Is there a Difference between Homemade and Supermarket Juices?
“Cold pressed, fresh and raw” juices have become increasingly popular over the past couple of years in supermarkets, but are these juices what they say they are? In today's blog post we will explore what really goes into commercial juices that claim to be fresh.
The Benefits of Juice
There are so many benefits of fruit and vegetable juice as they provide nutrients like vitamins, minerals and enzymes which is a great way to get nutrients as you are squeezing all of the goodness out of the fruit and veg into a single drink rather than eating a plateful of veggies, which isn't always the nicest part of the meal. As its a liquid form, the juice does not contain insoluble fibre, making it easy on the stomach and can also give your digestive system a break from digesting heavily processed foods.
What’s so Different about Store Bought Juice?
Store-bought juices are prepared completely differently from homemade juices, while there are some store-bought juices that are made and sold all on the same day, most go through quite a long process.
When manufactured the juice will go through a type of pasteurisation which is a process of using heat to kill possible microorganisms which may be present inside the produce. This type of pasteurisation is called high-pressure processing (HPP) which is a type of low-temperature preservation which massively extends the shelf life. Once the juice has been bottled the bottles are then subjected to extremely high pressures of up to 85,000 PSI, which to put into perspective it would be like going to the bottom of the ocean but you would only reach 1/5 of this pressure created in an HPP machine. Once the bottles have come out of the other end, 99% of living microbial content would have been killed and the shelf life would have been prolonged by 30-40 days instead of raw juice which is normally a couple of days. Looking at the use by date is a great way to determine if the juice is “raw” or has been processed HPP.
HPP has some benefits which include a safer juice product, the use by date is prolonged, you can experience the taste of fruits that are not available in your locality, packaged juices provide juices of the fruits which are not in season and it saves all the time that goes into peeling and juicing fruit and veg at home. In order for juice to be distributed wholesale to resellers, it is FDA law that juice must undergo a process like HPP or other heat pasteurisation. However, if the maker is selling direct to a consumer, this process is not required.
There has been speculation on whether companies are using the right terms on their juices as some have been labelling there products “100% raw” even though its been through HPP. If your unsure whether your juice is raw or not, a lot of companies will use the term “cold pressed” to refer it has undergone HPP and raw juices will have the following warning label “WARNING: This product has not been pasteurised and, therefore, may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.”
What’s so bad about HPP?
Yes, HPP will make your juice safer but remember you still have normal amounts of micro-organisms on fruit and vegetables anyway, and it’s highly unlikely you would get ill from those micro-organisms on your fruit and veg unless you have a vulnerable immune system. Unfortunately, HPP does have some downfalls because the process of pressurising the juice modifies the activity of some enzymes and the structure of some proteins. It can also have an impact on the flavour, which is where companies will have to add in artificial flavours to try and keep the juice tasty.
Aside from this, bottled juices are often packed in cans or low-quality plastic (not all though, as some products use BPA free or glass bottles), which contain chemicals, acids and waxes that may seep into the liquid over time.
Why Juice?
With all this being said there is a solution to bought juices and yes you can guess what I'm about to say next, homemade juice is the solution.
With a homemade juice, you get all of its important nutrients inside a liquid form, allowing you to drink the phytonutrients which are basically the plant's natural chemicals minerals and vitamins that help prevent diseases.
A great positive of homemade or raw juices are you can choose what vegetables and fruits to use giving you the freedom to make your own juice and know exactly whats in it.
“Whenever you drink a juice your body does tend to feel like it has more energy. According to research, our bodies use energy to convert the foods we eat into liquids to be absorbed, When you drink juice, your body is essentially skipping this step and saving energy and retaining the juices original nutrient content.”
Unfortunately, you can not totally rely on juicing for weight loss. To be successful with losing weight in the long term you can incorporate your juices to healthy balanced diet or just have them for the occasional afternoon booster snack.
Our Favourite Juicer
Angel 8500 Twin Gear Stainless Steel
The Angel 8500s is the top of the range and features higher grade surgical stainless steel, specifically the juicing screen, screen cover and twin gears.
Like the Angel 7500, the Angel 8500s Juicer also features the automatic reverse safety function. When juicing it is easy to overload the chamber, the Angel Juicer 8500s automatically senses the additional pressure build-up and reverses out automatically to prevent blockages. This stops too much pressure building up inside the machine which could possibly damage the juicing screen.
In our 10+ years of selling juicers here at Juicers.co.uk, we have yet to find a juicer that performs as well as the Angel Juicer in terms of extracting the highest possible juice yield and driest possible pulp. No other Juicer we’ve tested can extract as much Juice as the Angel from common produce like apples, carrots, wheatgrass and celery, the pulp comes out unbelievably dry compared to other juicers.
If you are looking for the best juicer money can buy then look no further than the Angel. The extra 15-30% yield you get with the Angel versus any other juicer on the market will justify the extra cost over a 2-3 year period with the amount you will save on buying produce. The Angel is also a stunning design piece and will be a focal point of any kitchen.
Angel Juicer 8500s Highlights
- Removes 95% of pesticides and agrochemicals on the surface of non-organic
- Fruit and Vegetables by binding to the waste fibre (due to the design of the 2 large spinning stainless steel gear gears
- The only juicer capable of efficiently extracting nutrients locked inside cellulose fibres so you get the maximum levels of enzymes and nutrients from deep within the fibres
- Easy to assemble, use and clean (Only 4 juicing parts) – 100% dishwasher safe
- Extracts up to 2 times more juice & 3 times more nutrients than some other twin gear machines
- Intelligent Auto Reverse - automatically senses the additional pressure build-up and reverses out automatically to prevent blockagesSuper quiet when running
- Grinds soybeans, beans, grains and coffee beans and makes delicious soy milk, tofu and nut butter
- Angel Juicer has won 3 international awards and has been recognised as the Number 1 twin gear / cold press juicer in the world
Here at juicers.ie, we believe that homemade juices and smoothies are the way forward as you know your getting the vital nutrition you need and won't be able to get juice much fresher than homemade. It is important to remember that fruit does have a lot of natural sugars which will increase blood pressure so adding veg to your juices is best to keep sugar levels normal, we like to use the 80/20 rule to make sure we aren't overloading our bodies too much on sugar.