Juicing fruit

Who doesn’t love their orange juice for breakfast? There are so many store-bought varieties to choose from: regular, pulp-free, premium extra-pulp … (you do know, don’t you, that they take the pulp out of one and add it to the other?)

Health benefits of popular fruits in juicing

In addition to the variety of fabulous fresh tastes, there are particular health benefits associated with raw fruit juicing. Some of the associations are ancient, or “folk remedies,” while some have been only recently discovered or quantified by researchers.

The nice thing about juicing is that by combining fruits and vegetables that contain specific nutrients, one can target certain concerns, like weight loss, diminishing eyesight, or colon health.

Take a look at the colors represented in the list on the sidebar:

Red   Green     Black / purple   Blue   Orange   Yellow

It seems that Mother Nature has designed such an attractive array of colorful fruits as if to beckon us to try some of each.

So unless you are dealing with a specific medical problem, and are seeking a remedy through juicing and/or raw foods, it looks like enjoying a wide variety of these foods could provide you with natural protection from serious illness.

The best fruits for beginner juicing and how to prepare them

Everyone loves fruit, but except for bananas and apples, people avoid getting too deep into “messy” fruits. Especially if they are busy or going to be away from home, people tend to default to easier prepackaged snack foods.

Juicing is a wonderful way to reacquaint oneself with the fresh, beautiful variety of tastes that are just a grocery-store trip away. Playing with different combinations of fruits in juicing may entice you to (re)introduce a variety of fruits to your normal menus, too.

Try some of these easy-to-find fruit selections. A little bit of planning and preparation will make your first juicing adventures fun and healthful.

Berry, berry good

Berries are so easy! Just rinse, inspect for things that don’t belong there, and enjoy them promptly.

• Blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, raspberries – rinse and juice as soon as possible, they are somewhat fragile
• Strawberries – remove the green leaves and stems, but no need to cut out the hull (core)

No seeds allowed

Bad things may be lurking inside some of those innocent-looking seeds.

• Apples – remove the cores and seeds (seeds have cyanide)

It’s the pits

Why risk breaking your juice machine on a stone or a hard seed?

• Apricots – the pit has to go, slice the fruit in half and pick out the pit
• Cherries – a small paring knife will make it easy to remove the pits; discard any stems
• Peaches – like apricots, cut these in half to remove the pit
• Plums – same an peaches
• Mango – peel, then slice away flesh parallel to the flat pit

Pithy

The soft white pith just beneath citrus peel is good for you; try to preserve as much of it as you can.

• Oranges and grapefruits – their peels contain oils that are indigestible and should not be juiced; cut them up and remove the seeds.
• Tangerine and clementine peels can be juiced.
• Lemons and limes have peel that can be juiced; adjust according to how much bitterness you can stomach.

Leave the leaves

Certain plant leaves contain toxic substances, so stick to the stalks alone.

• Rhubarb -- stalks only

Peel here

Hard, inedible skins or skins that are coated with wax should be peeled.

• Cantaloupe – the webbed skin should be peeled, but try to save as much rind as possible
• Mangoes, papaya and guava are often coated with wax
• Kiwi fruit skins are edible if they are organic but some people find them too bitter

Take what you need and leave the rest

More popular fruits for juicing include these.

• Pineapple -- slice into wedges, cut out the woody core, peel the skin away
• Watermelon – remove the skin but juice the rind and the seeds
• Banana peels – while bananas contain little water and cannot be juiced, their skins contain rich nutrients that can be released through juicing

Remember to always remove the skin from non-organic fruit because of the pesticides that cannot be easily washed away.

Always wash your produce well. Use a vegetable brush with biodegradable soap to scrub the surfaces and remove surface dirt, unseen bacteria, and pesticide residue.