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Juicer Comparison and Buying Advice
There is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about juicers and juicing. At UK Juicers we strive to give an honest overview of our products to help you make the right choice for your needs.
Fruit & Vegetable Juicers
Juicers capable of juicing fruits and vegetables generally fall into two categories – Masticating or Centrifugal.
Juicers using the masticating process (which generally work at a slower speed and effectively "chew" the vegetable up, releasing more nutrients from the cell walls) have been shown to produce juice with a higher nutritional content, and to incorporate less oxygen, giving a longer shelf life.
‘The Champion’ is a masticating juicer that uses a single cutter. This is cylindrical in shape and tapered to the end, with tiny stainless steel teeth running across the length of the cutter. These teeth effectively shred and chew up produce and juice is squeezed through a strainer below. For convenience, durability and value, The Champion is the best general purpose juicer and rattles through the task of juicing for the whole family. They sometimes see light commercial use.
Twin-gear masticating juicers such as the ‘Twin Health’ or ‘Green Power Kempo’ use two gears with very close separation that turn in towards each other. Produce is crushed and pressed between the gears with juice being pressed out and passed through a screen. These juicers are often recommended by nutritionists to their clients because they offer the best quality juice from a domestic juicer. The juicing process is considerably slower than in the Champion or a Centrifugal Juicer.
Single Auger masticating juicers such as the ‘L'Equip VISOR’ and ‘Samson 6 in 1’ use a slowly rotating screw that again crushes produce, but by a process similar to a mincing machine. These juicers are a more economical choice than a Twin Gear juicer for those juicing greens, harder produce and wheatgrass. The juicing process is considerably slower than in the Champion or a Centrifugal Juicer.
Twin Gear and Single Auger juicers are sometimes slower with apples if they are not crisp and fresh or mixed with other produce such as carrot.
Centrifugal juicers work by using a flat cutting blade on the bottom of a rapidly spinning basket. Food is rapidly shredded by the cutter and flung out to the sides of the basket. Due to the high centrifugal force, juice then passes through tiny holes in the basket and through a spout. In the case of the ‘L'Equip 110.5’, pulp is spun off and collected in a separate container. The juice produced by centrifugal juicers is excellent, although the extraction process and higher revs do incorporate more oxygen and therefore reduce shelf life. (Juice is best drunk fresh anyway). By the nature of the cutting process, centrifugal juicers do not break down leafy green vegetables quite as well as masticating units but they are quick and convenient.
L'Equip 110.5 Mini Pulp Ejector
The L'Equip 110.5 is a centrifugal juicer and for the price it is unequivocally the best juicer of this type we have encountered. At £99 it makes a superb choice for those who don't want to invest in a masticating juicer or are perhaps trying juicing for the first time. The 110.5 has a powerful motor for it's size at 350w. More importantly though, it uses that power efficiently and boasts an extremely high juice yield for carrots. It’s one of the easiest fruit and vegetable juicers to clean (all juicing parts are dishwasher-safe), and comes with a full 6-year warranty.
L'Equip 509 VISOR Natural Processor
The L'Equip VISOR is a wheatgrass juicer and a good all-rounder. It is excellent with leafy greens. It gives less pulp in the drink than other auger juicers. It has a striking design with the flip-down visor and it looks good if you leave it out on the worktop when disassembled. The VISOR is an excellent all-round juicer with a wide variety of other food processing functions at a reasonable price.
The Champion Juicer
The Champion is our most popular masticating juicer. In terms of value for money, the Champion’s record for durability makes it unrivalled – they just never seem to die! It's very robust and is the easiest to use and clean of all our masticating juicers - a real workhorse. It will juice greens, providing they are placed in the feeding chamber in small amounts and are mixed with other produce. Some people prefer to flavour green vegetable juice with carrot or apple anyway, so the Champion is often a good choice.
