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Andrew James Whole Fruit
by cha97mw
I've been toying with the idea of buying myself a juicer after watching the film, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead last year. I'd been keeping an eye on a few different brands of juicers on amazon, and I read a review on an appliance website that suggested that the one I wanted was prone to the plastic cracking, and it suggested I take a look ... at this one instead.
The Andrew James Juicer looks just as stylish as other juicers with its nice silver and black finish. It was a brand I had not heard of before, but I noticed they make other small kitchen appliances too so I was happy to take a gamble on the brand, particularly when this 850 watt juicer was only £30 and not the £60 of equivalent models. Other than size, the only other difference I can see is that it is a stainless steel machine rather than aluminium.
The juicer has several parts to it, and it is a little larger than some of the models available, but I decided I wasn't that fussed about it being a bit bigger as long as it did a good job. Its worth considering the size of your kitchen though and where you will keep it as it is 25cm long by about 22cm wide at the widest point, and then 40cm tall when assembled as shown in the picture. In pieces, it takes the height to 25cm.
The main body of this contains the 850 watt motor. On the top of the machine is the filter and the cutting blades which are pretty sharp. There is then a pulp collector (the black section) to the left of the machine, and pipe outlet to the right where you sit your collecting jug, or when not in use you can put a cap over the outlet pipe. There is a cover that goes over the whole of the top of the machine with an feeder tube to put your fruit and vegetables in, and a rod to push your food down to where the blades are. To use the machine, you need to make sure that the metal clip goes across the top of the plastic cover to keep the lid on tight and stop pulp flying everywhere.
In use, this is a handy machine as it has two speed setting depending on the hardness of your food. The lower setting spins at 1500rpm, and is adequate for citrus fruit and softer fruits like apples, peppers or spinach. I then find the faster setting of 1800rpm is much better when I put in harder items like cabbage or carrots. I find that I don't feel the machine vibrating so it is easy to use, and it has non-slip rubber feet which make it sit firmly in place on my kitchen bench when in use.
It seems most efficient on fresher fruits and vegetables as they obviously contain more water as they are less dehydrated. Slightly older stuff will not juice as well and you end up with a bit more in the pulp collection bucket.
What I really like about the juicer is that you can put your whole fruit in. I don't stress about putting in things like a pepper with the stalk or the seeds, or an apple that has its core still. I trust that the filter will remove all this and send it to the pulp bin before my juice comes out of the machine. The only thing it recommends is that you peel citrus fruit before putting it in, and you don't attempt to juice more fibrous fruits like bananas. Its not a smoothie maker, so this makes total sense really.
This has actually been used a lot more than I initially thought. I had to google some recipes as the machine didn't come with a recipe book, but there is a wealth of information online so it is not a problem for me really.
The only negatives really are:
- the cost of the fruit to make a juice - say I was making apple juice for my family, I could easily use 2 apples each or more to make a decent size serving of juice for each of us of about a litre altogether. Obviously a litre of cheap apple juice comes in at a much lower price, but the difference in taste is amazing. It is possible to make cheaper juices by selecting cheaper types of fruit and veg, like carrots, which give a large liquid yield at a low cost.
- this is quite a pain to manually clean. It's all safe to put in the dishwasher so this would be easier, but we don't own one so we need to make sure this is washed up soon after use to make it easiest to clean. Partly this is due to the number of removable parts, but also the filter is a really fine metal mesh and the blades are really sharp. This came with a little brush to clean it and it does make it slightly easier, but I find it best to wash it under a running tap.
- the size of the chute - the manufacturer claims its big enough to put in a whole apple. I would say not really true unless you only buy the tiny kids apples. I find I get best results when I chop an apple into 4 at least. It seems to be quicker for me at least.
- there is some waste in the form of the pulp. This is compostable, and if I had a pure veg juice I could put it in a soup, or I could use some pulp in baking eg. I could put carrot and apple pulp into muffins. There are ways round the waste, and I should look into it more really so I feel better about it.
- the manufacturer claims this is fairly quiet. I've not used other juicers, but standing next to this its not exactly quiet, and the kids complain it is louder than the telly. It's only on for a minute or two at most though, so not exactly a real negative. Its on parr with using my hand blender.
- remember to put the cap on after use, as once you have juiced and remove the collecting jug, there always seem to be a few more sticky drops that find there way out and collect in a pool under the machine.
Positives for me are:
- my fruit and veg consumption has gone up. Before getting this machine I did eat veg, but I am fussy about fruit so I find that this really helps.
- the juice is really smooth with no bits so it is really easy to drink. Sometimes with apples in particular it can be a little frothy, but I don't mind this. (before buying the juicer I used my smoothie maker, and the gritty texture to the juice was undrinkable, so this really is brilliant for me. )
- my skin is honestly looking a lot better. Partly down to using a new cleanser, but I do think healing of my skin has been better down to increased vitamin intake.
- more regular bowel habits. My better diet has meant more trips to the bathroom, but I feel better for it. (Sorry if that is too crude for some. )
- my children already eat well, but they like the juices too and they are eating a slightly more varied diet so I feel like I am setting them up well in life.
Juices I have enjoyed - just to give people a starting point:
- 1 red pepper, 2 carrots, 2 oranges and a chunk of fresh ginger
- 1 apple, 1 orange, 3 handfuls of cabbage
- apple, pear and ginger
- 6-8 cabbage leaves, 3 carrots, 1 apple and a chunk of fresh ginger.
I thoroughly recommend owning a juicer. I think that it is a fabulous way to increase your intake of fruit and vegetables. It doesn't contain the insoluble fibre like eating the food, and it is also a little pricey to get your nutrients this way, but your body does benefit from how quickly these nutrients get into your body.
This particular machine may be cheaper than the alternatives, but I have found it to be hard working and very capable of making juice for a families needs. Its a bit of a pain to clean, but its speedy to get the juice to your family.
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