Thursday, August 20, 2015

A New Kitchen Gadget

The other day while waiting for my surgery to begin, I was chatting with my daughter about this and that.  I mentioned that I had been looking for a juicer to use for making fruit juices and maybe vegetable juices.  I love my coffee, but like a glass of juice now and then.  Sometimes the store bought juices are overly sweet and I thought maybe making my own would be a good way to control the sugar content.

I had forgotten that my kids are constantly in touch with one another.  Tuesday morning I got a phone call from Youngest Son.  "I hear you are looking for a juicer," he said.  I replied that he was right.  He told me he had a friend who had one to sell.  Like many specialty appliances, the machine had been purchased and the novelty had worn off after about a half a dozen uses.  I can understand that if you are making only a couple of glasses of juice at a time it might be more bother than it was worth to drag out the machine, make the juice and then do the cleanup, but for me who likes to can up all sorts of food products, it would be a great time saver plus making the whole process easier.  He told me the brand name and said that his friend had paid $200 a year or so ago and that he would sell it for $75.

I looked the juicer up online and found that the price paid for it new was about right.  Then I watched several videos on how to use the machine.  Looked to me like it would work well for what I had in mind.  I found there was the possibility for a bonus.  The machine discards the fruit or vegetable pulp into a container after extracting the juice.  I think the pulp can be spread on dehydrator trays lined with fruit roll-up sheets and dried.  Carrot or celery or tomato pulp could be used as flavoring for soups.  Fruit pulp could be used in muffins or fruit breads or other baked goods.

Anyway, Youngest Son delivered my new-to-me juicer this morning.



Over the weekend I will get a variety of fruit and vegetables at the grocery and give it a test run.

I love kitchen gadgets!

4 comments:

  1. I'll be interested in hearing how you like it, and if it is up to your expectations. I don't have much in the way of kitchen appliances. I have a crock pot, a rice cooker, a little toaster oven, a microwave, the propane powered stove, and that's about it. Oh, and a bunch of coffee pots!

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  2. Harry...I'll do a post once I have tested it. I was mostly thinking about apple juice and tomato juice, both of which I like to can. If I hadn't figured out a way to use the leftover pulp I might not have bought it because I don't like waste. And I sure wouldn't have paid full price for it.
    I've had a number of coffee pots over the years, but my favorite is my Dad's that you pour the hot water in the top and it drips over a basket of grounds and into the pot. Makes the best coffee ever, and the thing is at least 70 years old!

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  3. nice. I think we all need to get our act together very soon, I don't like what is going on with Wall Street. You always find a couple of different uses for things don't you.

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  4. Rob...I was just lucky that my son knew about the juicer. I don't think I would have bought it if I hadn't found ways to use the leftover pulp. Some feed it to livestock and others toss it into a compost pile. I have neither, but if I can dehydrate it I can still use it. I don't like to waste anything. Can't afford to.

    I think you are spot on about getting our act together. Soon. Too many others who are a lot smarter than me are saying the same thing. I truly hope nothing happens, but if it does, we need to be as ready as we can be.

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