You truly can’t juice a banana or fruits which have extra fiber than juice.
Even when your juicer is your BFF, your miracle machine, your savior, there actually *are* limits to what it might do. Sure, we’re speaking about unjuiceable fruits. They exist, and we’re right here to save lots of you from discovering out the laborious method.
Some fruits you simply can’t juice are:
- bananas
- avocados
- figs
- mangoes
- rhubarb
- coconut
As an alternative, toss ’em in a blender, which can as a substitute chop them up (and has the bonus of retaining their beneficial dietary fiber!).
A juicer, in the meantime, will squeeze out only a pitiful little bit of liquid — if any — from these fruits, whereas discarding the delish fibrous content.
Right here’s what to know.
TBH, bananas and your juicer are sort of like oil and water or Tiger King and Carole Baskin.
If you nosh on a ’nanner, you’ll discover the carby, starchy texture — not a ton of water content material. Although bananas are technically about 75 percent water, lots of the most juiceable fruits and veggies are effectively over 90 % water. These are a a lot better match to your juicer.
And if you happen to *strive* to juice a banana, even with the fanciest of machines, you received’t have a lot luck isolating that three-quarters water content material. As an alternative, you’ll get one thing that just about resembles a banana-colored poop emoji, minus the smile.
Attempt a banana smoothie as a substitute:
- 1 frozen banana, chopped
- 1/2 orange, peeled and quartered
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt or dairy-free yogurt
- 1/4 cup milk or dairy-free milk sub
- 1–2 teaspoons honey or agave (non-compulsory)
Mix all substances till clean.
Avocados are what wholesome fats desires are fabricated from. They’re additionally a nemesis of juicers in every single place.
Certain, they’re rich in vitamin Okay and folate, excessive in vitamin C and potassium, and full of a whole lot of different good things. However that doesn’t imply they are often juiced right into a green bevvy!
Avocado’s creamy, thick consistency simply received’t work in your juicer. However on the intense aspect, it’ll make your smoothie creamy and scrumptious.
Attempt a green smoothie as a substitute:
- 2 cups spinach
- 2 cups frozen pineapple chunks
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 medium ripe avocado, pitted and peeled
- 1–2 tablespoons honey or agave (non-compulsory)
Mix all substances till clean.
Bloobs are thought-about a superfood for good purpose. They’re full of nutritional vitamins, antioxidants, and dietary fiber.
Technically, you *can* juice blueberries. However their texture and consistency, mixed with their small measurement, means they received’t yield a ton of juice.
Do that juicing technique: You’re higher off including blueberries to your smoothie than juicing them. However if you happen to do determine to juice them, strive blending them first. Then, you’ll be able to pour the blended blueberries by means of a fine-mesh strainer and add them to a different sort of contemporary juice or a juice combination.
The juice can be barely thicker, however you’ll get a a lot better bang to your buck (and higher juice content material to your blueberries).
One other juicy tip: Freezing contemporary berries after which barely thawing them will soften them and make it simpler to squeeze out extra juice.
Cherries are one other berry powerhouse def price including to your food plan — however perhaps to not your juicer. As with blueberries, you *can* juice them, however due to their texture, it’s powerful to get a formidable yield.
Do that juicing technique: To efficiently juice these antioxidant-rich berries, you’ll must take away the pits first — which, TBH, might be sort of a ache. As with blueberries, you will get a much bigger juice yield by mixing cherries after which pouring your blended cherries by means of a fine-mesh strainer right into a concoction of different juices.
One other juicy tip: A little bit of cherry juice can add a punch of sweet-tart taste to easy-to-juice fruits and veggies like apples, oranges, and spinach. You can even at all times add some to your smoothie!
Figs have grow to be a cooking, baking, and snacking staple — however figs + a juicer is def not a match made in heaven. Their distinctive texture is a part of what makes them nice, but it surely’s additionally what makes them a nightmare for a juice press.
Along with being tasty, they contain calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus. However if you happen to juice them, it’ll end in principally no liquid and a whole lot of mush.
