Having a glass of fresh Juice with breakfast is not only refreshing, but also a nutritious way to start the day. It is true that eating fruit as a whole is better for meeting the fibre requirement per day. But let us be honest, it is a lot easier and less time consuming to have a glass of juice when you are in midst of the morning rush to go to office or send kids to school. Moreover, experts suggest that vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals (phytonutrients) present in juice is a lot easier to absorb compared to whole fruits.
Fresh juice made from centrifugal Juicer has to be consumed within 15 minutes of preparing it to get the maximum of its nutritional value and flavour. This is why having a juicer mixer grinder at home makes sense. Further, it is not cost-effective or healthy to have juice from shop, and you don’t really know if it is pure or diluted or adulterated in any other way.
How to Choose a Juicer for Home?
Once you decide to buy a juicer, then you mainly have to choose whether to opt for a centrifugal juicer or a cold press (masticating or slow) juicer. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Centrifugal juicer consists of sharp blades that rotate at a very high speed (more than 1000 RPM) to grind the fruit and extract the juice leaving behind the pulp. As the blade rotates at high speed, heat is generated which breaks down the enzymes present in the fruit juice, thus reducing the nutritional value of the juice.
The juice yield of centrifugal juicers is comparatively less and a lot of fibre is lost in the pulp.
A cold press juice aka masticating or slow juicer crushes the fruit and extracts the juice. It runs at a low RPM of less than 200 cycles. High quality cold press juicers have an even lower RPM of less than 60 cycles. As negligible heat is produced, no nutrients are lost. Moreover, the pulp produced as a result of juicing is close to bone dry, thus maximizing the juice yield.
You might have noticed that most juice separates itself in to two layers—a frothy layer on the top and a thin watery layer on the bottom. This type of juice is typically produced from centrifugal juicers. Juice produced from slow juicers are thicker and do not separate. Hardly any froth is produced from a slow juicer.
Overall, when it comes to retaining nutritious value and flavour, a cold press juicer is far better than a centrifugal juicer. Even so, centrifugal juicers are a lot more popular because it costs less than half that of a cold press juicer.
So, to conclude, if you have just started off with a juice regimen or if you need more than a litre of juice at a time for your family members, then a centrifugal juicer is a better choice. Slow juicer can work only for 30 minutes at a time after which it needs about 10-minute rest. Centrifugal juicers don’t have such a problem.
But if you value flavour and nutrition more than price, or if you are looking to juice leafy vegetables too, then, by all means opt for a cold press juicer. You can find the list of best cold press juicers here.
Aspects to Look for in a Centrifugal Juicer
Feeder Mouth Size
Ideally a juicer should have feeder mouth of size 7.5cm. When the size is lesser, you may have to cut the fruits in to smaller chunks—which could be a little inconvenient and time consuming.
Speed Levels
Different types of fruits require different speed blade rotation for maximizing juice yield. For example, softer fruits like grapes, berries, mangoes, kiwi, melon and orange can be juiced at low speed. Harder fruits and vegetables like apple, beetroot, carrot, pears and pine apple on the other hand needs to be juiced at high speed.
So, it is better to buy a juicer with adjustable speed settings.
Easiness to Clean
Drinking the juice is easy. But cleaning the juicer is not quite so. So, buy a juicer with minimal parts that are dish wash safe so that it is easy to clean.
Cost
All juicers are not made alike. Consider your requirement and check whether a juicer has features to meet them. Also, consider brand reputation and access to service centers. Though important, cost should not be the sole determining factor for buying a juicer.
Tips To Make Juice Effectively
- Always put the fruits/vegetables inside the feeding chute after switching on the juicer.
- Gently push the fruits/vegetables inside the feeding chute with the feeder. Do not exert excessive pressure as it could lead to motor damage.
- Do not try to juice starchy fruits like mango, banana and avocado with a juicer, as the pulp left behind will be wet indicating inefficiency. Such fruits have to be blended in a mixer grinder/ blender instead.
- If you find the left-over pulp is still wet, feed the pulp inside the feeding chute once or twice to completely extract the remaining juice.
Best Juicer in India For Home & Domestic Use
So, now let us get on to some of the best juicers suitable for domestic use. Note that all these are centrifugal juicers and NOT cold press juicers.
