I make an awesome juice …. I have no favourites but my green “swamp” juice is fairly spectacular! A great juice can really kick start you in the morning, for me it is way better than coffee. My love for juicing began about 8 years ago when I first visited Jamba Juice in Santa Monica… check me… fancy. In our 3 week trip I am sure I visited there every day and wanted to open a store up on my return. Then, nearly 2 years ago I bought my first ever juicer. It was a Philips, it could handle hard and soft fruit, it was centrifugal with a extra large feeding tube and I was delighted with it. It was very easy to use and I did not have to peel or cut the fruit before using it. Maximum juice with minimum fuss. At that point I didn’t really think “is this the best way to juice to give me optimum nutrition”.
A few weeks ago I started to research a new juicer. I felt that although the Philips was fine I was beginning to get fed up that some of the produce stuck to the lid and the pulp was still fairly wet when it came out. I knew that there were better options out there. After a lot of reading I knew that I wanted a juicer that was slower and as a result would produce better juice with a higher nutritional content.
Last week my juicer arrived ….. great excitement…clapping my hands like a seal as the delivery driver dropped it off. Enter the JR Ultra 8000 Whole Slow Juicer by Juicy Retreats or the JR8000 for short. This is a solid juicer which was heavy in the box (my delivery driver offered to take it in for me.) and I knew it meant business.
This juicer came with two jugs. One for the pulp to come out and the other to put under the non-drip cap where the juice flows out. I was a bit blown away by how much more of the apple actually came out in the juice jug and also the colour of it. Fantastic. Secondly the pulp that is extracted comes out much drier and also comes out in rectangular shapes. I found that if you take these and put them in the oven at about 180 degrees for 20 minutes (approx) they make fab fruit bars for the kids/you. Bonus…. no wastage!! Although I lazily just take the extracted pulp from the machine, you could wait until the end, mix all up together and make more bar shaped bars. I find the bite size shaped option great and easy.
In the last week I have gone on to experiment with all my favourite juice recipes. These include green “swamp” juice, purple juice, ginger with lemon and orange with carrot. What has struck me most is the purity of the juice that has been extracted. The colour is certainly more vibrant. The juice itself seems less watery and it also does not separate the same way in the glass!! The slower rpm of the JR8000 and its advanced squeeze technology system allows for more juice, more vitamins and more live enzymes to be extracted.
One question I will get asked is how does it handle fibrous fruit and veg. It handle it, it masticated them and it juiced them well. With the likes of kale and some other harder veg I found that if you soaked it first you got better results.
I like to juice in bulk sometimes and stockpile my freezer with juice. Often I use BPA free bottles for this but for the likes of ginger with lemon I put the juice in ice cube trays. This makes it really easy to make a great hot ginger and lemon drink by adding a couple of juice ice cubes to hot water.
The addition of the non-drip cap on the JR8000 is a lifesaver. No more routing around to find another container to put under the juicer while you empty the jug. It also means you can pre-mix your juice in the juicer itself and then empty. The final benefit of this non-drip cap is at the end of your juicing when you want to flush the juicer out with water. Keep the cap in, add water into the feeding tube and turn it all on. This is a quick and easy way to start the cleaning process. The parts of the JR8000 are not to be washed in the dishwasher, but to be honest they do clean really quickly in the sink and the brush included in the box will help clean up any tricky bits.
The BPA free JR8000 also comes with two extra attachments to let you make frozen fruit desserts, smoothies and even your own soy or nut milk! How cool is that? I really need to play with the frozen fruit dessert part some more, but first couple of tries were so good. My son in particular, now wants one for his dessert most days. Given that we hardly ever have dessert as they don’t always finish their main, this has been a great incentive to get him to finish all his dinner. Such a healthy option and if I am going to go all fancy on you…. such a great way to cleanse your palette.
Conclusion :- Would I recommend to my friends to buy? Yes. I am also sure that if they came to my house to trial it, they would want to buy one too! I love this juicer for a number of reasons :- juice quality, premium extraction, low noise, convenient, less chopping, BPA free, amount of juice actually extracted from fruit, ease of use and lets not forget the extra attachments or 5 year motor warranty. On top of this, I had a couple of questions when I started to use the JR8000 which I emailed over to Juicy Retreats and I have to say the customer service was superb. Quick to respond, understanding and friendly. If only all companies could be like this. The JR Ultra 8000 Whole Slow Juicer is currently on sale on their website at £199 but normally costs £339.99. Good deal people!
If you are into juicing and want to take it a step further, Juicy Retreats also do….. Retreats. These 4 or 7 day detoxifying retreats are great for weight loss, de-stress and are located in the Algarve, Somerset and the Lake District. These appear to be so much more than juicing and combine yoga, massage therapy and outdoor adventures like abseiling mountain biking. My head is already there!! I have already worked out some logistics too. The in-laws are in Wiltshire near the Somerset retreat….. I am sure they would like 4 days of quality bonding time with their grandkids….no?
Check out my blender review here …… Blender
You can follow me on Twitter @iamfififriendly, Pinterest, Instagram and on Facebook.
.png?resize=200%2C199){kind=logo}
I've just bought this juicer and I agree with absolutely everything you say!!!! What a brilliant machine. Holly, Chichester, UK