Centrifugal Juicers – Everything You Need to Know
What Is A Centrifugal Juicer?
Centrifugal juicers are hands-down the most common and popular juicers in the market, thanks to their cheap pricing. This is a type of juicer that spins the ingredients inside the juicing bowl at high speed, using metal blades. A centrifugal juicer earns its name from the fact that it utilizes centrifugal force to extract juices from the ingredients.
How Does A Centrifugal Juicer Work?
Centrifugal juicers have a spinning blade or a cutting disk that tears and shreds the ingredients at high speed. The shredded pulp continues to spin around inside the juicing bowl rapidly with the blades, pressing against the fine mesh on the outer edges. The centrifugal force generated from the spinning motion forces the liquids (juices) to separate from the solids.
The wire mesh strains out the juice, leaving only the solid pulp inside the juicing bowl. The juice then trickles down and is delivered through an outlet spout. Many centrifugal juicers have a juice container to hold the juice rather than pouring it out instantly.
As you can see, the juicing technique used in a centrifugal juicer is very similar to that in a mixer grinder. This is how many mixer grinders also double as juicers – they come with a juicer cup that you can equip to extract juices from fruits and vegetables.
However, a key difference between centrifugal juicers and juicer mixer grinders is that the latter does not deliver the juice exclusively. You’d have to use a strainer to separate the juice by filtering out the solid pulp. This makes centrifugal juicers a much better choice for juicing purposes.
Advantages Of Centrifugal Juicer
1. High Affordability
The cheap and affordable pricing of centrifugal juicers is one of the reasons behind their popularity. These juicers cost much less than other juicers, such as cold press juicers. A centrifugal juicer is an excellent choice if you are on a tight budget and can’t afford to spend much on your new juicer.
2. Fast Operation
The juicing technique used in these juicers extracts the juices very fast. For instance, it takes a centrifugal juicer only five minutes to make the same amount of fluid for which masticating juicers need 15 minutes.
If you are usually in a rush and speed is an important factor for you, you may go for a centrifugal juicer. For this very reason, some centrifugal juicers have secured their places among the best juicers for home use.
3. Can Handle Hard Fruits
Another perk of having a centrifugal juicer in your kitchen is that it can even crush tough fruits and veggies. The sharpness and the speed of the rotating blades allow these juicers to pulverize the hard ingredients without any hassle and extract the juice efficiently.
4. You Can Put In Whole Fruits
As long as the feeding tube is wide enough, you can put in whole fruits and veggies. The blades inside the juicing bowl would easily shred them up. This makes your work lighter by saving you the hassle of cutting the ingredients into smaller pieces.
5. Easy To Clean
When buying any kitchen appliance, ease of cleaning is a crucial factor that you need to consider. In this regard, centrifugal juicers have an advantage over other juicer types. The various removable parts make these juicers very easy to clean. You can simply detach the grinding components and rinse them with soap and water. This not only takes less effort but also helps you save time.
Disadvantages Of Centrifugal Juicer
1. These Juicers Are Noisy
While the juicing technique is quite fast, it’s also very noisy. The motor of a centrifugal juicer, together with the spinning and grinding action, generates a great deal of noise. This can be rather unpleasant or distracting to the user as well as other nearby individuals. Especially if maintaining a quiet environment at home is a top priority, centrifugal juicers might not be the right product for you.
2. Centrifugal Juicing Destroys Nutrients
Centrifugal juicers are waning in popularity among fitness freaks because other juicers, such as the cold press juicer, deliver healthier juice. This is because the juicing process breaks down various essential vitamins and minerals, making the juice less nutritious. This is something to remember if you are buying the juicer, mostly for the health benefits of drinking fruit and vegetable juices.
3. Require Immediate Cleaning
While it’s true that centrifugal juicers are easy to clean, you need to clean them immediately after use. Leaving the juicer unwashed after you are done juicing can cause the leftover ingredients to dry up and stick to the juicer’s parts. In this case, cleaning it up later would prove to be much more difficult.
4. Can’t Juice All Ingredients
You’d want a juicer that would allow you to make all types of juice you want, right? Well, centrifugal juicers aren’t great at juicing leafy greens or fibrous produce. Using these juicers for nuts and seeds isn’t recommended either, so you can’t extract nut milk. This greatly reduces the variety of ingredients you can juice using a centrifugal juicer.
5. Less Quantity Of Juice
Using a centrifugal juicer isn’t really the most efficient way to extract juices. Unlike cold press juicers, which produce almost all the liquid by applying hydraulic force, centrifugal juicers leave some of it in the pulp. This is why the pulp left expelled from centrifugal juicers tends to be wetter. This means you will have to use more ingredients to get the same amount of juice as other, more efficient juicers.
6. Shorter Shelf-life
Shelf life is another issue with juices extracted using a centrifugal juicer. These juicers oxidize the juice during the extraction process, which significantly reduces their shelf life. When you make some juice using a centrifugal juicer, it lasts only up to a day, even when refrigerated. This can be a problem if you prefer to make large batches of juice at a time and store them for later consumption.
Top-Rated Centrifugal Juicers
Parts Of A Centrifugal Juicer
Base
This refers to the large segment with an opaque body at the bottom of the juicer, usually with foot pads underneath. This is the part that houses the motor and other electrical components. The base is the heaviest part of a centrifugal juicer.
Juice Spout
As the name of this component indicates, it’s the outlet via which the juicer delivers the extracted juice. In many juicers, the juice spout pours the juice into an integrated juice compartment rather than acting as a direct outlet.
Pulp Bin
Just like the juice compartment collects the juice, the pulp bin is where the leftover pulp goes. After filtering out the juice, the juicer dumps the pulp here. If you are making multiple batches of juice, you will have to check the pulp bin in between and empty it when it fills up.
Juicing Bowl
This, of course, is the component inside which the produce is crushed to make juice. It contains a set of metal blades connected to the motor below. These blades spin at a very high speed, cutting through the ingredients and crushing them into pulp.
Strainer Basket
This basket is attached right under the juicing bowl, with a wire mesh filter at the bottom. It helps strain out the juice and send it down to the juice spout while holding back the pulp.
Feeding Tube and Pusher
The feeding tube is a straight chute at the top of the juicer, through which you can send in the fruits and veggies you are trying to juice. Most juicers also come with a pusher – a long accessory that you can use to push in ingredients stuck in the feeding tube.
How To Use A Centrifugal Juicer?
- Step 1: Assemble all the components and plug the appliance into a power source. Place a glass or cup under the juice outlet if it doesn’t have a juice container.
- Step 2: Put the fruits or veggies in the feeder tube. If they are too big, cut them down into smaller pieces.
- Step 3: Now, turn on the juicer and use the control knob to adjust the speed and function. Many centrifugal juicers come with multiple speed options.
- Step 4: Your healthy and delicious fruit juice is now ready. If the juice is delivered into an integrated juice container, you’ll have to pour it into your glass/cup.
Due to high motor power and RPM, centrifugal juicers can churn almost every fruits and vegetables. The list includes oranges, watermelon, apples, pineapples, leafy greens, nuts, seed, carrots and beetroots.
Are Centrifugal Juicers Better Than Other Juicers?
Centrifugal juicers aren’t exactly the best type of juicer in terms of juice quality, taste, and nutrition. However, centrifugal juicers beat cold press juicers when it comes to speed and pricing. If you are looking for a pocket-friendly juicer and don’t mind the noisy performance, go for a centrifugal juicer. The fast juice extraction speed also makes it perfect for those planning to buy a juicer for commercial use.