Philips Viva Collection HR1832/00 Juicer
Find latest price
With 1.5 litre capacity and beautiful black design, Philips Viva Collection HR 1832/00 juicer is a great fit for families with 3-4 members. Made of ABS plastic, the juicer is pretty compact that you can leave it on the kitchen counter top at all time.
The juicer is well designed and is overall efficient and user-friendly. It is capable of making 1.5 litre juice at a go without having to empty the pulp container. The spout of the tap connected to the juice compartment is at a height, so you can place glasses of up to 12 cm height underneath it. As the spout has a drip stopper, you don’t have to worry about messing the counter top either.
The juice and pulp container of Philips HR 1832/00 is transparent. So, it takes out the guesswork of checking how much juice has been collected. Along with the juicer, you get a 500ml jug too. It would have been better if the juice compartment had a measurement marking.
Something that you will notice as soon as you start using the juicer is that its feeding chute is a bit narrow. So, you will have to cut fruits like apple in to 3-4 pieces before you can feed it in to the juicer. Also, the juicer doesn’t have an option to adjust the speed.
When it comes to cleaning the juicer, the manufacturers claim that the juicer is equipped with quick cleaning technology that makes it possible to clean the juicer in just 1 minute. Well, that is a bit over the top. Of course, the sieve and pulp container is designed in such a way that cleaning is made easy. The juicer is definitely easy to assemble and unassembled too. However, you will have to spend a little more than a minute to thoroughly clean the sieve, blades, pulp and juice compartment.
An advantage when you buy from international companies like Philips is that safety is a top priority for them. Philips Viva Collection HR 1832/00 juicer is equipped with a number of safety features like anti-skid suction feet, narrow feeding chute and a short power cord.
The short power cord is seen as a fault by many users. But the fact is not quite so. If the juicer had long cord, it is quite likely to dangle down from the counter top. If you have small kids at home, they might see the hanging power cord and may pull it down. Imagine what could happen next. Remember, the juicer has pretty sharp blades too.
Overall, the Philips HR 1832/00 is par excellence for a centrifugal juicer. Reviewers tried making apple, carrot, beetroot and strawberry juice with it and the results were excellent. The pulp wasn’t bone dry. But even so, juice was thick and the juice yield was very good compared to any other centrifugal juicer, making it one of the best juicers available in the market today.
Owing to the great performance, apt price tag and low level of product returns, the Philips Viva Collection HR 1832/00 has been selected as one of the Amazon Choice products in the kitchen appliance section.
Find latest price (Amazon) Find latest price (Flipkart)
Philips Viva Collection HR1863/20 2-Litre Juicer
Find latest price
Performance wise, HR 1863/20 is one step above the above-mentioned HR 1832/00. It has 700 Watt motor compared to 400 Watt motor in HR 1832/00.
The other differences are that HR 1863/20 has a wider feeding chute that is 7.5cm wide—so you won’t have to cut most of fruits and vegetables before feeding in to the juicer. Next, it has a higher capacity of 2 L. Also, you can collect the juice directly in to the jug instead of collecting it in a separate juice compartment—so one less part to clean.
You will also notice that the jug that comes along with Philips HR 1863/20 juicer has 800ml capacity and has a lid making it easy to store.
Other than these differences, most other features are almost the same for both the juicers.
The price difference between HR 1863/20 and HR1832/00 is about Rs. 2000. But the numerous user-friendly features and outstanding performance makes it worth every penny spent.
Find latest price (Amazon) Find latest price (Flipkart)
Braun Multiquick 3 J300 800-Watt Juicer
Find latest price
Braun Multiquick juicer is perhaps the most expensive juicer in this list. But Braun has a reputation for quality and top notch performance that is simply incomparable.
The 800 Watt juicer with 2 speed control and large 7.5cm wide feeder chute comes with a 1.25 Litre jug with foam separator and a large pulp container.
All parts of the juicer are dish wash safe and thanks to the anti-splash spout with anti-drip system, there is hardly any mess on the counter top while juicing.
