Juicing breaks down the cell walls of the vegetables which, according to some proponents of raw food diets, makes them easier to digest. It is accepted that vegetable juices have lots of necessary vitamins and minerals. Any vegetable can be juiced with the proper equipment. A blender juices or purees soft vegetables. A centrifuge juicer does the job for the rest. Combine the vegetable juices with fruit juices for a tastier drink. MayoClinic.com recommends eating vegetables for the fiber as well as drinking vegetable juice.
Leafy Greens
You might not think leafy greens such as chard, kale and spinach can be juiced, but they can and are. The flavor is more grassy when juiced, than when cooked. Place a pile of leaves together, roll up tightly like a cigar and place in the hopper of the juicer. Celery isn't a vegetable you normally think of as a leafy green. It makes a refreshing juice by itself or mixed with other vegetable juices.
Root Vegetables
Carrots give off a lovely orange-colored juice that is sweeter than most vegetable juices. Beet juice is the same color as the beet. The flavor is less sweet than cooked beets because cooking brings out the sugars in the beet. Parsnips look like white carrots and have a similar, though blander taste. Other root vegetables include turnips and rutabagas.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are in a class by themselves, as they form the basis of one of the most common commercially-prepared vegetable juice drinks. Juice fresh tomatoes by pureeing in a blender. Tomatoes are too soft to put through a juicer, which uses centrifugal force and a grate. If you prefer a more liquid juice than a blender, quarter the tomatoes and cook until the juices are released, about 10 minutes. Strain the juice to remove seeds, peel and fiber.
Cucumbers and Peppers
Both are botanical fruits, like tomatoes, but cooks consider them vegetables because they're not sweet. Juice firm cucumbers and peppers through a juicer. Peel the cucumber and remove the seeds to process through a blender. Cucumber juice with yogurt is a refreshing drink on a hot summer day.
Cabbage Family
Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower may all be juiced, but they are an acquired taste. The flavor is difficult to disguise by adding fruit juice.
Potatoes
Raw white potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams are all candidates for juicing. Potato juice tastes like raw potatoes, which you may or may not like. Sweet potato and yams are sweeter than most other vegetables juices. The color is attractive as well.
- MayoClinic.com; Is Vegetable Juice Just As Good As Actual Vegetables For Meeting The Number Of Recommended Vegetable Servings A Day?; Katherine Zeratsky
- Ultimate Juicing ; Donna Pliner Rodnitzky; 2000
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