I was asked recently which juicer I use. The answer is that I actually have two, and I love them both for different reasons. Nothing – and I mean nothing – beats juicing. Like the vegan version of being a vampire, you feel absolutely super-human when you drink down pure Plant Blood.
1) Green Star
This bad boy isn’t cheap, but it’s life-changing. Wanna go hardcore? This is it! This machine is great because it’s extremely durable, reliable, can also juice wheatgrass (most juicers cannot do this, so you often have to buy a separate wheatgrass juicer), plus more. Because this juicer uses twin gears which gently and slowly extract the juice, it doesn’t degrade or oxidize nearly as fast as it does with a centrifugal juicer (below). Green Star juice can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of days without much oxidation, which makes it perfect for people who can only juice once a day or less.
This juicer squeezes out every bit of juice, leaving you with very dry pulp, so you’re really getting your money’s worth from your organic produce. Here are other tricks this juicer can do: make ice cream from frozen produce such as bananas or mangoes, as well as homogenize nuts, seeds and grains for pate and butters, and it’s great for making baby foods, apple sauce, etc.
The Green Star takes longer to use and clean up, but it’s still amazing and well worth the money (and the time if you have it).
2) Breville Fountain Juicer
This juicer has a special place in my heart. I LOVE my Breville Fountain Juicer (and pretty much use it daily) because it’s lightening fast and SUPER EASY to clean. This machine inspires me to juice multiple times a day due to its ease of use. It’s considerably less expensive than the Green Star, but because it’s centrifugal, you should drink the juice within 15 minutes of making it to prevent oxidation and nutrient loss.
This is the perfect juicer for people who plan to do a lot of daily juicing, and want it to be fast and efficient — just be sure to drink right after juicing. The other thing to note is that the pulp from this juicer is quite moist, so you know that you’re not extracting all of the juice like you do with the Green Star. However, I usually add the pulp to my dog’s food or put it on top of my salad or feed it to the bunnies in my yard or make raw dehydrated crackers from it (so, you can see, it doesn’t go to waste).
All in all, I love both of my juicers and I’m happy to have and use both. I find that I drink a lot more juice having the Breville due to its ease of use and cleaning, but I love having my Green Star for times I juice wheatgrass, make other things besides juice, or for those days that I need to make my juice made ahead of time.
For those of you looking for great juicing and smoothie recipes, I have a terrific ebook loaded with fresh raw vegan beverage recipes.
UPDATE! A new juicer is on my scene! Check out the video I did comparing it with the Breville and Green Star here.