Juicing! The experiment begins. Day 1.

I am not what you’d call “neat” in the kitchen.

During my smoothie stages, epic smears of smoothie product wind up (somehow) being expelled from a our blender and splattering across the carpet, the ceiling and the walls. And while I diligently try to clean everything up, somehow bits of flax or melted blueberry find themselves mashed into the nooks and crannies of the kitchen. So it was with some horror that my roommate Susan discovered I had now brought home a juicer.

“Well get you a haz-mat suit,” she said, eying her lovely kitchen rugs with some alarm. “And a tarp.”

I’ve never tried juicing before, but I’d heard good things. Juicing sites wax poetic about the benefits:”You will find that when you make fresh juice a daily part of your diet, you will have increased energy, a glowing complexion, strengthened immune system, stronger bones and a reduced risk of disease. It is recommended that you drink at least 16 ounces of freshly squeezed juice each day.” While this may be overkill, even the Mayo Clinic agrees that juicing is a good way to get a slug of vitamins into your diet quickly (granted sans fiber). So my obstacles seemed to be:

laziness/ time
no juicer
takes about 40 veggies to make one juice
fears of taking in so much sugar in one go
clean up (need I mention Hazmat suit?)

Enter Spud.

SPUD (Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery) is like Vancouver’s version of Fresh Direct, but healthier. Organic groceries delivered conveniently to your door. Hannah, one of their reps, got in touch with me and asked me if I’d like to do some blogs about juicing in order to get the word out about their service. They’d provide me with a juicer and the produce, and all I had to do was try it out and see what I thought.

Since I love all experiments that involve health and wellness, I jumped on the chance. After all, they were taking two out of five of my obstacles away by giving me veggies and a juicer, so what better time to see if juicing really lived up to all its hype? Would I feel invigorated, better, clearer? Or would I get a sugar high and then crash?

So now, the experiment begins.

Day 1:

My roommate finds me in kitchen.

“How’s the juicing going?” Susan discreetly looks over her carpets.

“Oh, I haven’t started yet!” I look down at my coffee – my usual AM pick-me-up. “Yes, I should do that.” I’ve had the juicer a day and a half and told Spud I’d start on the experiment quickly. I glance onto my patio, where Hannah’s delivery of produce awaits. “Okay, what should I make?”

“Something green,” she replies. She watches me from a safe distance.

I trundle outside and start peering into my box of goodies. “Kale?” I call out over my shoulder, “cucumber, apple?” Never having juiced anything before, I’m taking a stab at what I think will taste good. My roommie is an amazing cook, I figure she’ll have good feedback.

“Yes,” Susan says, “Good! And cucumber is good for your skin.”

I bundle up my veggies and dump them on the counter, then wash them and cut them into 2″ pieces (as per the Hurum’s Slow Juicer directions). My roommate ventures near to look over my shoulder at what I’m doing.

“You know that will make about a tablespoon of juice.”

“Go away.”

I start putting everything into the juicer. This is a “slow juicer,” which means it grinds the produce more slowly so as not to destroy all the enzymes. Or at least that’s what the manual says.

The juicer slowly masticates the produce and pours juice out of one funnel and the pulp out of another.

“Ew,” Susan says.

I agree. The pulp expulsion looks a little gross.

To my surprise, our recipe yields about 16 oz of juice-perfect for two people. We try it.

“Wow,” I say, “that’s actually quite good. Not too…green.”

She nods, savors, considers. Susan is a hard sell. “That’s do-able,” she proclaims. “The cucumber softens it. It’s good.”

It is good. And I didn’t even make a mess.

Day 1 Recipe: