Juicing frozen fruit

[Soose]

You should have seen my kitchen this afternoon! What a mess trying to juice a berry mix!

I have various frozen fruits but I don't think my [centrifugal] juicer will handle them. I'm considering blending then sieving or straining the pulp. Or I could pour from the blender into the juicer but that makes a mess, lol.

What works with frozen fruits, please?

[Going to buy a good juicer, have always been going to buy one, just haven't picked one out.]

[DebB]

Hmm - I've never juiced frozen fruit that I can think of. Well, except frozen lemon wedges. I do juice frozen chunks of ginger though.

If I had frozen berries, I might be inclined to put my juice (from the juicer) into my blender and simply blend in the frozen berries and then just drink it.

Does that sound good to you ~ or do you want it strained..?

[Soose]

Deb, we're trying to juice fast so I'm trying to strain it -- keeping the pulp to add to later smoothies and/or raw dishes. I did not know if blending it would then allow us to strain all the seeds/pulp out or if it would be sort of homogenized. (Did not think at the time of a cheesecloth bag, just of strainers or the juicer.)

I put the berries first under warm water trying to warm them up some; then through the centrifugal juicer. What a mess and not very productive. This juicer has to have pulp put through twice at least. And it was a mess trying to get it out and back into the juicer! So I ended up putting them in a sieve which worked well. (Finally remembered jelly making when I was a kid.) What a comedy of errors!

Other than the mess, the berry juice was good (but not sweet at all). We took it and made an icee in the Blendtec and everyone was happy! :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

you have to defrost it first... or you get little to no juice out of it. at least that's my experience.

you can put it in a blender (thawed) and blend it and then use a nut mylk bag or paint strainer bag and remove the pulp that way.

[sidrah]

I usually put a frozen bag of fruit in the morning and have it for lunch, so by then it is thawed. I do the same with juicing them. I throw a bag in the fridge from the freezer and later that night when I get home, I just juice it like I would any other and add the liquid to the final product.

I do also juice frozen lemons, limes, ginger, and garlic, and herbs, sometimes, too.

[Soose]

Okay, I got you, no frozen fruits.

You know, Sidrah, I used to do something like this for my son's green smoothies when he went off to events. I'd pre-pack little ziplocs of cut up fruits and freeze them. Then he took a little portable blender with him. And just send along a little bag of greens. By lunchtime, it was ready to blend, even in this little blender, but it was still cold. This worked so well for him. I've been thinking of doing it for my husband at work. Usually I'll just make the green smoothie and if there's extra or if he doesn't have time, I'll bottle it for him in and hand it to him heading out the door (he has a fridge at work) but I've thought several times, it would be so much fresher for him to make it himself at lunch!

I know the greens need to be eaten right away. (Then again, I remember in the Boutenko book (is it Green for Life?) that in their trial, they made up a gallon of the stuff for each participant for the week and trucked it to them -- so they were expecting this stuff to last for a WEEK!)

[walnutty]

This is a piece of cake, if you know how to do it! :p

I juice dandelion greens with frozen pineapple all the time. I put both in my Vitamix with a little water. Blend until they are all broken down. Then I pour the juice through a nut milk bag. After milking the bag, you might have a couple tablespoons of fiber left, but that is all. I usually save the fiber for smoothies!

This is the VERY best way to juice GREENS! AND the easiest way to juice frozen fruit, especially berries.

[walnutty]

I learned this technique at another site. I never use a juicer anymore because it is just so easy using a blender and nut milk bag and there is practically NO waste!

p.s. Fresh cranberry juice is amazing this way!!!

[Soose]

I will try it today, ty. (Blender and bag.) I have some bags but they were coopted for other use so one of my errands today is to drop in and buy some.

Again, have any of you a press to put the bag in? Or do you just squeeze it with your hands?

Oh! And do you mean you do this even for carrot juice? Very hard veg? Or do you still use a juicer for those?

Ya'll are a priceless resource! Thank you! :)

[walnutty]

Hands here!

I never use my juicer anymore...this is really an awesome way to do it!

I guess if I needed carrot pulp or other veggie pulp I would pull out my juicer, but if you are juicing and want to get the most out of what you are juicing than this is the way!

Glad I could help, but I was helped by others when they passed this on to me! :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

I know the greens need to be eaten right away. (Then again, I remember in the Boutenko book (is it Green for Life?) that in their trial, they made up a gallon of the stuff for each participant for the week and trucked it to them -- so they were expecting this stuff to last for a WEEK!)

if i remember correctly she did this daily... not weekly. a gallon is 4 quarts... a day supply not a week.

but they are supposed to be good for 36 hours if kept in the fridge.

[Soose]

Aleesha, you're right -- I got two different parts of the book combined. It's been years since I read the book. The participants drank a quart of green smoothie each day. And Igor delivered the green smoothies every other day, which is within the 36 hrs freshness time.

I've clearly got to reread the book! :)