Masticating Juicers

Masticating juicers are one of the most popular juicer models out there. Avid juicers will often mention that masticating and twin gear juicers are superior to centrifugal juicers because of the way they juice.

What this means is that centrifugal juicers use blades and a chopping motion to extract juice while masticating juicers use a grinding and crushing motion. The grinding motion allows the enzymes to stay intact and also prevents oxidization of the juice. (To read more on oxidation, follow this link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=0006947D-57E8-1C72-9EB7809EC588F2D7)

Many popular masticating juicers are also slow speed juicers. This means that the auger rotates at a slower speed, preventing the juicer and the juice from heating up, thus preserving the nutrition in the juice better and preventing any oxidation that might happen due to heat. The popular Omega juicer series are slow speed juicers.

Speaking of popular, some of the most popular masticating juicers are Omega juicers. They come in a range of different models, from vertical to horizontal. The vertical model the Omega VRT350HD costs a bit more than the horizontal models but is still the most popular masticating juicer - this is probably because it is so much easier to leave it out on a countertop when compared to the horizontal models with their much larger bases. The VRT350 also has a larger opening for produce, which means that the juicing process is faster.

Most masticating juicers have smaller openings than centrifugal juicers, however, and this means that you will need to cut your produce into smaller pieces. For instance the Breville 800JEXL juicer has a 3" opening while the Omega models have 1.5-1.75" openings.

And speaking of speed, masticating juicers are also much slower than centrifugal juicers and will take a few minutes extra to produce the juice. This is due to the way they extract the juice. However, due to their crushing rather than chopping motion, masticating juicers are also quieter than centrifugal juicers.

As you can see, the decision to choose between masticating juicers vs centrifugal juicers is not that simple and straightforward. Your choice will depend on your preferences: do you value speed, lower oxidation and better nutrition, noise levels, or juicing efficiency?

Some popular masticating juicers, apart from the Omega VRT350HD, are the Omega J8006 series  (J8006 J8005, J8004 and J8003). Other popular models are the Green Power, Hurom and Champion juicers.