Beth Sugarblur

Food for Faces by Weleda

, by Beth

I eat fruit now, thanks to my juicer - A Review ft. Panasonic

I have to admit, although my main meals are fairly healthy and balanced, I am a constant grazer who is guilty of picking the chocolates and cakes over the fruit when snacking. In a bid to try to choose healthier options, I’ve tried buying fruit smoothies but they are fairly pricey when added up and I feel you never know exactly what is in them. I mean, what is a B468 or a such and such acid?? So I was thinking about buying my own smoothie blender or juicer. Almost instantaneously I was invited to form a collaboration with Panasonic and Come Round UK and I jumped at the chance! If you’re looking for a healthier you but don’t know what juicer to get, read on to see my review of the Panasonic Slow Juicer, hints and tips and some delicious, healthy recipes.

The Panasonic Slow Juicer.

I’ll start by mentioning I’ve never used a juicer or any kind of stand up blender before. When the box arrived at my door, I was faced with several bits and pieces to put together. This intimidated me at first but after reading the straight forward instructions, I realised it couldn’t be easier. It was plain to see what pieces fitted together and the little arrows made it easy to know when you had the pieces in the right place. I put the whole thing together in less than a minute. It is pretty easy to switch between the juicing and frozen attachments too, they simply twist off. If you juice, then decide to make a sorbet, the pieces are going to be covered in some juice/pulp and can be a little slippery so I was just careful to change the attachments slowly. So the next task was turning it on. I can’t believe how easy the controls are! It is literally a case of flicking the switch on and off and another switch to use in case any pulp gets jammed (to note, I haven’t had to use this yet which tells me the machine is quite robust). Once you’ve cut up all your ingredients, I just dropped them slowly into the feeding tube at the top and let the juicer do the rest. I didn’t even have to use the food pusher tool because the juicer took the fruit so efficiently.

The Panasonic juicer is called a Slow Juicer, not because it takes longer to make juices but it is designed to stop ingredients from separating after standing. I like that the motors don’t suddenly burst into a fury when you turn it on, mincing everything in its way and giving you a mini heart attack in the process. It is really gentle and fairly quiet. The fact it is a Slow Juicer probably means it is more efficient because it is not whizzing so fast, liable to blockages which are more time consuming.

Sorbet-ing.

I really love this feature! Ice-creams are great for cooling down in summer but, let’s face it, they’re hardly the healthiest option and sorbets you buy in the shop are probably 90% added sugar too. With the frozen attachment, that comes with the juicer, you can make your own sorbets and know exactly what goes into them. I like to make mine with fruit alone as it is super quick and super healthy. I guess you could mix it with some sort of yogurt or creme fresh for a slightly different texture. I even experimented with adding some alcohol shots for a frozen, slushie cocktail – SO amazing, you’ve gotta try this! A little bit naughty, yes but great for parties!

I ate a banana!

In addition, this product actually got me eating banana! I love the smell of bananas, I love everything banana flavour, I even love dried banana chips but I cannot stand fresh bananas. It is the sticky, sliminess of them that make me shudder. So, I popped them in the juicer with the frozen attachment, along with some blueberries and made myself a healthy sorbet. And it was divine! Sliminess gone! So if there is any fruit/veg you or your household are not keen on, try making it into a sorbet or disguising it with some other flavoursome ingredients in your juice. If you’re a bit shy at first of trying all these scary fruits, dollop a little sweet sauce on top or top with chocolate buttons or nuts. I’m wondering if you could get Nutella in there somehow… I especially imagine the sorbet feature to be great for fussy kids to get some goodness into them. I bet I could trick the little people in my life into enjoying a “fruity flavour ice-cream”!

Things that maybe weren’t so great…

The juicer discards almost all of the fibrous pulp in the fruit and veg which is the part that is super good for you. However, I really hate bits in my orange juice etc. so I was not bothered by this anyway! Besides, a juice tends to be smooth, if you’re after something with a bit more substance, you’re probably better off getting a standard blender or smoothie maker. But it would be nice for the juicer to have an option of adding some pulp. Having said that, the frozen option the juicer offers does not leave anything out, all the pulp and skin go into the sorbet. So in theory, you have the best of both worlds here: smooth natural juices and fibrous, pulp filled sorbets. In the image above, I'm sieving the juice again to make it extra smooth for those who don't like any cloudiness what so ever!

Sometimes the sorbet didn’t look particularly appetising. It depends on what fruit you use and how defrosted they are, it is tricky to know exactly when to pop the defrosted fruit in the juicer but after some trial and error this will be mastered. You could always pop the sorbet back in the freezer to harden up if needed or until you want it, which is what I did. I used a banana and blueberry mix for one of my sorbets and I admit it did not look too pretty as it didn’t seem to mix together smoothly. I know the juicer isn’t a mixer, it just squashes the fruit. If you put the ingredients alternately, you do get a better mix, so I think it is just about perfecting that. If you were having a dinner party, I’d specifically choose a sorbet mix that will look nice such as red or orange coloured fruits. Of course, the look doesn’t affect the taste, I’d just be sure to be careful with what combinations I choose if I’m looking to aesthetically impress. I’m thinking you could also dress it up with some sprinkles, mint leaves or even a few drops of natural food colouring to enhance colours.

