Juicers

[American_Suisse]

This is probably in the wrong place so let me apologize right off the bat!

I just had an interesting drink at the home of a friend of a friend. He took me there to meet this amazing woman. She's 97 years old...still lives by herself, gives piano lessons daily, cultivates, plants, weeds and harvests her own garden. After introductions were made and we were shown into her parlor, she excused herself to go and prepare some beverages for us. When she returned there were three glasses on the tray filled with a purplish and thick appearing liquid. I guess the expression on my face delighted her as she handed me my glass. With a wink that only a 97 year old woman can give she hoisted her glass, said "Salut" and "Bonne santé", and drank deeply. I took a quick sniff then a tentative sip. It was good! Now to find out what it was. My friend quickly filled in for my horrible French and found out. It was a mixture of red cabbage, fennel bulb, apples and lemon juice all juiced.
I'm fairly sure I have the amounts correct.
1 small red cabbage
1 fennel bulb
2 apples
15ml lemon juice
Just cut everything up and put into the juicer. Pour into the glasses and add the lemon juice, stir and serve.

This old gal makes many different drinks all prepared for the most part by the produce she grows in her garden.
Now I have to get a good juicer and get more recipes from her!

[shel]

I've been making my own juice for about twenty years, and have been drinking freshly made juices since 1967, when I discovered a juice bar in an alley in downtown San Francisco.

Over the years I've had about five juicers plus a couple of hand operated citrus presses. When buying a juicer don't consider only price. Read as many reviews as you can and look for the features that are important to you and, above all, high quality, well constructed machines. You need to be mindful of the kinds of juice you want to make - fruit juice, vegetable juice, juicing soft or hard items, and so on. Not all machines do well for all types of fruits and vegetables.

There are several good books on juicing out there. They are filled not only with recipes, but also include juicing techniques and nutritional information. The Juicing Book by Stephen Blauer and Juicing For Life by Cherie Calbom and Maureen Keane are my two favorite books on the subject. The first book has a chapter on the types of juicers on the market and also some comments on specific brands.

Enjoy the world of juicing!

shel