Juicing is becoming more popular as people are starting to choose a more plant-based diet. Have you ever heard anyone talking about cold-pressed juices or centrifugal? Or maybe you heard the term masticating? Lately, these have been buzz words connected to juicing. But what do they mean?
Masticating, centrifugal, and cold press are key terms when trying to decide on the perfect juicer to purchase. Whether you are starting a new cleanse, wanting more fruits and vegetables, or simply wanting a new juicer, it is important to understand the differences between each juicer. No worries, I will walk you through the process!
What You Need to Know
Before getting into the in-depth details of the 3 juicers, let me give you a quick rundown on the comparisons. If you like to save money and you are not quite sure you want to make a big investment just yet, you may want to lean more towards the masticating and centrifugal juicers. The biggest difference between these two juicers is the method of juicing.
The centrifugal juicer extracts juice with one metal blade. A masticating juicer uses gears instead of blades to extract the juice. If you need your juices on the go in a quick manner, the centrifugal juicer works at an amazingly fast rate. If you have a little more time to wait for your juice, the masticating juicer produces juice at a slower rate.
If you have your mind made up and want to go all-in, the cold press approach is for you. Think of the juices made at your local natural juice shops and bistros, those juices are probably cold-pressed. Don’t they taste and look amazing? The juice press produces the most nutritious juices. The reason you get better quality juices with a juice press is that it uses a two-step grinding process that makes the best cold-pressed juices.
Now that you have received your crash course, I will give you a more detailed in-depth look into all 3. Hopefully, this will help you choose the juicer that fits your lifestyle and needs.
Centrifugal Juicers: How do they work?
To use this juicer, you place your products through a tube. The tube suctions and forces the produce onto a metal blade. A centrifugal juicer has blades and a strainer. The produce is cut while spinning against a mesh strainer. The blades spin so fast that they cut the produce forcefully against the strainer. The speed of the blades is around 12,000 RPM. This process is called centrifugal force. As the blades are moving at a rapid speed, the force is separating the juice through the very small holes in the strainer.
The centrifugal juicer is commonly known as the “quick juicer.” It is probably the most common juicers seen in homes.
Advantages of Centrifugal Juicers
You receive juice instantly with a centrifugal juicer. There is no waiting or lag time with this process. Once you place the produce into the machine you instantly start to receive juice. This is convenient for people on the go and families. Another reason why this juicer is so popular among households is the reasonable price. Although centrifugal juicers are the cheapest on the market, they still offer you the benefits of juicing. You don’t have to put extra effort into juicing your produce. It is a quick one-step process. Also, you can make smaller batches of juice with this juicer.
Disadvantages of Centrifugal Juicers
One of the biggest complaints about this type of juicer is that it is loud. You will likely wake up everyone in your household when you use this juicer. If you are looking for a juicer that produces the highest amount of nutrition, a centrifugal juicer actually eliminates some nutrients. The blades spin so fast in this process that they make a lot of heat. The added heat causes breakdown and destruction of vital nutrients in your product. This type of juicer is also known to clog often, again due to the very fast nature of the juicing process.
Masticating Juicers: How do they work?
A masticating juicer presses and crushes fruits and vegetables to give you fruit. This type of juicer is also known as a “slow juicer.”
Instead of using a fast-spinning blade, masticating juicers use rotating gears to slowly grind the produce. As the juicer is working it moves at a speed around 100 RPM. To give you a reference, remember the centrifugal juicer moves at 12000 RPM. So, the masticating juicer has a much slower process. Even though the process is slower, the machine still grinds the produce into a pulp. After the produce is ground by the gears. It is strained through a stainless steel filter.
Masticating juicers can come in the form of vertical, double, or horizontal gear juicers. The juice produced by this juicer is thicker and has more pulp than centrifugal juicers.
Advantages of Masticating Juicers
Unlike centrifugal juicers, masticating juicers do not use high speed. In return, it does not produce high heat. Because of this, you are able to receive more nutritious juices. Juices made with masticating juicers have a higher percentage of juice yield. Technically, these juicers are considered better than centrifugal juicers because they produce more quality juice. Ultimately, you will save more money, in the end, using a masticating juicer. If you are like me, you want to make sure you get your money’s worth. With this juicer, you are able to get the full use out of your fruits and vegetables. You are also positively contributing to the environment by not producing more waste.
Disadvantages of Masticating Juicers
To be clear, this type of juicer is an upgrade from the centrifugal juicer, but it is not the best on the market. The juices produced by masticating juicers are amazing, but this process does not yield the highest quality nutritional juices.
Depending on your lifestyle and needs, this juicer can be slow to produce juice. Also, because the gears move slowly to crush the produce it is possible to have solid pieces in your juice. There is also the risk of juices separating quickly with this type of juicer. It is recommended that you drink juice made with a masticating juicer fairly quickly. This is not the machine to use if you would like to store the juice for later use.
Taste is also another deciding factor when choosing this type of juicer. The slow process of the masticating juicer seems to make the fruit and vegetables lose some of their taste. This process does not give you a flavorful juice.
Juice Press
If I had to rank the 3 juicers by good, better, and best, the juice press is definitely the best. A hydraulic/pneumatic juice press is the best type of juicer you can buy. It is at the top of its class. You may hear juice presses called two-stage juicers. The reasoning behind this name is that there are two major steps involved in juice pressers.
- Step – during this step, your produce is ground and crushed into pulp.
- Step – After the produce turns into pulp, the juice is slowly extracted by pressing the pulp. What makes this juicer totally different from the others is that this machine uses thousands of pounds of pressure to squeeze the pulp.
Originally, A juice press is where the term “cold-pressed” comes from. Be careful, because there are other types of juicers that also use the term “cold-pressed” but the Juice Press is the only juicer that actually has a press. This is the only authentic cold-press juicer.
Which one to choose?
Ultimately, which type of juicer you decide on will be based on your personal preferences. If you are a beginner juicer and eager to start juicing, I recommend the centrifugal juicer. You can expect to pay cheaper prices for this juicer. A benefit of this juicer is that its fast and you can produce small batches. If you are looking for better quality juices, but still don’t want to pay top price, a masticating juicer is a good option for you. The process is slower, but it yields a higher percentage of juice. If you are ready to make the investment and you love high-quality flavorful juice, the best choice is the juice presser. It by far has the best quality juice produced by any juicer.
