed juices that are often more vegetable than fruit.
You’ve probably heard of the power of green juices and juice cleanses, or perhaps you’ve seen bottles at your local coffee shop. But what exactly goes into juice and what are the benefits?
Cold-pressed juices are made heatless by pounding piles of produce and smashing the liquid out of it, creating an easily digestible drink filled with raw nutrients. But while the tools needed for cold-pressed juices are inaccessible to most, you can make your own juice at home, chock full of health benefits at a fraction of the cost. Here is everything you need to know about the magical elixir known as juice and how you can brew a batch at home.
Tool Talk
To the unenlightened eye, juicers and blenders may seem interchangeable, but to the juice enthusiast, the two offer completely different benefits. Juicers, often more expensive and perhaps not as common on the kitchen countertop as blenders, extract the liquid and nutrients from raw vegetables and fruits, leaving behind the dry pulp.
While this means you are able to consume more liquid nutrients before feeling full, you aren’t getting fiber in your juice. With blenders, fruits and vegetables are chopped up, pulp included; thus, you’ll get full faster but are filled with fiber. Those technical with names consider drinks made with a blender a smoothie, not juice. But names aside and your wallet in mind, be on the lookout for juicers that also function as blenders. It’s completely kosher to mix it up––interchanging smoothies and juices with a wide range of produce ensures you’re getting a rich variety of nutrients.
Additional tools you may need for each juice session are vegetable scrubbers to clean your veggies and peelers in case your produce isn’t organic.
Read More: vegnews.com