savor — guide to food & dining on the azalea coast
masticating
$200 to $500
Like your teeth, this
juicer chews the
vegetables and fruit
to produce juice. The
masticating juicer is
best for those who
juice frequently.
Hand-Crank
masticating
$25 to $260
This juicer is
specifically for
wheatgrass and is
manual, not electric.
The hand-crank
masticating juicer
squeezes each blade
of wheatgrass to
generate the juice.
centrifugal
$200 to $400
Spinning at high
speeds, this
juicer grinds the
vegetables into
juice. Centrifugal
is the best choice
for someone
just beginning
or who will juice
infrequently. (Lower
speeds are best.)
75
“I love juicing,” says Carolyn Atkinson of the downtown neighborhood
restaurant, the Flying Pi Kitchen. “I love what it does for
my customers.”
The actual act of juicing takes less than three minutes; however,
juicing produce is time consuming. With some juicers, prepping is
easy. Apples do not have to be cored and some juicers can handle an
entire beet at once.
“My sister gave me a juicer for my birthday. You get what you
need quicker, a lot more servings at one time. And your nutrients
go straight to your bloodstream,” says Jennifer Williams, a relatively
new juicer. Also, make sure that your household is awake when you
turn the juicer on — it can be one loud machine.
“You do it first thing in the morning for the best results, before
any other food,” Williams says.
The main difference between juicing produce and blending it is
that a juicer separates the pulp from the liquid, also separating the
fiber, while the blender mixes everything together. There are two
main types of juicers: centrifugal and masticating. The centrifugal
juicer is strictly for juicing produce. It uses a spinning technique
with blades to grind the fruit and vegetables. The centrifugal juicer
is deemed best for someone who juices infrequently, as it is the less
expensive of the two. The masticating juicer uses its blades to extract
the juice from the fruit and vegetables.
Before investing in a juicer it is a good idea to try different juices.
Besides the Flying Pi Kitchen on Fourth and Chestnut streets in
Wilmington, other juicing options include Surfberry, open seasonally
at Wrightsville Beach, Tidal Creek Co-op on Oleander Drive,
and Lovey’s Market in Landfall Center. All juice menu boards offer
multiple combinations of fruits and vegetables, including the option
of creating your own blend.
Davis is an avid home juicer. She mixes a handful of cilantro,
one quartered cucumber and three-fourths of a quartered celery
stalk for her favorite juice. The water-based vegetables pump out
quite a bit of juice, which saves time and money. The cost of
other raw vegetables can be pricey, Davis says, but, “Experiment
with everything to learn how to save money and find your favorite
combinations.”
Davis also likes to mix carrots into her juice at home because of
the sweet taste it adds. She mixes four to five carrots with one apple
and an inch or two of ginger for a pleasing flavor.
“Carrot juice is wonderful because of the high amount of vitamin
A, but be careful. Too much of the carrot juice can really raise your
blood sugar,” says Karen Stewart, a co-owner of Lovey’s Market.
The most popular juice bar beverage at Lovey’s Market is the kale
smoothie made from five-to-six leaves of kale, one half of a cucumber
and one apple.
Carolyn Atkinson also adds kale stems to her juices, and is a big
fan of the beet, combining carrot, beet, ginger and apple.
Most juice combinations start with carrots. Surfberry adds carrots
into all but two of its made-to-order juices.
“We add the carrots into our juices because of all the added benefits,
especially the vitamins and enzymes,” says Kelsey Monell,
assistant manager at Surfberry on Old Causeway Drive. The most
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