Read First Before Buy Green Star GS 1000 Juice Extractor
I have owned 3 juicers over the years since buying my first ACME (centrifugal force extractor with fast rotating drum) in 1978, which I still have but never use anymore. Then in 1990 was given a Champion juicer that my father bought but never used, and I even had a hand crank juicer (like a meat grinder)for touring and camping in a small van in the early 70's.
This Gold Star GSE-1000 is more expensive than the others, but the others could not make wheat grass juice at all or extract as much juice or make good nut butters, although the Champion isn't too bad at this. I found the ACME very difficult to clean, even though there are less parts, and many times it gets out of balance when making juice too fast. You have to stop and clean it when making larger quantities of juice (more than 32 oz.) because the Acme rotating drum fills up. That's a hassle. Had the replace the bottom cutter plate due to wear once.
The Champion was OK and can be used to make larger quantities of juice, like the Gold Star, and the hand crank model, without cleaning in between batches. The Gold Star has the most parts to clean, but I find it easy to clean actually, if you are somewhat "mechanical", because there are several parts. But it's easy to dis-assemble and easy to clean and easy to re-assemble. I saw a review by someone who bought this as their first juicer and didn't like the cleaning process, but in my opinion, the Gold Star is far superior to other juicers out there. Some juicers have cutting blades that spin so fast, the juice and veggie pulp gets warm or even hot. I want a "cold" process, not something that warms or partially cooks the juice.
I have had my Gold Star for 8 years and it still amazes me. There is much control over the juicing process. Twin screws are the way to go. There are 2 screens, one courser for nut butters, and a finer screen for juicing. I love mine. It's the best for my application, but it is the most expensive. You get what you pay for sometimes. A commercial grade product.
As a suburban microfarmer who produces for self sufficiency rather than for the market, this is ideal. It has given me a better way to process my bumper crops of apples and pears which in prior years just fell on the ground and rotted or were mixed with incredible quanties of sugar to make/can jam for the winter months.Now we consume more of our fruit fresh.
BalasHapusNobody in our family feels anymore the need to make an effort to stuff themselves full of fruit they do not want to eat in order not to waste food. We just drink our pears/apples in the morning in the form of a delicious, nutrient dense juice.
I cannot compare my juicer to others as it is the only one I know. I just tried to get the one closest to the Gerson philosophy but that was within my budget.
I am always looking for techniques which allow me to bring another aspect of food processing from the market to the home and to produce somethiing that the consumer market cannot usually produce.So my Greenstar juicer now has a place of honor next to my solar oven (which, like my juicer, also allows me to produce/process in a way that the mass market cannot).
I have owned 3 juicers over the years since buying my first ACME (centrifugal force extractor with fast rotating drum) in 1978, which I still have but never use anymore. Then in 1990 was given a Champion juicer that my father bought but never used, and I even had a hand crank juicer (like a meat grinder)for touring and camping in a small van in the early 70's.
BalasHapusThis Gold Star GSE-1000 is more expensive than the others, but the others could not make wheat grass juice at all or extract as much juice or make good nut butters, although the Champion isn't too bad at this. I found the ACME very difficult to clean, even though there are less parts, and many times it gets out of balance when making juice too fast. You have to stop and clean it when making larger quantities of juice (more than 32 oz.) because the Acme rotating drum fills up. That's a hassle. Had the replace the bottom cutter plate due to wear once.
The Champion was OK and can be used to make larger quantities of juice, like the Gold Star, and the hand crank model, without cleaning in between batches. The Gold Star has the most parts to clean, but I find it easy to clean actually, if you are somewhat "mechanical", because there are several parts. But it's easy to dis-assemble and easy to clean and easy to re-assemble. I saw a review by someone who bought this as their first juicer and didn't like the cleaning process, but in my opinion, the Gold Star is far superior to other juicers out there. Some juicers have cutting blades that spin so fast, the juice and veggie pulp gets warm or even hot. I want a "cold" process, not something that warms or partially cooks the juice.
I have had my Gold Star for 8 years and it still amazes me. There is much control over the juicing process. Twin screws are the way to go. There are 2 screens, one courser for nut butters, and a finer screen for juicing. I love mine. It's the best for my application, but it is the most expensive. You get what you pay for sometimes. A commercial grade product.
I wanted a juicer that would not break my budget along with not damaging the juice being made.
BalasHapusThis juicer has the twin gear juice extractor system.
Absolutely the best juicer we have owned. Does not even compare to others we have had.
This juicer also does all kinds of grains and butters, along with any veggie.
I also wanted a juicer that would not take a few hours to clean and reassemble. This one is very easy to clean and put back together again, my children do it all the time. The only thing you have to remember is to line up the three dots to make sure it runs true, and you are ready to go again. Definitely a top of the line juicer with a competitive price.
So if you are looking for an overall Premium juicer definitely give this one a chance.
If you are looking for a juicer this is it. I am amazed at the amount of juice that this thing produces. I would highly recommend this product. Clean up is easy and the brush that is provided works well.
BalasHapusThis is a great juicer--simple to use and easy to clean. When I make myself green drinks (e.g., kale, ginger, an apple, and 1/2 lemon), they give me such a "buzz" of energy and feeling of well-being that I'm tempted to consume junk food to bring me back to earth.
BalasHapusTIPS:
(1) There's a trick to using twin-gear juicers like this one without having to use so much muscle. Instead of stuffing in a lot of greens and trying to force them through, let the gears "suck" the greens in one at a time (Yes, it does take time to do this, but there's no muscle required because the gears pull the greens in and grind them up).
(2) Make sure to remove the heavy stems from kale, turnip greens, and beet greens to reduce bitterness;
(3) Vary the greens you juice; according to one author and expert on juicing, greens contain tiny amounts of toxins to keep animals from overgrazing a single plant until they kill it off. To avoid a build-up of these toxins, animals consume a broad and varied diet of greens--and we should do the same. Beet greens, cabbage, kale, lettuce, turnip greens, spinach, dandelion and watercress are some of the greens I use--ALL ORGANIC of course.
(4) Wash your greens (and fruits) before using in a mild solution of vinegar and water. Don't force your body to have to fight extra bacteria--especially if you're ill and juicing to heal yourself.
The machine is not perfect obviously, and if you overload it or try to put soft fruit into it through the fine screen it will ooze pulp through the cracks of the gear housing, but when you run it properly and clean it properly this juicer works like a champ. It's not as fragile as I was afraid it would be and it has juiced 40 lb bags of carrots at a shot just taking a single break in the middle as recommended in the user's guide.
BalasHapusI would recommend that if you plan to juice soft fruits like pineapple, to get a coarse screen (which doesn't come with the GS-1000). The fine screen backs up and while the blank works okay, you get all the pulp with the juice as well (which I don't mind but some people might not like that). For wheat grass and hard vegetables, this juicer is ideal with the fine screen.
I have quite the opposite of buyer's remorse here, and I'm very glad I made this purchase. I've been able to make my own juices, saving money on store-bought juice and getting better quality juice as well since it's made fresh. I think in a few more months this juicer will have paid for itself.