Twin Health Living Juice Extractor
The Twin Health is considered to be slightly more user friendly than some twin gear juicers, removing the need for pulp pressure controls and offering easier assembly. However, ALL twin gear machines give similar, excellent results and we would advise you to choose based on the features that appeal to you most. It’s a large, robust juicer with an automatic reverse gear function that protects against overload, prolonging the life of the motor. The increased choice of juicing screens perhaps makes it a little more versatile than some twin-gear juicers. The gears are all stainless steel and have no plastic sections.
Green Star Gold and GS1000
The Green Star GS1000 has replaced the Green Life. They are essentially the same machine and use identical juicing parts. The Green Star Gold is the Flagship model with a different outer casing construction. The Green Star Gold is a very robust, larger twin gear machine. Like all Twin Gear juicers it gives excellent results. The Green Star Accessory Kit has attachments for the GS1000 that make it more versatile (equivalent to the fully accessorised GS3000 which is no longer available).
The Green Power Kempo
This compact twin gear juicer has identical juicing parts to the Samson Ultra and the twin gear juicer marketed as ‘The Hippocrates’. It is the latest model from the factory and is supplied as standard with an extra set of gears, designed specifically for wheatgrass. These work very well and give the most foam-free wheatgrass juice we have seen from a twin gear juicer. If you are looking for a smaller twin gear machine, the extra gears make the Green Power Kempo look like a better buy than the other models that use the same juicing parts.
Samson Ultra
The Samson Ultra has smaller gears then the Green Star, it weighs less and takes up less kitchen space. Functions, usability and ultimately recommendations are similar to all twin gear models; an excellent juice yield and an exceptionally dry pulp when juicing greens.
Samson 6-in-1 Juicer
The Samson 6-in-1 is a single auger juicer that works on the same principle as the L’Equip Visor. The strainer in this juicer has larger holes, so it gives a more pulpy drink. That said, the Samson is reasonably priced, very good for juicing greens by themselves and is popular with raw-fooders and those wishing to take full advantage of the machine’s food processing functions.
Summary of Masticating Juicers
For customers who do not wish to juice wheatgrass, and want to spend the least time juicing, we would recommend the Champion Juicer. Some juicing enthusiasts prefer a combination of the Champion for its speed, with a manual wheatgrass juicer such as the Z-Star to give them the best of both worlds.
The L'Equip VISOR makes a good choice for people who wish to juice everything, including wheatgrass, and gain the added benefit of the extra functions at a significantly lower cost than a twin gear model. It may take slightly longer to use than some of the faster operating juicers, but the low speed enables it to perform a wider range of functions.
If you want to extract the maximum yield and quality of juice from all produce, including wheatgrass, we would recommend the Twin Health. Green Star or Green Power Kempo juicers.
Citrus Juicers
If you drink a lot of orange or grapefruit juice you will need a separate juicer.
The Remida range of Citrus Juicers
Remida juicers are a stylish but durable range of Italian machines for light commercial applications or for the discerning home user. The high speed commercial-grade motors make quick work of juicing.
X-Lever and Citri-Star
The X-Lever is a manual press that squeezes half oranges between two cones using a levered handle. Juice yield depends on how hard you squeeze; ultimately a bit less than an electric type.
The Citri-Star is a compact, affordable electric orange squeezer. As you push the half orange down on the top of the reamer the motor spins and extracted juice passes through a stainless steel strainer to the spout below.
Wheatgrass Specific Juicers
The Z Star and Porkert
These machines do not need to be considered if a twin-gear or single auger juicer is already owned. They are operated by hand without the need for electricity.
The Z Star and Porkert juicers clamp to a work surface edge and extract juice through the turning of a simple worm-like screw. They can be used to juice wheatgrass and fibrous herbs such as parsley. The Porkert is a very basic juicer at an affordable price. The Z-Star is capable of juicing most other fruit and vegetables too, because of its specially designed juicing parts.
Overall Rating?
It would be very difficult for us to assign an overall rating for each juicer as they all have strengths in different areas. There are more details on the pages for each product and if you’d like to know more feel free to call us on 01904 757070.
