Juices

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Durgan

All vegetable juice has the same taste. I use no condiments. The criteria is nutrition.

But one could swamp it like all commercial products if desired.

Respectfully disagree. Nutrition is good, but nutrition that tastes good is the bomb.

[tlintx]

I like the Trader Joe's veggie drink. It's a little spicy, very fresh tasting. Not "cooked" like V8.


Tl

[coronabarb]

Well, unless one has a nice garden (and sometimes life intervenes to not allow that), commercial juice is the only juice. I think we all would prefer nice homemade juice if possible. :-)

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by coronabarb

Well, unless one has a nice garden (and sometimes life intervenes to not allow that), commercial juice is the only juice. I think we all would prefer nice homemade juice if possible. :-)

I use a fair amount of bought produce, which I do not grow in sufficient quantities if at all. Corn, cherries, blueberries, sometimes pears, muskmellon, pumpkin, elderberries, apples, to name most. It does take a bit of effort to pressure can, but I have it down to a system, and don't find it too onerous.

A small area in a backyard can produce a lot of food under the right conditions. I produce my tomatoes, all the greens, potatoes, onions, garlic, blackberry, gooseberry, currants, grapes, cucumbers, asparagus,green beans, green peppers, eggplant. The wastage is large unless a preserving method is used. I use the juicing method with great success. Last year I canned around 400 litres and will have the same amount this year or a bit more.

[tlintx]

I agree about the commercial stuff -- I like the TJ's because it's tasty and more nutritious than a glass of OJ or a Coke. My favorite is actually home juiced celery, spinach, and lemon juice.

I'm excited to increase production this season, and over the winter, and next spring... this spring I managed tomatoes, greens, and a few peppers. Our climate is not friendly to a lot of berries and fruits, but I'm not complaining, because we have a great climate for many other things.

Maybe I should go dig my juicer out of the garage? Or I could use my blender. Do you think freezing the juice would negatively impact it?

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by tlintx

I agree about the commercial stuff -- I like the TJ's because it's tasty and more nutritious than a glass of OJ or a Coke. My favorite is actually home juiced celery, spinach, and lemon juice.

I'm excited to increase production this season, and over the winter, and next spring... this spring I managed tomatoes, greens, and a few peppers. Our climate is not friendly to a lot of berries and fruits, but I'm not complaining, because we have a great climate for many other things.

Maybe I should go dig my juicer out of the garage? Or I could use my blender. Do you think freezing the juice would negatively impact it?

My view:Freezing is fine for meat, but leaves a lot to be desired for vegetation. A human diet probably requires as much variety as possible to corporate all the necessities over the long term. I have found juicing can encompass almost anything with ease and ingesting is possible with little effort. Certainly one can juice almost any produce in the peak of condition. Fresh vine ripened is the ideal, but most do not live in a climate where such is possible, so we have to compromise. Unfortunately, we have handed our food preparation over to commercial interests, possible or more probably to the detriment of our health and well being.

Some relatively modern tools for food preparation have simplified canning in particular. Ease of operation food mills for straining, sure beats cheese cloth. Juicers which are basically different sized screens tend to get more nutrients out of the process. Some only supply water but others tend to get most of the useful material for consumption. A Champion juicer and a simple food mill are a big improvement over what our pioneer ancestors has to contend with. Of course, any food preparation takes time and effort. Many people are not prepared to expend the effort for various reasons.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?GKCNW 2 August 2013 Corn Juice
Corn is in season now.It is of the highest quality. Cost is 6.50 dollars for 14 cobs if you have your own bag. Eighty four cobs were processed into 14 litres of juice.Each litre of juice contains 6 cobs of corn.Fourteen litres was pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage, and one litre was placed in the refrigerator for current use.Water was added to make the product liquid enough for drinking. The texture is such that it makes ideal soup or may be ingested as a drink.Texture is such that food mill straining is not necessary. Annotated photos depict the process. Cost about $2.75 per litre.

[Redbaron]

Boy I don't know about this one Durgan. I love all your juice posts generally. I am a big advocate of juicing for sure! Green smoothies too! I love almost all versions.

I have to draw the line at corn though. sorry. Much better preserved in the freezer. Canning can be good too. Growing dent corn and storing corn meal? Another good one. Juice? Not with you there at all.

[TightenUp]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Boy I don't know about this one Durgan. I love all your juice posts generally. I am a big advocate of juicing for sure! Green smoothies too! I love almost all versions.

I have to draw the line at corn though. sorry. Much better preserved in the freezer. Canning can be good too. Growing dent corn and storing corn meal? Another good one. Juice? Not with you there at all.

scott

i love seeing these posts. maybe he's onto something. i'm going to chalk it up as a "don't knock it till you try it" sort of thing.

when cooking with fresh corn many recipes call for slicing the kernels off and then running the back of a knife down the bare cob to get the "milk" or corn juice. it's kind of a trick to re-enforce the corn flavor in certain dishes

[newatthiskat]

sounds excellent! I picked from a blueberry farm but made blueberry vanilla bean jam. Very yummy

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WCMTC 17 August 2013 Vegetable Juicing
Current garden vegetables were made into 12 litres of juice. Vegetables used were tomato, carrots,green beans,basil,egg plant, cucumber, green pepper and celery. Basically boiled until soft, made into a slurry,food mill strained, and Champion juicer strained Pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage.Process is depicted by pictures.

[clkeiper]

Durgan, What an awesome setup. I would love to have an "outdoor" place to make my mess and and not heat up the house. Now I am thinking.....

[wally mcgee]

Originally Posted by Durgan

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WCMTC 17 August 2013 Vegetable Juicing
Current garden vegetables were made into 12 litres of juice. Vegetables used were tomato, carrots,green beans,basil,egg plant, cucumber, green pepper and celery. Basically boiled until soft, made into a slurry,food mill strained, and Champion juicer strained Pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage.Process is depicted by pictures.

It looks delicious! Do you drink it as is, or do you use it in cooking?

[Durgan]

I drink the juice as is about a litre per day of various sometimes mixed.

[lakelady]

That's pretty good if you ask me. The birds usually do a good job of minimizing my harvest, but I got a gallon bag of berries this year first time, and they are in the freezer until I have time to juice and make jam out of them.