Phillips HR1854 centrifugal juicer
Like most people, my first foray into the world of juicing was with a centrifugal juicer, in fact with this very model. Here we explain some of the pros and cons of the Phillips HR1854 juicer and centrifugal juicers in general.
Why choose a centrifugal juicer?
Most peoples prime consideration when choosing their first juicer is of course price but if your new to juicing and don’t want to spend a lot of money on your first juicer then maybe this is the juicer for you? Do you want to get your family eating more healthily? Then the Phillips HR1854 is a great option, it’s much easier to get the kids to join in with making a glass of juice than trying to get unwilling children to eat 5 pieces of fruit every day.
This type of juicer is ideal if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands as you can juice whole fruits the size of oranges and apples without having to remove the skin, the drawback is that these machines produce a lot of pulp so your spending more in the long run on produce.
One major disadvantage of the centrifugal juicer is the fact that you are NOT able to juice wheat grass with this type of machine, wheat grass requires a masticating juicer to ‘chew’ the grass, this breaks down the plant’s cells to release the juice, if you put wheat grass in a centrifugal juicer all you’ll end up with is lawn clippings in your juice and your stomach isn’t equipped to break down grass.
How does it work?
As with all juicers you just switch on the machine and feed the produce into the chute, you do have to be careful not to overfeed the juicer, not because you may damage the motor but because the more produce you force into the machine the more pulp it seems to generate. I know that sounds obvious but what I have found is that larger pieces of un-juiced produce find their way into the pulp bin as they haven’t been processed correctly and the machine treats all pulp the same whether its been broken up or not.
There is only one control to operate the machine, it has 2 different speeds but we only ever used the top speed as it just seemed to do the job better.
Centrifugal juicers have a dual action cutting/juicing screen with cutting blades in the centre and the juice screen around the outside, this part rotates at high speed and the fruits and vegetables you push down the chute are forced onto the spinning blade and ground to a pulp before being forced outward by the rotation of the juice screen, the pulp is flung over the side of the screen and into the removable pulp jug which fixes onto the back of the juicer, the juice is forced through the tiny holes in the outside of the juice screen and out of the little spout at the front of the machine.
So what’s it like to use?
Really easy! As with most juicers there are very few moving parts, you have the main body of the machine, the juice sieve, the pulp bin, the top cover and the specially designed push stick.
Always use the push stick when feeding the machine, never your fingers or any other kitchen implement like a knife. I really wouldn’t like to think what damage the machine could do to your fingers. A large juice chute can be a bonus but it shouldn’t mean you can put your hands inside.
Phillips HR1854 Centrifugal juicing machine
What’s it like to clean?
Really easy! Because there are few parts that means less stuff to clean 🙂
First you’ll need to empty the pulp bin, this can be a bit of a problem because the machine produces copious amounts of fairly wet moist pulp, you really don’t want to have the pulp hanging around in the kitchen for any length of time, especially in the summer months and you’ll soon realise that a fair amount of your produce doesn’t actually end up in the juice. This can be a shock to some first time juicers because it’s easy to over estimate how much juice comes out of your produce.
The rest of the cleaning process is as simple as rinsing the components under running water you will however need to take extra care with the juice screen because it can get clogged with pulp, the juice screen also contains the cutting blades so you need to make sure you keep these away from your fingers as they are very very sharp.
Summary
The question I often ask myself is….. Would I buy another one of these juicers if I had to start again from scratch????? Yes, I would.
These juicers are an excellent way into juicing because for a fairly low price you not only get a juicer but in the long run you get an attractive kitchen appliance from a large reputable company that comes with the assurance of proper warranty.
Everyone has to start some place with their juicing whether your juicing for health or for pleasure, one of the main considerations you need to take into account is whether or not you’ll be able to integrate juicing into your daily routine. It can be difficult to form new habits and this is a simple way to discover if juicing and it’s associated cost is something your willing to live with.
Personally I couldn’t live without juicing but not everyone can handle the taste of kale and broccoli first thing in a morning so it’s best to start slow and build your way up, you can always save up for that Angel juicer or sell your old juicer on ebay if you find it’s not for you.