Be it hard fruits like apple or soft ones like grapes, the juicer is quite efficient and has one of the best-in-class juice yield, thanks to the high-speed motor with 2 speed settings and superior stainless steel blades. A fair amount of froth is produced while juicing. However, as the jug has a foam separator, you can drink the juice devoid any foam.
The manufacturers have taken care of the safety aspects too with this juicer. It has a safety system in place that prevents the juicer from functioning until it is assembled correctly. The juicer also has an anti-skid base and cord storage system to prevent any untowardly incidents.
Overall, this German juicer is a notch above the rest in terms of performance, durability and user-friendliness.
Find latest price (Amazon) Find latest price (Flipkart)
Sujata Powermatic Juicer Mixer Grinder
Find latest price
If you pass by a juice bar, just take a look at the brand of juicer they use and most likely it would be Sujatha. Equipped with high power motor of 900 watt and with capacity to run at 22000 RPM for up to 90 minutes continuously, Sujatha Juicer Mixer Grinder is a highly durable option for all Indian homes. In fact, if you have Sujata Powermatic Juicer, then all you have to buy is an additional chutney jar and you don’t have to buy an additional mixie for your home.
The juicer component has to be attached to the mixer grinder. This gives an added advantage as the speed of the juicer can be adjusted unlike Philips Viva Collection Juicers.
There is a spout on the juicer through which the juice can be collected in a separate vessel. Along with the unit comes two jars of 2 L and 1L capacity each which can be used as blender as well as mixer grinder for other kitchen use.
Reviewers were able to juice beetroot, orange, apple, carrot, grapes and other soft as well as hard fruits and vegetables pretty efficiently. However, the pulp still had a bit of moisture that is characteristic of a centrifugal juicer.
The main drawback of this juicer mixer grinder is that it is a little too noisy. It is not as easy to clean like Philips juicers too. Otherwise, Sujatha Juicer Mixer Grinder is one of the best and a budget friendly option to choose.
Find latest price (Amazon) Find latest price (Flipkart)
Panasonic MJ-68M 220-Watt Centrifugal Juicer
Find latest price
Panasonic MJ-68M centrifugal juicer is quite power efficient consuming just 220 Watt, but still highly have a maximum RPM of 12500 cycles. The juicer design is not particularly innovative like Philips, but that doesn’t mean its efficiency is any less.
The feeding chute is a bit narrow. So, you may have to cut the fruits in to smaller chunks. In order to ensure safe operation, the juicer has a safety lock that guarantees against accidental switching on. It also comes with a circuit breaker. The pulp is collected inside the juicer and there is a separate 600ml container in which the juice gets collected.
The high RPM and super sharp blades ensure great efficiency in juicing both hard and soft fruits and vegetables with ease. In spite of the high RPM, the juicer doesn’t make too much of noise like the Sujatha.
When it comes to cleaning, it isn’t as easy as Philips Viva Collection. But it isn’t quite cumbersome either. Overall, Panasonic MJ-68M centrifugal juicer is a budget friendly option that doesn’t a pretty good job of juicing all types of fruits and vegetables with ease.
Find latest price (Amazon) Find latest price (Flipkart)
Kenwood JE680 700-Watt Juicer
Find latest price
With large size feeding mouth that saves you time cutting fruits and vegetables for juicing and a whole lot of user-friendly and safety features, Kenwood JE680 is a great choice for families with 3-4 members.
The juicer consumes 700 watts power and comes with a 750 ml juice jug and a 1.5 L pulp collector. Unlike most other juicers, Kenwood JR680 has two speed settings for soft and hard fruits/vegetables. The juicer also has an anti-drip valve that ensures the counter remains mess-free while juicing.
Kenwood JE680 juicer also has safety features like locking system that prevents accidental switching on of the appliance before proper assembly. The blade also has a lock to prevent accidents.
When it comes to cleaning, all parts of the juicer are dish-wash friendly. Now even if you don’t have a dishwasher, cleaning is not quite cumbersome.
Overall, the Kenwood JE680 has a number of safety features, high efficient juicing system and adjustable speed settings that make it a great choice for juicing both fruits and vegetables with ease.
Find latest price (Amazon) Find latest price (Flipkart)
The post Best Juicer in India For Home appeared first on Smart Home Guide.
