Juicing, glorious juicing...

 A-C and I have recently discovered juicing; of course we knew about it before and we have tried those juices that you get in juice bars and healthy places. But nowhere does homemade juice taste so good as when freshly made with quality ingredients and with your own juicer at home. It's unbelievable, especially in the morning before you have your breakfast. It gives you such an incredible boost, it's like the non-alcoholic version of getting tipsy. And I'm not just saying this because I am one of those people advocating healthy eating. Of course I know what a difference it makes to me to eat healthy foods and lots of fruit and veg, but the experience of your own homemade juice is quite different alltogether. It's that good. The only experience that comes close is when you have your own homegrown fruit, especially berries, and you pick them off the plant on a sunny day and you get so many vitamins and antioxidants into your body you literally feel your face is glowing. Yup, fruit can do that. 

Our favourite juice mix normally consists of 1-2 carrots, 1-2 beetroot, and then whatever acidic fruit we have, like apples or oranges. Using the beetroot and the carrots gives the juice a real earthy flavour, but in a good way. It makes it very sweet and has an amazing depth to it. The beetroot especially is essential for that boost you're looking for. If we would only use fruit, especially acidic fruit, there just wouldn't be that balance of sweet and sour and it would lack that creaminess that comes from the veg. 

Once you've got that balance in mind, you can really go crazy and just experiment with whatever you want to. We've tried variations with green tomatoes, pears, bananas, kiwis (very nice), kale (not so nice), ginger, etc. Anything goes, as long as it suits your taste buds and it is so much fun to try out all kinds of combinations. Maybe for kids this would be a very cool idea to get them to eat/drink fruit and veg. The only downside to this experimentation is the cleaning. It does take a few minutes to clean your machine after its use and to get rid of all the fruit pulp.

Hang on a minute? Getting rid of the fruit pulp? It does seem like a bit of a waste when you're using all this top-quality produce and you're throwing out so much of it. Of course, if you have a compost bin, then at least throwing it onto the compost heap means that it will make for lovely and fast working compost. It really is great stuff. But still it seems like a shame, especially because fruit and veg pulp is actually quite handy to use in the kitchen. Depending on what you're using  your juice for, you can make loads of stuff with your pulp. It is very good in pasta sauces and especially in curries to give it body and sweetness. It can also be used for cakes, muffins and brownies, as you do in carrot cake. And finally, the pulp can be used for a very quick and unusual vegetable stock for any soups you're making. Here's a variation on our Japanese Ramen Noodle Soup with a stock made with pulp from our juicer. It was incredibly tasty! And very funky looking too! 

So whenever you're using your juicer, do try to make something with your fruit and veg pulp. Don't just throw it in the bin, at least put it into a compost bin, and if you want to have a bit of culinary fun then try experimenting with it. 

I hope this wee blog post has shown you how great juicers are and how endless the possibilities are, even with the waste pulp. Sure they're not cheap but they are a great investment, for your happiness and your well-being.