Juicer is probably one of the favourite kitchen appliances of every Indian household. And when it comes to freshly made fruit juice, what can be better than a cold press juicer (aka slow juicer/masticating juicer)?
With this machine, you can easily make healthy juice at home without much hassle. Not just fruit juice, you can even make vegetable juice, smoothies, nut-milks, sorbets, and so on.
What is a cold press juicer?
Cold pressed actually mean juicing the raw fruits and vegetables by slowly crushing them without any heat involved, thus making the juice more healthy and natural.
When it comes to juicing, a cold pressed juice machine is highly efficient. The cold pressing technique gives you higher yield of juice with maximum nutritional value. Although the process takes a bit more time, there’s nothing to lose. In fact, you only get the best.
Its low speed compression and unique mechanism resists the discoloration of juice due to oxidation, retaining nutrition, minerals, enzymes, and vitamins. With the slow juicing technology, the machine can juice almost all types of fruits and vegetables, be it leafy vegetables, nuts, or carrots.
Cold press juicers are often called slow juicers or masticating juicers. There are different types of juicer machines that you can find in the market. The two most common ones are – centrifugal and masticating (cold pressed).
Let’s see the differences below.
Types of juicer: centrifugal vs cold press juicer
As I mentioned earlier, there are generally two common types of juicer – centrifugal and masticating. The difference lies in the way they extract juice. Here is a quick comparison for you:
| CENTRIFUGAL JUICER | COLD PRESS JUICER | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | High speed – as high as 15000 RPM | Low speed – 40 to 80 RPM |
| Working Technique | Makes use of one blade that rotates at high speed to slice the ingredients and extract juice. Works like a blender. | Makes use of gears and grinds it instead of slicing it to extract maximum juice. Works like a grinder. |
| Nutritional Value | Due to high heat production, it fails to retain most of the nutrients and provides you juice with less nutritional value. | Due to low heat production, it retains more nutrients, enzymes, minerals, and provides you juice with high nutritional value. |
| Noise Factor | Makes a lot of noise due to quick rotation of blades | Makes no noise |
| Yield & Wastage | Doesn’t break the ingredients as efficiently as masticating juicer does, so the juice yield is less and wastage is more | Breaks down the ingredients efficiently so the juice yield is more and wastage is less |
| Versatility | You can’t use additional attachments. | You can use additional attachments and prepare variety of dishes like ice-creams, smoothies, and milkshake. |
If your purpose is to juice mostly carrots, beets, and other specific kind of fruits and vegetables, then I recommend you getting a centrifugal juicer. They are highly affordable and much cheaper than masticating juicers. Here is the detailed guide and reviews – Best Juicer For Carrot And Beetroot.
Things to consider while buying a cold press juicer
I understand that it can get difficult to choose the best product as one can easily be overwhelmed by the variety of masticating juicers available in the market today. To make it easier for you, here’s a list of features that you can consider while buying your masticating juicer machine:
RPM/Speed
Masticating juicers are slow speed juicers. The speed varies from 40 to 80 RPM. The low RPM ensures the less production of heat which leads to better retention of nutrients. This gives you 100% natural taste and colour. Also, do consider the speed adjusting feature for better extraction.
Centrifugal juicers have speed as high as 15000 RPM due to which a large amount of heat is produced and hence, nutritional value might be lost. But according to the latest findings, researchers believe that there is no significance difference between masticating juicers and centrifugal juicer in terms of retaining nutritional values.
Attachments
Nowadays, cold press juicers come with a variety of attachments. These attachments allow you to prepare a variety of delicious recipes like sorbets, ice-creams, smoothies, nut-milk, milkshakes, frozen desserts, and so on. With the help of attachments, you can get the maximum out of a masticating juicer.
Less noise operation
The best thing about slow juicers is that they hardly make any noise. Before purchasing, check the amount of noise the juicer produces. A silent operation masticating juicer is highly convenient as it won’t disturb anybody while you are making juice. It’s a win-win situation.
Safety lock
Safety should always be your first priority. The safety lock mechanism is a smart feature that doesn’t let you use the juicer if it’s not properly locked. This prevents spilling and any other kind of mishap. Always go for a masticating juicer that has an advanced safety lock. It will keep you safe along with the others around you.
Power
To determine the perfect power wattage, decide how many numbers of servings you will be making per extraction. This helps you choose the juicer with power wattage that is suitable to its capacity.
Price and warranty
Once you have decided to buy a masticating juicer, have a clear budget. This helps you filter the juicers that you can buy. Compare different brands and models in the same price range and choose the one that suits you best. Make sure the juicer you choose is worth the price and has sufficient features.
Check the warranty offered. In case anything goes wrong, it will help you later.
Is it really useful to have a slow juicer at home?
Definitely yes! According to me, cold pressed juice machine is probably one of the best and smartest investments that you can make for your kitchen simply because it is extremely efficient and versatile.
If you are still confused whether it is useful or not, don’t worry and read the following points and decide for yourself.
With the help of a slow juicer, you will not only be able to make fruit or vegetable juice but also so many tasty desserts. Isn’t it a treat during the summers?
It will help you follow a healthy diet because you can easily prepare vegetable juices like ginger, beetroot, spinach, lettuce in almost no time.
If you are somebody who doesn’t like to hassle much with cleaning, masticating juicers are best for you. Some of them even come with automatic cleaning feature.
Bonus point is that they won’t disturb you or the others around you because they make no noise, so even if somebody is sleeping or studying, you can do all the juicing you want. And yes, the guests won’t know you are preparing juice. It is good when you want to surprise them with delicious home made juice.
It is highly effective for people suffering with diseases like vitamin deficiency because masticating juicers retain nutrients and minerals.
There is so less wastage that you get what you actually pay for. Your fruits and vegetables won’t be wasted and you will get maximum extraction that will be enough to serve the whole family.
It is honestly just one time investment. Think about the convenience.
Tip: for making smoothies, mayonnaise, or puréed soups, a hand blender may work better and it is more convenient to use.
How to use a cold press juicer
It is really easy to use a cold press juicer. Don’t forget to read the user guide before using it. It will help you learn how to assemble it and what safety measures are supposed to be taken. Follow these instructions:
- First of all, assemble the juicer.
- Pre-chop the fruits if the feeding tube is narrow. If it isn’t narrow, you can drop in large chunks or whole ingredient.
- Check if it is properly locked.
- Switch on the juicer.
- Adjust the speed according to the content you have added. Keep the speed low for fruits while high for vegetables.
- Use pusher (included in the package) to push the ingredients.
- Collect the juice and pulp separately.
- Turn the juicer off.
- Dissemble the juicer.
- Clean it properly.
Please note that you can use additional attachments as well and prepare a variety of recipes, ranging from sorbets to milkshakes. Kindly read the user guide to know how to use the attachments.
What all juices can I make using a cold press juicer?
There is a big list of juices that you can make using a cold press juicer. Some of them are:
- Fruit juice – apple juice, mango juice, strawberry juice, watermelon juice, and so on.
- Citric juice – lemon juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice, and other citrus fruits.
- Green vegetable juice – spinach juice, lettuce juice, and kale juice
- Salad vegetable juice – carrot juice, tomato juice, beetroot juice, and so on.
- Ginger and turmeric juice
There are too many juices that you can prepare. Just get all the fruits and veggies and you are good to go.
What are some top cold press juicer brands in India?
Some of the top cold press juicer brands that you can find in the market are:
- Kuvings
- Hestia
- Panasonic
- Hurom
- Usha
- Kent
- Havells
