Juicing means to extract the liquid out of fruits, vegetables or even herbs. There are many ways of juicing: the fresh way is for sure the better choice. I want to talk of fruit extracting as conservation of fruits of your garden.
This year I have a garden, full of goodness. Fruits wherever I look, vegetables and much more. What to do with so much produce? Most of the people prepare jam for the wintertime. I very rarely eat bread , in consequence my need of jam is low. So what to do with ‘tons’ of apricots, plums, loquat, cherries, figs, nuts and so on. Meanwhile the Apricots are a yummy jam right now, the others are now liquids in bottles.
You need a special pot to extract the juices out of fruits and vegetable. I bought a steam extractor. It has three levels: the bottom is filled with water, the middle part will collect the juice and the top has a colander where the washed fruits comes in. No need to remove pits, stones, skin. With the boiling water, the steam comes up (similar to my coffee machine, my Mokka) and sucks out the liquid of the fruits. It takes a couple of ours before it is done, depends by the fruit and the amount you put in the pot.
Normally you should not open the lit as the fruit is under pressure for the juicing, but I do it towards the end and rice the fruits in order to get also some pulp in the juice. It gives more fruit color and is more nutrient.
I fill the boiling hot juice in previously cleaned bottles and close them immediately. If the bottle stays upside-down I turn it for a while. Then put it back and wait for the ‘click’ that shows me it is vacuum sealed. A little label to tell me what is in the bottle and the date filled up, and then out to the storage room.
If you juice fresh juice then you could try a few days of juice fasting. In this case you just drink fresh juices, not extracted ones by a steam cooker. Mix vegetables and fruits. Juice fasting can help to feel better, to loose a little weight, to detox and more. But only drink fresh juice from organic fruits and vegetables.
I always liked fruit juice if fresh and not sweetened. To have my own one is the very best of all. I like the juice just like it is, but also with some corn/quinoa/oat flakes for example. Sometimes there is a cake recipe that required also some juice.
No doubt there is nothing more healthy than eating the whole food. It has not only all vitamins and minerals, it has also fiber which is important for the digestion and the whole process of extracting the right components of the fruits. But in this case it is one of the best ways to conserve the fresh picked fruit from you own fruit trees and shrubs and have at least some of the benefits also during winter time.
What do you think about my assistant?
I think your feline friend would much prefer to assist you with some Nordseekrabben instead of fruit juice 🙂
I think so, too.