The way a centrifugal juicer works is it shreds food and then spins a strainer basket extremely fast to separate the juice from the pulp.  Think of the spin cycle in a washing machine.  After the clothes wash, the drum spins really fast.  The centrifugal force pushes the clothes along the walls of the drum, and water is will drain through holes on the sides.  The exact same thing happens inside a centrifugal juicer.

First of all, this method of juicing is not the best for vegetables, most notably the leafy greens that have little juice that is hard to extract from the pulp.  It is simply not that efficient.  You will find that the pulp that comes out is still wet and needs to be run through the juicer again.  And the high speeds a centrifugal juicer spins at will generate heat, potentially killing some of the enzymes in your juicing recipes.  Why do more work to put fewer nutrients into your vegetable juicing recipes?

Even worse is the problem of oxidation (Ever see an apple slice turn brown?  That’s oxidation).  After vegetable juicing, the enzymes are now exposed to the oxygen in the air, and will die if not consumed soon.  Centrifugal juicers will create a lot more foam, trapping air in your vegetable juice and speeding up the oxidation process.

For serious vegetable juicing, an auger juicer is the best option available.  It crushes food and presses most of the juice out.  It does so in a less violent way, preserving many more nutrients while extracting more juice.  It will even juice those pesky leafy greens, like parsley and cabbage, AND wheatgrass, so you don’t have to worry about not getting a dedicated “wheatgrass juicer.”  It’s all part of the package!

An auger juicer is the only way to go in making the best vegetable juicing recipes.  It is more expensive -be ready to drop about $260 for a great auger juicer.  Unless price is a major factor, then do NOT get a centrifugal juicer.  Go grab an auger juicer and let’s start vegetable juicing!