Juice extractor or juicer: how to choose? – Happiness and health

Have you finally decided to buy a household appliance for juicing? Hmm, that promises delicious juices !! The problem is that you don’t really know what to choose between all these products, especially between the juice extractor and the juicer. Juice extractor or juicer: how to choose?

Happiness and Health is there for you, we will give you sound advice to make the choice that best suits your needs.

How do juicers and juicers work?

The juicer and juicer both make you homemade fruit juice. They separate the pulp from the juice through a rotation system that differs depending on the type of machine.

Centrifuge operating modes

Juicers (1) crush fruit and make juice from a centrifugal force exerted on the food. They are equipped with a duct located at the top of the device. It is called a chimney and its size varies depending on the device.

The larger the appliance, the larger the chimney, allowing larger fruits to be placed in it without cutting them. With the juicer, you don’t need to peel, seed or chop (a priori). But I recommend cutting large fruits in half. Appliances last longer when properly maintained.

Fruits and vegetables are inserted into the fireplace. When your fruits and vegetables are introduced into the chimney, the machine is equipped with a grater which will pulverize your fruits and vegetables.

The centrifuge uses a very fast rotation system, with a very high power, sometimes reaching 15 revolutions / minute. It all depends on the size and power of your machine. When they have great power, they can crush harder fruits and vegetables.

When the food is pulverized thanks to the rotation system, you get a pulp as a result. This pulp is directed to a very fine mesh grid which in turn will take care of separating the liquid (the juice) from the rest of the dried pulp.

The juicers are equipped with a pitcher to collect the juice. The juice obtained will therefore be sent to the pitcher. As for the dried pulp, it will be transported to the rear of the machine in the recovery tank.

Your juice is frothy at first and gradually within seconds it becomes clear. It’s the rapid rotation that drives this foam, remember, the fruits and vegetables have been pulverized.

Operation in video:

Advantages and disadvantages of the centrifuge

How a juice extractor works

After cleaning your fruits, vegetables or herbs; you insert them into the mouthpiece. They will then be directed towards the extraction screw against one or more sieves available inside the device (2). This pressure will cause the juice to flow directly through the sieve. The pulp is directed to the extraction.

The speed here is slower, which also allows it to retain the nutritional values ​​of each fruit and vegetable. Juicers are actually made up of screws (1 or more) that slowly squeeze out the juice. Food juices are said to be cold pressed.

Unlike the juicer, the juice extractor does not degrade the nutritional value of food. These retain all their nutritional benefits.

You have several types of juicers. They can be manual or electric. They can be in a vertical or horizontal position. Vertical juice extractors take up less space.

Operation in video:

Advantages and disadvantages of the juice extractor

To read: 25 recipes to make with your juice extractor

What are the components of the two household appliances

The centrifuge is generally composed of

• 1 fireplace. This is where fruits and vegetables are inserted
• 1 sieve to extract the juice from the pulp
• 1 motor: it is this which defines the rotational force.
• 1 pitcher. When the juice is made, it is collected in the pitcher
• 1 drip tray: this is where the pulp is transported. It is located at the rear of the machine.

The juice extractor: its presentation depends on whether it is horizontal or vertical.

When it is horizontal, its motor is on the side. When it is vertical its motor is located just below. But they have these characteristics in common:

• 1 or more worms
• 1 or more sieves
• 2 containers to collect the juice and pulp
• 1 Cap (some extractors). The cap is located at the outlet of the device and allows you to mix the different juices.

How to recognize a juicer from a juice extractor

Juicers are all vertical while you have both vertical and horizontal shaped juice extractors (5).

Rather, juicers have the pulp container (for waste) behind and the pitcher (for juice) in front. As for the juice extractor, the two reservoirs are at the front.

You can usually see through a juice extractor the sieve, the screw. This is not the case for the centrifuge.

Increasingly, juice extractors are made with a cap on the front.

The cap allows the juices to be mixed as they come out. However, there is no centrifuge with a cap. The centrifuges rather have an anti-drip system.

In addition, the speed of rotation of the juice extractors is less than 100 revolutions / minute, while that of the centrifuge is thousands / minutes depending on the power of the device.

The extractors contain one or more screws. Centrifuges do not have screws.

Before buying, take a look at the technical data sheet of the device so as not to be mistaken in its choice.

The alternatives

The steam extractor

With the steam extractor, the juice is obtained thanks to the effect of the steam on the fruits. The steam extractor is composed of 3 levels, the first of which is placed on a gas stove. Water is put in the first level, and the fruits are on the last level.

When the water boils, the steam rises and puts pressure on your fruit. These will ” crash ” and release the juice they contain. The juice goes down into the container of the intermediate level. The advantage is that the juice can be kept for several weeks unlike the juicer or juice from the extractor.

The leftover crushed fruit is used for other culinary purposes. Besides, it is cheaper and there is no need to cut into small pieces as is the case with the screw extractor.

The juice produced by the steam extractor is not fresh, it is heated. This means that fruits lose some of their nutrients during their transformation into juice. Vitamins, minerals, trace elements and others are sensitive to heat. It is almost the same effect as the centrifuge.

From a quantity point of view, the steam juicer produces less than the screw extractor for the same given quantity of fruit.

The citrus press

The citrus press is a kitchen appliance that allows you to squeeze citrus fruits (6). It appeared around the 18th century. It has a lever that is used to exert pressure on the fruit cut in half. Just below the fruit is the container for collecting the juice.

We have two models. The manual citrus press and the electric citrus press which is faster but whose cleaning is a little complicated.

The citrus press only extracts the juices from the citrus fruits. Then unlike the juice extractor, the citrus press, the amount of juice it provides us is 30% less than the amount provided by a juice extractor for the same amount of fruit.

The fruit press

It is a device that allows you to squeeze soft fruits. In general, we speak of an apple or pear press. It is more used to obtain juice from these two fruits. However, it is ideal for extracting soft fruits such as grapes.

To conclude

In this article you have the different functions of the centrifuge and the extractor. You also know their advantages and disadvantages. It is therefore in an informed mind that you will make your purchase.

Have you noticed any other differences between juicer and juicer? Do you know of any other pros and cons of these two machines. Thank you for sharing with us your opinion