Under PRESSure

by Hadrian Miguel, Life & Style Director

With all of life’s stresses and pressures, it’s necessary to be well and eat well. By being the best we can be from the inside out, we will be more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and beaming with resilience…to bounce back no matter what lemons are thrown in our paths.

That’s why we’re simply mad about, not just any ol’ juicer, but hydraulic juice presses that will keep that, keep that body strong, and that’s the way I like it!

A hydraulic juice press extracts juice containing higher levels of nutrients from freshly ground up fruit and vegetables by squeezing the pulp using 2-4 tons of pressure. This is unlike other (electric) juicers that create oxidation, friction, and heat from a motor, ultimately decreasing and destroying nutrients and enzymes.

The crushing exerted by this pressing method of a hydraulic press will help preserve and collect the most enzymes, minerals and nutrients that would otherwise be left behind in the pulp and in other juicing machines. The pulp that comes out of other electric juicing machines still contain lots of juice. Without a presser, you have no other way of extracting it and good juice is wasted.

A hydraulic juicer produces juice of the highest quality. There is no oxidation involved in the juice pressing process, so your juice can stay fresh up to 3 or 4 days. The juice makes for extremely easy digestion and assimilation of essential nutrients.

Welles (Hydraulic) Juice Press

The hydraulic press machine is simple and less complicated than other juicing machines, manually operated, with no electricity needed, less parts, less things to wear out, and very easy to clean up.

This is how it works: freshly ground up fruits & vegetable is wrapped in mesh or cheese cloth. The purpose of the cloth is to hold this semi-fluid paste or pulp in place. The cloth also acts as a filter allowing juice to be pressed through while containing the ground up pulp inside. Then, utilizing hydraulic pressure to squeeze all the liquid and moisture out of the ground up pulp. This will produce the best quality and quantity of juice.

There are many manual, hydraulic press juicers out there and the cost is well worth the investment of about $300-$400. The Welles/Peoples Juice Press is one of our favorites because of it’s simple, sturdy design and because cleaning the Welles Juice Press is super easy, just slide the tray out along with the press plate and rinse it in warm water. Rinse the pressing cloth and store it in the freezer to keep it sterile.

But if cost is an issue, then look to the web for some crafty DIY-ers that have assembled and constructed affordable homemade versions that make juicing easy on your wallet for about $119, and we think that is just super-cool! Check out My Juice Press for more details.

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