Attempt a fig smoothie as a substitute:
- 4 figs, halved
- 1 cup milk or dairy-free milk sub
- 1/2 frozen banana
- 1–2 dates
- 1 tablespoon almond or peanut butter
Mix all substances till clean.
Mangoes are known as the king of fruits in locations like India for good purpose. They take the fruit crown partly due to their wealthy, creamy texture and tropical taste. Additionally they provide spectacular nutritional content with nutritional vitamins A, C, B6, and loads of magnesium and potassium.
That being stated, their texture is simply not splendid for juicing. (Ditto with their sister fruit papayas.) As an alternative, you’ll be able to peel ’em, pit ’em, and stick ’em in a smoothie.
Attempt a mango smoothie as a substitute:
- 2 contemporary mangoes or 2 cups frozen mango
- 1 small frozen banana
- 1/2 cup milk or dairy-free milk sub
- 1/2 cup yogurt or dairy-free yogurt
Mix all substances till clean.
Strawberry-rhubarb jam is scrumptious, however strawberry-rhubarb juice is fictitious. Desires of a magical, tarty-sweet juice are sadly out of attain.
Rhubarb has lots of fiber, which is nice to your digestive system however unhealthy to your juicer. In actual fact, making an attempt to place this tough-AF fruit into your machine may probably injury it, so don’t take the danger!
Attempt a strawberry-rhubarb smoothie as a substitute:
Mix all substances till clean.
Coconut meat is full of wholesome fat, copper, iron, and antioxidants and has a wealthy taste that can instantly make you need to lounge on a seashore within the tropics. (Simply us? 🏝)
Whilst you can def add some store-bought coconut water or milk to your at-home juice concoction, you’ll need to hold uncooked coconut away out of your juicer.
The entire nut is obvs overkill to your machine, however even the tender coconut meat is simply too powerful to juice. Making an attempt to do it may critically tax even the sturdiest at-home juicer — and it wouldn’t even end in any liquid. *Womp, womp*
Right here’s a juicy tip: If in case you have an entire coconut in your palms, cracking it open generally is a course of. However with a bit of power and finesse, it *is* completely doable. Right here’s one strategy to do it:
- Discover the three holes on the finish of the coconut stem.
- Utilizing a screwdriver, test to see which one’s the softest. Now pierce it!
- Shake the liquid right into a bowl or glass to get all of the water out.
- Now, on to the meat. First, preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Place the coconut on a sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes, or till the laborious outer shell begins to crack.
- Take the coconut out of the oven and put aside till it’s cool sufficient to the touch.
- Wrap it in a kitchen towel. Holding it with one hand, faucet it with the again of a cleaver or hit it with a hammer. Watch out — you’ll must hit it a number of occasions earlier than it softens sufficient to pry open.
- Use a spoon to separate the coconut meat from the shell.
Should you choose to bravely crack open an entire coconut, you’ll be able to pour the water straight into your juice combination. You can even carve out the meat and mix it with fruits like bananas, mangoes, and papayas.
Frozen fruit makes for an icy-sweet deal with in juice blends — with some caveats. More often than not, the fruit can be too laborious for direct freezer-to-juicer motion. It’s usually higher to save lots of frozen fruit to your blender.
Do that juicing technique: Thaw frozen fruit a bit by operating it underneath some heat water or letting it sit out for 10 to fifteen minutes earlier than placing it in your juicer. The flesh needs to be considerably squishy to the contact — not laborious as a rock.
One other juicy tip: Juicing frozen fruit additionally will depend on the power and sort of your machine. A masticating juicer, which grinds the fruit (as a substitute of utilizing extracting enamel, like a centrifugal juicer), will work higher for extra strong fruit.
In case your machine’s not the strongest or highest powered available on the market, frozen fruit would possibly trigger it to battle — and even injury it.
Some fruits simply aren’t juicy sufficient to juice! Bananas, avocados, figs, mangoes, rhubarb, and coconut fall into this class. As an alternative, toss them in a blender.
You may mix the fruit into smoothies or add blended fruit puree to a juice for a bit of additional texture and taste.