Kitchen

[SnuggleBunny]

I use Kale in my Vitamix which pulverizes it - great for my green drink! I doubt it would juice - it seems dry.

[Bobkats]

Just use a handfull kale FIRST, and add 1/4 cup of coconut water, or bottled water and then mix that.

Then you can add all of the fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds with more moisture in them.

[redtabby]

Kale does not provide much juice, we use cucumbers to provide the liquid base.

[Dal1]

I have 2 juicers, a breville and an omega. If I want to put kale in a juice blend in the breville (centrifugal juicer) I put it through at the same time as cucumber since it has a lot of water in it and I get a good amount out with it. If I wanted the most out of it I'd put it in the omega (masticating or slow process juicer) - that one does very well w/ greens and gets the most out of them. We bought the omega to juice wheatgrass mostly as that type of juicer is the only one that will juice wheatgrass. A vitamix would also process the kale nicely into a juice or smoothie but I don't have one of those.

[Lorik62]

My juicer is a centrifugal Breville. Lots of great ideas, thank you!

[Bird]

I will only buy organic kale, whether for eating raw in salads, cooking it, or juicing, so it is quite expensive. I've been frustrated about the amount of juice my juicers get from the kale as well.

I have a Breville and the Lalanne, and both just eke out a little juice like you said, but, like sidsmom says, it is powerfully nutritious.

BTW, if the kale is anything but robust when I buy it, I put it in a glass of warm water before I wash it and store it, to rehydrate it. This helps a bit. - Bird

P.S. These people who are pushy about not juicing and only using the Vitamix do not understand the reasons behind juicing. Don't let them sway you. I juice, then I VM as well. Two different processes, two different ranges of benefits.

[wagirl]

On 3/4/2014 The Bird said:

I will only buy organic kale, whether for eating raw in salads, cooking it, or juicing, so it is quite expensive. I've been frustrated about the amount of juice my juicers get from the kale as well.

I have a Breville and the Lalanne, and both just eke out a little juice like you said, but, like sidsmom says, it is powerfully nutritious.

BTW, if the kale is anything but robust when I buy it, I put it in a glass of warm water before I wash it and store it, to rehydrate it. This helps a bit. - Bird

P.S. These people who are pushy about not juicing and only using the Vitamix do not understand the reasons behind juicing. Don't let them sway you. I juice, then I VM as well. Two different processes, two different ranges of benefits.

So bird--what are the benefits of both juicing and VM-ing? I have done both for years and prefer the VM to the juicer. I know the basic things but do you know something we don't know?

[wagirl]

On 3/2/2014 SurvivedOne said:

I don't find kale strong at all whether I use it for making green smoothies or using baby kale in a salad. I always use either kale or swiss chard, spinach, sometimes red cabbage, an apple for sweetness for making green smoothies in my Vitamix. You wind up only tasting the apple. If you used something like brocolli, you taste it due to its distinct flavor. Leaf veggies that are not "wattery", you would have to use alot to get any juice in a juicer. I prefer green smoothies. However, when I did just juice, I chose high water content vegetables. There is lots of info online so you get the most bang for your buck in terms of nutrients and best items to juice.

I have to jump in here to defend broccoli in a smoothie--I use the broccoli slaw mix, which also has cabbage in it as well as other things like carrots and there is no strong flavor from it. I only use 2 fruits in my smoothies and a small amount of 100% apple juice as a base along with sparkling water. Too many fruits add too much sugar, natural or not. Now the slaw mix is only from the stem of the broccoli--I've never used the flower end of broccoli in a smoothie--that may be the strong flavor you taste.

[Lacey1]

On 3/4/2014 wagirl said:

On 3/4/2014 The Bird said:

I will only buy organic kale, whether for eating raw in salads, cooking it, or juicing, so it is quite expensive. I've been frustrated about the amount of juice my juicers get from the kale as well.

I have a Breville and the Lalanne, and both just eke out a little juice like you said, but, like sidsmom says, it is powerfully nutritious.

BTW, if the kale is anything but robust when I buy it, I put it in a glass of warm water before I wash it and store it, to rehydrate it. This helps a bit. - Bird

P.S. These people who are pushy about not juicing and only using the Vitamix do not understand the reasons behind juicing. Don't let them sway you. I juice, then I VM as well. Two different processes, two different ranges of benefits.

So bird--what are the benefits of both juicing and VM-ing? I have done both for years and prefer the VM to the juicer. I know the basic things but do you know something we don't know?

I would also like to know the benefits of juicing vs. total juicing, (Vitamix). The Vitamix will break the cell walls on tough vegetables, making the nutrients available for digestion. IMO-traditional juicing just produces expensive sugar water. It causes a blood glucose spike. You are losing all the valuable pulp and fiber. I've used both a traditional juicer and a Vitamix. They make two completely different products.