If I was being really picky (literally, I can hardly fault this product), I’d say it is a little difficult to know what exactly to put in the juicer. As in, what it can handle. At first I was fussy about leaving the skin on apples and the pith on oranges, but I found there was no need to be so cautious, as long as thick skins such as on oranges are removed. Just look at other reviews for advice on what to put in. Cutting up the fruit does seem to be quite time consuming but this is of course no fault of the juicer! As you prepare more and more ingredients over time, you’ll develop tricks and quicker ways of peeling and cutting them.

Cleaning.

I was so thrilled and amazed with the juicer, cleaning it didn’t even cross my mind. Though when it was time to hand it over to the sink, I suddenly realised this device was going to be hell to clean. Wrong! These kinds of things have seemingly advanced from several years ago, no more awkward parts, 101 different things to clean and impossible gaps to reach (as I've heard of older models). The Panasonic Juicer comes apart into several pieces, none of which are complex or difficult to clean. The juicer comes with a tool that looks like a toothbrush on one end and just a thin stick on the other. I used the stick end to poke out any trapped bits of pulp that got stuck in the exit spout. It came away instantly. I found most of the pulp came away when I flushed running water down it. The most time consuming piece to clean is the piece with all the tiny metal honeycomb holes which obviously are so small to stop any big bits going into the finished juice. It wasn’t a problem however, a quick scrub with the toothbrush tool under running water soon freed any trapped bits of fruit.

What I made.

I’ve never used a juicer before and I mainly drank smoothies, not juices so I wasn’t sure what combinations I’d like. Being the little wimp that I am, then, I started with a simple orange juice and oh my word, it was the best orange juice I’ve ever tasted. As I mentioned, I don’t like bits in my juice so I tend to steer clear of fresh juices but with the Panasonic Slow Juicer I was able to eliminate any pulp, leaving the beautiful silky smooth, delicious fresh orange juice. If this is all I make with this product, I’ll be happy. I would recommend spending a few extra pence on some easy peel oranges. As it takes about three regular oranges to make a good glass full, you can see it would be quite time consuming to prep the oranges (as well as causing achy fingers!).

The first ‘daring’ combination I tried was from the Juice Diet recipe book by Christine Bailey. It involved pineapple, kiwi, mango and a bit of lime. If the fruit is ripe enough, it won’t take long to chop up and peel. A pineapple seems like a right task but I managed it pretty quick. I didn’t realise you aren’t meant to eat the slightly hard middle, but I put it in the juicer and it managed fine! This juice is supposed to provide you with energy, so a great wake up drink to have in the mornings. It was a little bitter, so next time I would adjust the bitter and sweeter fruits accordingly. The recipe only required a small part of the pineapple so I used the left overs to make a lovely sweet pineapple juice and a few pieces to eat with a salad. The pineapple juice was so good, nothing like the artificial taste of shop bought juices.

I understand you can also make soups with vegetables too.

For adults only!

As I mentioned before, I made a banana and blueberry sorbet. I also couldn’t help myself trying out a few cocktail recipes! I made a really lovely one with raspberries, strawberries, a bit of mint and some vodka – so yummy! I also juiced some lime, cucumber and mint and mixed with some vodka and lemonade for a refreshing Friday afternoon tipple. I’m really keen on trying to make some kind of Malibu mock up, maybe with fresh coconut and white rum. If I try it, I’ll be sure to post the result on www.sugarblur.co.uk.

Party time.

As part of my collaboration with Panasonic and Come Round UK, I hosted a special juicing party where myself and my guests tried out the Panasonic Slow Juicer and made some delicious creations! I showed everyone how it worked and the party agreed it was easy to use and an all-round great gadget. The juicer is great for gatherings with friends as you can even play a number of games involving the juicer! For example, I had my guests guess what fruit/veg was in the juice they were tasting and had a little prize for the winners. It was also fun to get into teams and try to create the yummiest, adventurous juice or sorbet with the left over fruit! Much more fun than just serving your guests a regular drink, you can make it in front of their eyes – even add a bit of alcohol!

The Verdict.

I think juicing as part of a healthy lifestyle or juice diets are becoming more and more popular in recent years and people are turning to home juicers to make their own quick and healthy drinks and snacks. It is quite overwhelming when trying to pick a juicer as most seem to do the same thing and you probably have no clue what 7264hrtz mean or the significance of 200mph speed of juicing, right? I really believe the Panasonic Slow Juicer is a perfect choice for those new to juicing, like me. You don’t need to be a mechanic to put it together and neither do you need to be a technology whizz to get it working – slot all the parts together using the simple pointers and flick the switch to turn it on. It is a very robust machine, you don’t need to worry about or be fussy with what you put in it, thin skins and pith will go through fine. I love that you can make sorbets too! If you’re trying to eat more fruit, this option is great as it really does not feel like you are eating such a healthy dessert, perfect for kids too. This juicer would be great for experienced juicers as well. Maybe they have an older, more complicated model and looking to exchange for a simpler one or want to try the sorbet feature. Overall, this product is easy to assemble, use and clean, worth the price and will serve well in getting me to eat more fruit and veg.

c/o Panasonic // Panasonic Slow Juicer // £199.99

Purchase yours from:

Panasonic Online; red, silver or gold

Amazon UK; red, silver, gold