Every few days, we get this question on our Reboot with Joe Facebook page: “Do I really need a juicer to make juice?”
Yes–you can get juice from produce without a juicer. But as I found, you need patience, a lot of time, and don’t wear your Sunday clothes.
I’ve become a little obsessed with juicing-for-less since I started working here at Reboot With Joe (see all my budget juicing articles here), so I’ve been keen to give this a try.
It’s important to note that you cannot juice in the exact same way with a blender alone (Read more in Juicing vs Blending). With the method I tried, the blender is merely the first step of several. A true juicer, of course, does all these manual steps at once.
I decided to make Joe’s Mean Green Juice – our most popular recipe – to test the process. I also made the Mean Green using a juicer (the $149 Breville Juice Fountain Plus) to test juice yield between the two methods. I was careful to use the same size and weight of produce for each method for a clean comparison.
In the meantime, you are going to need a blender and either a fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or a nut milk bag. The nut bag is my top choice because it will filter the juice the best, but any of these will work. These are items you will want in your kitchen “tool” box anyway for other food prep tasks.
Blender + Strainer + Cheesecloth Method
The basic steps are simple:
- Puree all ingredients
I needed to blend in batches — three times — to get all my produce pureed. I also needed to add a small amount of water just to get the blender going, about 1/4 cup to each batch. (To keep things fair, I added the same amount of water to my juicer-juice.)
- Strain the blended ingredients.
Place a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl, and line the strainer with cheesecloth. (You want to use a large enough piece that you’ll be able to gather the corners into a bag.) Pour the blended ingredients over the cheesecloth/strainer, allowing the liquid to start to collect in the bowl.
- Squeeze out additional liquid.
When your strainer/cheesecloth fills with pulp, gather the corners of the cheesecloth and twist, squeezing out as much juice as you can. You might want to put on an apron: Aggressive squeezing resulted in kale juice in my eyeball and on my white t-shirt!
- Continue with remaining blended ingredients.
I needed to empty out my cheesecloth before squeezing the remaining pulp. As you can see, I put some muscle into it! I was pretty impressed by the compactness of my pulp balls.
How to Strain Juice
FAQ
How do you strain liquid at home?
What do you use to strain fruit?
How do you strain juice without a strainer?
You can try several different methods when straining juice without a strainer, including using cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve and squeezing the pulp directly into your bowl with a squeeze bottle or juicer. You may also choose to use a fine mesh strainer in combination with one of these other tools to get the best results. 1. Use Cheesecloth:
What makes a good juice strainer?
The durability of the strainer is important because you will be squeezing foods through it to make juice. Whether you buy a nut milk bag or a stainless-steel strainer, make sure it can handle all that squeezing. Compared to plastic, stainless steel will generally last longer. Speaking of construction, the juice strainer should also be tough.
Do I need to strain my juice?
While it’s not required for you to strain your juice, there are a few easy ways you can try to get rid of the pulp. Most times, you can pour the juice through a mesh strainer to get rid of a majority of the pulp. If there are still fruit or vegetable fibers in your juice, try pouring it through a cheesecloth to get rid of the smaller pieces.
How do you use a juice strainer?
Press down on any pulp or fibers leftover inside the strainer with the back of a rubber spatula, and let the juice drain into the bowl or pitcher. Apply firm pressure to the pulp to drain out as much juice as you’re able to before throwing the pulp away. Be careful not to apply too much pressure, or you could break through the strainer.