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.