Blenders and Juicers

Our Blender Recommendation — CLICK HERE

Juicer Recommendation– COMING SOON

Blenders and Juicers are not the same.   For certain functions, either will work and it is a matter of preference, however for other uses, only one will cut it.

What a Juicer does well is … wait for it …  juice.  Not just a clever name.   It acts by pulverizing or grating the fruit or vegetable, and separates out the resulting juice from the fiber.   Perhaps you want Apple Juice, Carrot Juice or the juice from Ginger (for a real treat combine all three) without the fibrous part of the fruit or root.   To get Fresh Juice then a Juicer is perfectly suited.

And a Blender blends, right?  Yes it’s technically true — that is, it combines various elements into a uniform mixture.  It does so with a rotating blade on the bottom of a pitcher.   But the blades do more than just blend  — they chop, slice and otherwise pulverize the contents in the pitcher.

You can control how much something is chopped,  mostly by how long they are in the blender and do so much more than just “blend”.   You can turn your Foraged Wild Edibles into toppings (like a tamponade), batters for cookies (cooked or raw food recipes), Green Smoothies,  Purees or Sauces.   It is a versatile machine.

Everything you put in becomes part of the product, including the pulp and fiber — which is generally good for “Whole Foods” but can be inconvenient.  If  all you wanted was Juice and you use a Blender, you’d just run the product (smoothie) through a strainer, cheese cloth or jam bag.   Or you could use a Juicer.

If all you want is to Juice, a Juicer makes it simple and easy — stuff in, juice out.  No straining, no pulp, no fibers.  And usually less expensive than a Blender.

We use both, but if you only want to get one,  a good blender can do everything a juicer can and a lot more. Whereas a good blender tends to be a little more pricey, the blender’s versatility more than makes up for the price difference.  We find ourselves using the blender much more often.  It’s rare that we want juice instead of a smoothie and when we do we still tend to use the blender and then run it through a cheese cloth.  Why?  Because the blender is easier to use (no assembly) and a breeze to clean (rinse container or run it with soapy water and rinse).

However, if you are a part of the growing legion of followers of  Food Under Foot,  a Raw Foodist,  or a forager,  sooner or later you’re going to want to try out Recipes that call for a blender (such as the Wild Green Smoothies, Green Crisps and others here) or you’re going to want to make a batter, smoothie, sauce or puree with your Foraged Wild Edibles.   At that point you may find yourself wishing you had gotten the Blender.

Our Blender Recommendation — CLICK HERE

Juicer Recommendation– COMING SOON

Dehydrators

The spring offers a bounty of Wild Edible Greens.  The summer generously offers fruirs and berries for our picking.  Once you start lookinig Wild Edibles Abound.  What do you do with the excess of Spring Greens and Summer Fruits?  Of course you share the wealth of nature with family, friends and those in need.  Now we urge you to never over-harvest a region.  Take only what you can use.   However often the riches are plentiful and you wish you could travel with some of your finds or save them for later.   There is always canning and preserving.  And there is the Dehydrator.

Dehydrating foods is a fun, easy and exciting twist on food preparation and preservation.  Canning and preserving are great.   But requires higher heat before jarring to destroy harmful pathogens.  You don’t have to be a Raw Food enthusiast to see the value of preserving the Enzymes, Vitamins, and nutrients in your Wild Edibles in their natural form.   The Dehydrator allows you to preserve the nutritional value of your foods by keeping the temperature below 120 degrees, the temperature at which the enzymes start to denature.

Besides the numerous  Raw Food benefits, the dehydrator makes eating fun and healthy.  Fruit bars instead of candy bars.  Homemade dried fruit instead of commericial, additive rich potato chips.  Don’t stop there, get creative.

You can find recipes here, such as Apple Dandelion Flower cookies that really show your flair.  Who wouldn’t rather their children eat that than an Oreo?

If you’re an outdoor enthusiast, make your own dried fruit trail mix or “energy bars”.

A good dehydrator should be easy and safe to use, should have plenty of tray space, and reliable to keep the temperature even.  Of course it should work well and an automatic timer is a great bonus, though not essential.

We  will include a review of our dehydrator pick very soon (please bookmark this page and check back).  The recommendation should be up within the week.

Dehydrator Recommendation — COMING SOON