The way you prep certain items will depend on functionality and your personal preferences. Here are some tips to help guide you.
General Tips:
- Always wash produce thoroughly and use a produce or antimicrobial wash – when serving a raw, unpasteurized juice, you want to make sure the product is as clean as possible.
- If the peel doesn’t affect the flavor or color of the juice – don’t peel it! There is a large concentration of beneficial nutrients in the outer layer of many fruits and vegetables.
- If the seeds are the size of a cherry pit or larger, remove them – pits and large seeds can lend a slightly bitter flavor to juice, as well as wear down or even damage blades.
- For large items (pineapples and larger), I prefer to cut into quarters – this will make it easier to process the produce at a more consistent rate.
Apples: You can keep whole and unpeeled.
Beets: Remove the top ends and clean the bottoms thoroughly. If they are small in size, I remove the bottom skinny part as well.
Berries: These small, fleshy fruits have a soft texture and do not contain a lot of liquid. I recommend using a blender to blend into a puree, then add it to the juice. To use more as a color and flavor infusion – lightly process, then press with your other recipe ingredients.
Carrots: I like to remove the top ends of the carrots due to the fact that it’s tough to remove all the dirt.
Cucumbers: Clean with antimicrobial wash to remove any wax. For light colored, non-green juices, I peel the cucumbers – otherwise I leave the skin on.
Leafy Vegetables: In general, do not remove the stems – they typically contain a lot of flavor and juice. Coming from the farm, leafy greens usually have the most dirt on the leaves and need to be thoroughly washed.
Lemons & Limes: For stronger flavored or full bodied juices, I like to grind these with the peel on – this is a preference where some might disagree – but when juiced whole, I find the peel not as bitter than it is with oranges and grapefruits.
Mangos & Papayas: These are a little pricey in most locations and do not contain a lot of juice – I recommend to blend in a blender and then add to the juice.
Melons: You can either peel or keep the rind on watermelon, if it is not that sweet, I would definitely peel. I like to de-seed honeydew and cantaloupe, as you get a slightly bitter flavor when you grind or process the seeds.
Nuts: In general, remove shells – however, keep or order with the skins on if possible, nuts such as almonds contain a lot of flavor in the brown skin.
Oranges & Grapefruits: I prefer to peel these items and then grind & press due to the bitter flavor in the peel.
Pineapples: Remove the green crown and cut into quarters, but leave the skin on.
Passion Fruit: In most areas these are a bit pricey, I like to add this to finished juice by scooping out the seeds and mixing them into the juice.