Good Juicer. (Cookworks Signature Whole Fruit)

Member Name: purefire

Product:	Cookworks Signature Whole Fruit
Date:	01/09/09 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Works well

Disadvantages: Pain to clean.

I got this in a clearance at Argos for £18 - which was a bargain. I got the extended three year warranty as well for £5, which was still a bargain under the normal price of around £30.

Setting it up is easy. The manual recommends taking it apart and putting it back together again a few times, which makes the process easier. There are two strong plastic clasps which hold the whole thing in place firmly when juicing. It is bulky, and will take up quite a bit of the worktop space.

There is a chute at the top from which you can just place whole pieces of fruit in - no need to peel, except for citrus fruits. There are two settings - one for soft fruit, and one for hard fruit. From my experience, it tackles both with ease. The juice comes out into the capacious container, and the pulp goes into the large pulp tray. They pulp can be reused as mulch, or even baked as a tasty snack (so I am told - I have yet to try this). The juice is never completely smooth, although leaving it to stand for a while will allow the sediment to settle for those who are picky about such things. It is not recommended to use this for more than 5 minutes at a time to prevent overheating.

Cleaning is somewhat messy. The pulp tray will get the majority of the fruit, but if you have something tough, like carrots, a few particles will escape. Not that much, so that a wipe of the surrounding area with a damp cloth will do, but that it does happen is somewhat annoying. It comes apart easily, and is dishwasher safe, so from that point of view it seems to be ok. For those who don't have a dishwasher, like myself, it will be cumbersome to clean.

Personally, I think this serves well as an introduction to juicing, so that people who are curious about juicing can try this, but for people who are serious about their juicing and want to do it every day or so, I would recommend a masticating juicer such as the Philips Professional Aluminuim Juicer (HR 1861) - which is quite expensive at £90ish, but worth it if you really are serious about juicing.

Summary: Good juicer, does job well.

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