What to look for when buying a fruit juicer

Freshly pressed juice is one of the best ways to get your five fruit or vegetables into your diet every single day. Whether you want to make simple or exotic fruit drinks, finding the right juicer can be difficult. In this article, we'll show you how to make a purchase that will serve you for years to come.

Types of juicers

Juicers fall into three broad categories: manual juicers, mechanical juicers and hydraulic juicers. These products increase in price in that order and effectiveness. Here's what to look for with each type : Manual juicers
These juicers use a hand compressed mechanism to extract the juice from the fruit. It you are going to buy a manual juicer, then look for an extremely solid construction. Physically pushing down on a lever with sufficient force to extract juice puts a lot of force on the juicer components. Over time, cheaper juicer models will suffer stress fractures. This method can also leave a a lot of waste as muscle power alone is not enough to extract all the juice from a piece of fruit. Mechanical juicers
This type of juicer uses electric motors to turn either a twin gear or masticating mechanism. The slower the mechanism operates, the better. Fast moving mechanical parts mean that frictional heat is produced and this can degrade some of the nutrients found in your juice. Hydraulic juicers
This kind of professional juicer can be seen as the premium model. It IS generally powered by electricity, but this is used to drive an electric pump. The pump drives hydraulic fluid to a cylinder which compresses the juice. The result is slowly pressed juice with little waste. The high power of these devices also make them suitable for vegetable juicing.

General buying tips

When buying home juicers, no matter what your budget is, you should look for the same features. Hygiene should be valued above all else. Look for stainless steel construction which can be wiped clean. Modular designs can be easily taken apart without the use of tools. This means that these kinds of juicers can be stripped down for cleaning, especially after juicing fibrous materials like wheatgrass or ginger. If you want to use a powered juicer, try and buy a slow operating mechanism so as to produce the best quality juice. Juicing machines with high speed parts are also very noisy. Finally, buy a machine that you like the look of. This way, you'll be proud to have the device out on show. If you have a unit that you keep at the back of a cupboard, it will rarely be used and you will be missing out on its health benefits.