Juice extractors - not electric - for making apple juice. Any experiences?

[Loiseau]

My former neighbour used to swear by a rather basic-looking juice extractor that she had, in aluminium - rather like a three-layer saucepan.

Surrounded by a glut of apples in my garden, I was pleased to see something like it in HyperU today, called a JapyFruit (40 euros), and wondered if that would do the job. Here's a picture of it.  I have googled it, and found more praise for something called a Baumalu for a couple of euros more.   I was not thinking of going in for sterilising this time round, but perhaps freezing the juice.   People seem to be very enthusiastic about it extracting juice for making fruit jelly, but don't talk as much about the fruit juice for drinking side of things.

Does anyone have any experience of using either?   (I am not interested in an electric juicer; I was given one - a Magimix Duo I think - some years back, but it's quite useless as it needs dismantling and its fine mesh filter cleaning out every 10 minutes or so, after making about one glass of juice!

Angela

[idun]

Friends of ours used such machines for their fruit. They seemed happy with them.

[confused of chalus]

We have the Japy fruit steamer and in season make loads of juice - you dont have to peel and core, just cut off the bad bits and set it to steam.

The result is not like pressed apple juice - it tastes a bit cooked, but chilled is really delicious (a lot depends on you apple variety).

I also use it to make bramble jelly (no jelly bag needed). There are lots of other ideas in the recipe book that came with it

.

I have a friend who uses it in the UK to do apple juice and she uses preserving tablets (used in beer making) to her bottles to make them keep for months. We drink it in season and dont try and keep it.

Hope this helps.

[mint]

But do the results have the same nutritional value if the fruit has been steamed?

Not a criticism, just something that occurs to me.

[confused of chalus]

Dont know - but I'm working on the theory that most cartons of fruit juice are pasteurised. That's the same isn't it? Unless you pay for freshly squeezed ..... And I at least know that nothing but apples goes into it.

[Russethouse]

Don't most commercial juices have vitamins added ?

[Loiseau]

Thanks everyone - especially "confused".  Maybe I will lash out on one then - if it's still on the shelf when I get to HyperU.

Angela

[Pierre ZFP]

Let us know how you get on.  I'm interested in one as well but news from someone who has first hand experiance would be great

[Laurier]

Yes, I second that. Will be very interested to hear how you get on. My friend in Normandy has had an absolute glut of apples and I thought it would be good to make apple juice.

I had a juice extractor years ago but had to use about 4kg of spinach to make a glass of the foul tasting stuff, so gave up, especially when the juice didn't have the same benefits for me as it seemed to have for Goldie Hawn.

Laurier

[osie]

I can vouch for the steam juice extractors.. at least for making jams... not sure I would use it for having a cup of apple juice.

I have a 10litre one for 60 odd euros and I noticed that the japy one was 4 litres... so make sure you get the right size for what you want.

[Pierre ZFP]

Hmmm I'll keep an eye out for them.  Good advice about the size, I think 10 litres is a bit much for me.

Now is about the time they well make an appearence in places like Point Vert I suppose and maybe even Aldi or Lidl will have them on special?

Now, what do I do with all my tomatoes that have all turned red at the same time?

I don't really  want to pulp them as they're too good for that but even I can't eat them all fresh!!

[mint]

Pierre, roast them in the oven so that they are reduced in volume and then freeze them for use in the winter.

If Gemonimo sees this, she will probably give you advice on bottling if you'd rather.  I am very nervous of bottling because I have never done it before and I have this utterly ridiculous idea that I might kill myself and OH with botulism or some such.

[idun]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Pierre, roast them in the oven so that they are reduced in volume and then freeze them for use in the winter.

If Gemonimo sees this, she will probably give you advice on bottling if you'd rather.  I am very nervous of bottling because I have never done it before and I have this utterly ridiculous idea that I might kill myself and OH with botulism or some such.

[/quote]

 

Agreed, I never dare do it either!

[Gemonimo]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Pierre, roast them in the oven so that they are reduced in volume and then freeze them for use in the winter.

If Gemonimo sees this, she will probably give you advice on bottling if you'd rather.  I am very nervous of bottling because I have never done it before and I have this utterly ridiculous idea that I might kill myself and OH with botulism or some such.

[/quote]

Well I'm certainly no authority on sterilising tomatos but whole in bottles is a huge waste of space.  I sterilise tomato paste or sauce as it is more usefull. About an hour (depending upon the size of the jar) after the water has come to the boil.  Like Sweets I reduce the tomatoes in the oven (covered with a little oil, sea salt, thyme etc) and freeze them.  They make the best tomato tart like this and no dreaded soggy bottoms!! Right now I'm inundated with fabulous red peppers and to store them I am roasting them then peeling them and freezing them in wide strips on a baking sheet before stacking them in a plastic container so I can take out one or two slices at a time.

 

[Gemonimo]

Back on topic for a moment, my sister in law in Australia had a wonderfull Breville juice extractor and for breakfast she made juice from all the bits of fruit in the fridge - a cocktail of beetroot, peach, celery and god knows what all and it was just fabulous.  I've never seen one here in France but no doubt they are around.

[Loiseau]

Sorry not to have been back earlier with my experiences - having been the one to start this thread.  My internet connection has been down the tubes for several days.  Back now - phew.

I bought the Japy one for 40E, and have so far made one batch of apple juice.  From 4kg apple pieces I obtained just 500ml of juice.  The accompanying booklet said to add 160g of sugar to this amount, but I did not do so, as I wanted to see what the juice would be like without.

It is not as nice as juice made directly from something like the Breville machine, above, which produces the juice cold.  The fact that my apples were steamed to release the juice presumably made the difference there.  My juice is not very sweet - maybe the steam dilutes the juice a bit - though it does look quite syrupy compared with "normal" apple juice.  I think it would be brilliant for reducing fruit to a syrup for making into a fruit jelly;  I hope to try it with quinces soon.

Strangely, though I used the quantities specified (4kg apples at the top and 4 litres of water in the bottom - most of which remains in the bottom at the end of the process, by the way - simmered for an hour), the resulting amount of juice was so small that it did not even reach the output level of the tap in the middle section;  I had to take the device apart and then pour the hot juice out of the middle section into a pottery jug.

I am getting sick of the sight of apples though...

Angela

[Pommier]

That sounds disappointing - I think I'll give it a miss.

[confused of chalus]

So much depends on the apple variety. I have never added any sugar; I would expect to get about 1 litre of juice from a full load in the top -but the apples must be ripe to get that much juice out.

Made bramble jelly using the Japy last month. So much quicker and easier than jelly bags!

Its one of those things that only comes out for about a month every year, but it has been very useful in using up windfalls.