The Big Debate

The ‘Big-Marketing-Created Debate’. That’s where it’s really coming from. The marketing professionals have us entertained and engaged, excited about the possibilities, all good, … ‘cept for the pieces/parts they din’t tell you about.

If you take a close-up look and a common sense approach to operating in the kitchen, then you know that you need … the right tool for the job … it makes the flow of activity in the kitchen that much easier.

When you make operating in the kitchen as efficient as it can be, what happens? Easy, quick, fun, fast happens.

And what results is an end product, a good-for-you food, that you are happy about making, repetitively, because it was easy. You eventually got yourself a rhythm going.

You went into the kitchen, you created, you saw results. “The juice was worth the squeeze.” The carrot juice was worth the effort expended to get the carrot juice. 

All of this translates into production or tangible, visible, results, from your efforts, so that, you are then much more likely to perform in the kitchen.

If you’ve got juicing down to a science then you’ll do it, regularly and often. You just need to understand what tool to use when, and for what purpose.

Extract? Blend? Which? Why?

Should you juice extract the carrot or should you blend/puree/liquefy the whole carrot?

ANSWER: It depends what fruits and veggies you are using.

ANSWER: Use both methods.

ANSWER: There is a time to extract and a time to blend.

ANSWER: Ideally, you need to do both.

ANSWER: As to the machines … own them all … quit stressing over which is good, better, best … they are tools in your kitchen, they are all useful, more on the gadgets later.

When & Why Should I Juice Extract?

WHEN & WHY. Let’s get to answering the when & why. It comes down to fiber, bulk, cellulose, or pulp, present in all fruits and vegetables, and more so in the veggies, especially a carrot for example.

Here’s a really simple test to perform in your own kitchen, and when you do this, you will shatter the myths created by the marketing geniuses who present their products to you via ultra high-energy infomercials.

THE THREE-CARROT-TEST. Juice extract three carrots and then simultaneously blend/puree/liquify three carrots. Then drink them, go ahead, let us know how that went. Dare ya.

Sometimes the advertisers will infer that their product is the only product you need, it’s better than any other kitchen gadgets on the market, and hey consumer, just buy our product, it’s the only one you need to do everything you do in the kitchen. Wrong.

Don’t believe their hype on that point. Remember, what you need is … “The right tool for the job!” How do you know what tool is the right tool for the job? Experience will tell you this. For now, just get in the game, get in the kitchen and mix it up!

TEST RESULTS – JUICE EXTRACTION. Back to the three-carrot-test. If you did the test, you found that drinking three carrots was a breeze, it was liquid, it went down easy, it was pleasant, slightly sweet, and refreshing.

TEST RESULTS – BLEND/PUREE/LIQUIFY. If you did the blend/puree/liquify of three carrots, you found that, you had to add water to the carrots to get them all to blend, they didn’t really liquify, and when you did attempt to drink three whole carrots, it did not go down easy, you practically had to chew the carrot mush, and it was not something that you would do again.

PURPOSE. Now we comes to your purpose for ‘juicing’ in the first place. What is your purpose? What is your reason for juicing? Do you want a variety of veggies and fruits, are you going for fiber, is it about a particular nutrient, say iron from spinach or kale?

Do you want to drink a glass or two or three of carrot juice daily? Then you must opt for the juice extractor. Let’s say a glass of carrot juice was made from three good sized carrots. You cannot get down nine carrots in the course of a day, it’s way too much fiber/bulk/cellulose/pulp, way too much.

But you can drink nine carrots, easy-peasy, in the course of a day, no problem, it’s pleasant-tasting and healthful. In fact, you can drink carrot-apple-lemon-ginger, and other fruit and veggie recipe blends, and they are absolutely delightful! Yay for carrots! Everybunny needs them!

When And Why Should I Blend?

There is a time to blend! Which is why we advocate owning both gadgets, both the juice extractor and the specialty blender. Some fruits and veggies are best processed in the juice extractor and some are better in the blender.

There are veggies that when put through a juice extractor are just not worth the squeeze, meaning not worth the effort. Let’s talk spinach and kale. Both of these leafy greens are really super-uber-nutritious.

And they are really popular now, especially kale, it’s being marketed as a chip, it’s at the juice bars, it’s touted as a must in the leafy greens category for both juicing and blending, and it’s the darling of the whole-food set.

Aha, but it behaves much better in the blender, meaning it processes better, and you get more for your money when you blend/puree/liquify the kale. Same with spinach.

If you buy a big tub of baby spinach, organic or regular, it’s very delicate, it doesn’t have the fiber content that a carrot has, it’s also a very easy chew, therefore easy to blend/puree/liquify, and in turn swallow.

So, why run it through the juice extractor? By the time you’ve run spinach and kale through a juice extractor, what you are left with is … not much juice … and a whole lot of veggie pulp mush for the worm farm on the patio. Spinach and kale are not the best candidates for the juice extractor, better to blend them and eat them whole.

Combining Both

Carrots and apples are the foundation of juicing. Carrots are just plain good for you and super-nutritious, same with apples, and yes organic is best.

If you are not ready for organics, and the added expense of organics that’s okay, maybe in the future, for now, just juice, it’s better than not juicing/blending.

Now, let’s say you want to get a daily dose of carrot-spinach. Good choice, easy to start with. In a perfect kitchen-gadget-world, juice the carrots and blend the the spinach.

THE BASIC RECIPE. Juice the carrots in the Jay Kordich PowerGrind Pro and blend the spinach in the NutriBullet.

This is what you do … juice the carrots in the PowerGrind Pro, now pour the carrot juice into the NutriBullet Tall Cup, put the spinach in the cup, blend, drink.

If you need this carrot-spinach juice/blend to be sweeter, or you need to mask the carrot-spinach, add an apple to the recipe, juice the apple, then add the apple juice in with the carrot juice and the spinach, put all of it into the NutriBullet and blend, then drink.

That’s how you start juicing, from this basic recipe, then you build, then you try other recipes and blends, you figure out what you like, what your budget can handle, and what you can use before it goes bad, which is why we advise strongly that you invest in the Tupperware FridgeSmart Containers, nothing like them, they really make the produce last longer.

Kitchen Gadgets

All these kitchen gadgets, devices, tools, toys … COLLECT THEM ALL! If there is a budget issue, get the one that is your favorite first, that’s all! It’s settled. Next time, you get the second one on your list, simple.

It kind of like a farmer with a dozen horses in his stable. Some horses are suited for a trail ride, some horses are bred for pulling the wagon, some horses are bred for show, some for crowd control, they’re bomb-proof, they can handle anything, they don’t spook over loud noises or lots of people and activity, they’re battle ready.

You are the master of your kitchen, it’s up to you to know when to use which kitchen gadget for what task. It’s about strategy, even in the kitchen, what tool will you give the best results?

Someone very dear to us, Mr. Happy Bunny, always says … “You’ve got to have the right tool for the job” … and this is true for any endeavor.

Kitchen gadgets are like having a menagerie of pets or a stable full of horses … you love them all. Every one of them has a special place on your homestead, and in your kitchen.

Start collecting your gadgets today … garage sales and thrift shops are a great place to start if you are unsure about making the initial investment on some of the pricier gadgets, like food processors, stand mixers, blenders and juicers.

Besides, going to a garage sale and finding something nifty is like finding a toy in your Cracker Jack!

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