juicing in the third world - basic tips and recipes

People juice for different reasons. One of the most popular being weightloss, replacing meals with fresh juice. 

I juice primarily as a supplement. I find the daily recommended allowance for fruits and vegetables to be unrealistic when devoured traditionally in meals so I choose to juice it instead. Juicing makes it possible for me to ingest an average of 3 apples or bananas, 1 cucumber, 1 carrot, and half a bag of spinach in one tall glass plus its raw so I get more out of my fruits and vegetables.

Another reason why I juice is for detox and energy. A tall glass of fresh juice in the morning can pump you up more than 2 cups of strong coffee. It's also very good for the skin and hangovers (cucumbers specifically).

juicing recipes philippines

You can find lots of juicing recipes online but the thing is, most of them are from the States and their recipes use a lot of fruits and vegetables that aren't available in our country or are quite pricey for everyday consumption.

So when you juice in the third world and want to keep things in budget, here's a few things to remember:

• recipes are just guides, guides to ensure that your juice ends up tasting good
• if for health reasons, most veggies/fruits have local counterparts with the same health benefits (just google)
• simple guide to follow: always have one kind of fruit, one kind of green leafy (spinach or pechay), and cucumbers (I am partial to bananas and apples, affordable, healthy and easy to obtain)
• be careful when adding herbs to the mix, esp. parsely, they are quite pungent and overpowering so its best to add some lemons to take out the edge.

juicing tips philippines

For this particular juice, I used apples, carrots and cucumbers for the simple reason that it's all I had in my ref, normally, I would throw in a bag of spinach as well.

some important points to remember before you get started:

• since you're having them raw, make sure you wash your fruits and vegetables properly
• have a separate chopping board to lessen the risk of cross contamination
• always make sure your pitcher is in place, I forget sometimes and make a HUGE mess.

black and decker philippines juicer

Once you have all that covered, it's time to juice.

When purchasing a juicer, make sure the spout (?) is wide enough to fit most fruits without needing to chop, a lot of the cheaper juicers have tiny throats which I can imagine to be a huge hassle in the long run.

Do your research, do not skimp to avoid headache. If you have money go straightaway for a Breville, if not, research research research. I have heard a lot of juicer nightmares. Some leak, others cant juice veggies, motors just stop and other similar stories.

I am pretty happy with my Black and Decker juicer which I was able to score on sale at the SM Appliance Center. Regular price was around 12-14k but I was able to purchase it for only P7k. A lot of people tell me it performs the same way as a Breville.

sm appliance center juicer

So anyway, let's juice.

When juicing, take your time, don't force the veggies down the shoot to get the most juice + nutrients out of them. And don't bother peeling, your juicer will do that for you.

sm appliance center juicer

Once you're done, collect all the pulp and re-juice to make sure you squeeze all the juice out.

If you juice your veggies and fruits separately, you can re-use the pulp in numerous other recipes like soups, applesauce, cookies, dog treats or as an extender for siomai/burgers:

juicing recipes philippines

2 carrots, 2 cucumbers and 5 apples transformed to two pints of my daily dose of health.

juicing recipes philippines

It may not look very appetizing but trust me, it's good and very refreshing. Most veggies are tasteless and your juice almost always ends up tasting like the fruit you threw in the mix. In this case, my brown concoction tastes like apple juice.

Try juicing, it's a great alternative for people who don't particular enjoy veggies to get their daily dose and ps. it also works great for people with digestive problems. :)

If you have more questions, feel free to hit me up. Hope this helped :)

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