Late Summer Juices + my tips for juicing!

This post is also available in: Suomi (Finnish)

this post is sponsored by Wilfa.

I’m sitting at our kitchen table, wearing super comfy clothes, got my anti blue light glasses on, and I’m surrounded by an endless amount of boxes. After living out of a few boxes and in different places for eight months, we’re finally done with our #waterdamagefun. Damn was this whole thing a nightmare. But luckily we have a home now! Since moving is no one’s favorite thing, I thought we could talk about something else, liiiiike juicing! You see, I’m totally head over heels for cold pressed juices at the moment and have found my long lost love for beetroots (I’m drinking a beetroot juice while writing this, ha).

I bought my first juicer about five years ago in the midst of a terrible flu and feel in love with it instantly. For a while I was an avid juice maker but for the last couple of years I’ve been juicing every now and then when a craving hits. A few weeks ago I got to try out Wilfa’s new Andante Slow Juicer and now I’m totally back in the game.

There are two kinds of juicers in the market: cold pressed juicer and centrifugal juice extractors. The latter are the ones you usually in juice bars, as they’re quick at making the juice and you can put whole fruits in the machine. Cold pressed juicer are a bit more fancy, as they press out the juice slowly from the ingredients (you can read more about the differences here). The slow juicer I got (and my old one) are both cold pressed juicers and I prefer these as they keep more nutrients in the juice and produce less waste, which means you’ll have more juice! It takes a little more time when using a cold pressed juicer as you’ll need to cut the fruits and veggies into pieces and there are several parts to wash, but in my opinion the juice has a much deeper and more delicious taste. And as a hater of scrubbing tiny parts and multiple dishes, I’ve got to say that I’ve been pretty amazed how quick it is to clean Wilfa’s juicer. And even if the cleaning part is a bit easier, I still like to make a big batch of juice at once so that there’s no cleaning involved in a few days :)

Besides juicing fruits and veggies you can also use this juicer for nuts, avocado, wheatgrass, and berries, and next up is definitely making almond milk. So you might see me go crazy with homemade nut milks and treats involving it. But in the meanwhile, I thought I’d share two of my current favorite juice combos. I’ve got a Kale, Pear & Cucumber Juice and a Beetroot, Fennel & Apple Juice, aka late summer juices as most of the ingredients are now at their best season. The combination of beetroot, fennel, and apple is so tempting that I think you’d like too (thanks so much for one of my followers for  sharing the idea on Instagram!). And below is a collection of my tips for juicing to get you started. Juicy times to you, my friend!

My tips for juicing

The ingredients:

• Most fruits can be used without peeling the skin, but then it’s best to use organic fruits. For example, I juice apples and pears unpeeled.
• However, citrus fruits like lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit should be peeled. And the some goes for melons.
• Do not juice the hard stones of mango, cherries, peach, or nectarines. The small stones of apples and pears can be juiced, especially if you’re juicing just a few.
• Cut hard veggies, like carrots, beetroot, and celery to small pieces.
• If you’re using large leafy greens, I recommend tearing them into smaller pieces so that your juicer won’t get stuck.

Juicing:

• It’s definitely easiest to wash the juicer straight after juicing when the pulp is still moist. Do not let it dry for hours and then try to wash it (like I sometimes do :)).

About the recipes:

• When choosing ingredients, I like to think about what color I’m in the mood for. For example, carrot, beetroot, orange, red cabbage, grapefruit, and ginger go together for their color and taste. Leafy greens, cucumber, celery, fennel, broccoli, lime, lemon, apples, kiwi fruits, and pears are great for green juice. I usually pick up 3 to 5 ingredients for my juices.
• Use your creativity freely and try all kinds of combination that you’re in the mood for! That’s how I’ve found my favorite mixes.
• Juices are great bases for smoothies too and I like to sometimes replace plant-based milks with juice. A few pieces of frozen spinach, some pear, and a couple ice cubes with a splash of green juice make a wonderful smoothie.

notes: I recommend using organic ingredients as much as possible, especially if you’re using them with their peel. apples and pears should be a bit raw when juicing, as they produce more juice and less pulp!

Kale, Pear & Cucumber Juice

a big handful of kale
1 big cucumber
2 pears
1 lime

METHOD:

Rinse and cut the fennel and celery into small pieces. Peel or wash the pears carefully. Cut the lime into a few pieces and remove the peel. Juice all ingredients, serve, and enjoy! Store the rest in a sealed glass jar in the fridge.

Beetroot, Fennel & Apple Juice

5 beetroots
2 apples
1 big fennel

METHOD:

Peel or wash the beets carefully. Rinse the apples and cut the beets and apples into small pieces. Juice all ingredients, serve, and enjoy! Store the rest in a sealed glass jar in the fridge.

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