Storing Juice

When you juice vegetables and fruit, it is always best to consume the juice immediately after making it.  This way you are enjoying 100% of the vitamins, enzymes, minerals, proteins, fiber, carbohydrates, phyto-nutrients, chlorophyll, and lipids.  Minutes after making your juice some of this beneficial goodness starts to degrade.  When you juice fresh fruit and vegetables you are breaking open the cell walls, and many of the nutrients are very sensitive to light, air, heat and time.  So the best thing to do is to make only the juice you will consume, and consume the juice that you just made.

That said, often I find myself making an extra serving.  Instead of wasting this, and assuming my wife isn't home to drink it, I want to save it for later.  Granted like I said above it will never be as nutrient dense as it was when it was made, but there are ways to store the juice to limit the loss or degradation of the nutrients.

The best way to store your juice is to find yourself some glass Mason Jars.  Get the appropriate size.  You want to fill the jar right to the top.  I mean RIGHT to the top!  This is important as you want to eliminate any air in the jar.  Seal the lid on the jar and put it into the fridge.  Don't store your juice at room temperature it won't last, and will oxidize quickly.  If properly filled, and no air is present, your juice will last up to 8 hours if juiced with a centrifugal juicer, and up to 24 hours if juiced with a twin gear or single auger low RPM juicer.  Don't try to store them longer, they will essentially be just water.

So there it is.  No more wasting your left over juice.  I tend to make one for myself in the morning, and then store one away for when my wife gets home from work so she has one ready to go.

Welcome Back - Blentec Designer Blender Review

Well it's been a while, specifically a year and a bit.  Christmas has come and gone, and thanks to the unexpected gift from my lovely wife and her parents I have come back to revisit The Food Blender.  Visit often for inspiration, food and juice recipes, articles, etc.

I woke Christmas morning to a large present under the tree.  I have been wanting a blender for a few years, and have never bought one.  I specifically wanted a professional series blender but due to cost constraints it was never in the budget.  Well I opened the present and to my surprise it was a Blentec Designer Series blender, two models better than the model I was actually looking at.

The Blendtec Designer Series blenders are beautiful.  A completely stealth control panel with digital display only lights up when it is on. When off the panel is completely black.  Without any raised buttons or ridges, the base is super easy to clean.  Just wipe it down.  The blender itself is short enough to fit under the cabinets on my counter top, which is a issue with high end blenders.

This blender is so versatile.  It includes six pre-programmed blend cycles designed to deliver perfect blends, these include Batters, Ice Crush, Smoothie, Ice Cream, Whole Juice and Soups.  It also includes a multi digital slider control to get the exact speed you want, as well as a pulse.

Yes this blender also does soups.  I had never heard of this until recently watching a demo of the Vitamix at Whole Foods.  Put your ingredients into the blender, select the Soup setting, and in 90 seconds everything is blended into a soupy consistency and warm.  The friction of the blade spinning in the liquid warms up the soup.  Steam will actually come out of the pitcher when you remove the lid.  It's amazing, and I still don't understand how it does it.

The best thing about this blender is the clean up!  Other blenders you have to remove the blade from the pitcher and get in there with a rag and brush to get everything out.  Not with this blender.  Rinse the pitcher when you are done, put a cup or so of warm water in along with a drop of soap.  Put it back onto the base and run for 15 seconds.  The blender acts like a dishwasher and washes itself.  Rinse the soap out and your done, (See below).

I can highly recommend this blender.  I've only had it for a week, and I've put 25 cycles on it already.  Yes every time you turn it on it briefly displays the cycle count on the display.  I've made soup, smoothies, sorbet, green drinks and raw food.  I'll share these recipes and more with you in future posts.

Stay Tuned!