Can You Put Leafy Greens In A Juicer?

Everyone knows you can juice apples and oranges, but what about leafy greens such as kale, chard, spinach, and wheatgrass. Can you put these leafy greens into a juicer?

The answer depends on what type of juicer you’re using. But yes, in general, it’s perfectly fine to juice leafy greens. I would hope so, since I’ve been blogging about it for years!

Can You Put Leafy Greens In A Juicer

Why would you not be able to put leafy greens into a juicer?

The main thing to consider here is what type of juicer you are using and also what type of leafy greens you are juicing.

Most juicers are advertised as being capable of juicing anything. That’s a bold claim and in most cases it’s not going to stand up to scrunity.

When you put leafy greens in a juicer, what happens is that you are trying to juice the toughest vegetables out there. They are super healthy, but they are also hard on the juicer. And if you have a cheap juicer, well then good luck!

Compared to an apple or some other fruits, or even soft vegetables such as cuckumbers, leafy greens are hard to juice.

But, you can put leafy greens in a juicer. It’s not like you are trying to juice something that can’t be juiced (berries or bananas being two such items).

Leafy greens and certain cuciferous vegetables have tough fiber. That’s why they fill you up when you eat them.

Consider eating a bowl of cucumbers or tomatos. Sounds simple, right? That’s a salad basically. Now consider eating a bowl of kale spinach or broccoli. Ugh. And that’s because of the ammount of fiber in the vegetables.

But this is exactly the reason that you shoudl want to juice leafy greens. You won’t be able to stomach eating so much whole leafy greens due to the fiber. And the juice is where the most value is with regards to nutrients and antioxidants.

Can You Juice Leafy Greens In Any Juicer?

Here’s where you will run into problems. While you can put leafy greens into a juicer, you have to be selective with what juicers you use.

You really can’t use just any juicer. There are quite a few mass marketed and popularly sold juicers that are perfectly fine if all you are doing is juicing apples and carrots. But once you move into the realm of leafy greens, you are going to run into an issue.

Again, leafy greens contain more dense fiber than soft fruit and even some hard vegetables (beets and carrots, for instance). And if you choose a juicer that does not have a strong motor, you’re going to jam your machine and end up with a complete mess.

There are two basic suggestions I have for you if you’re looking to juice leafy greens.

1. Make Sure You Buy A Cold Press Juicer
2. Don’t Buy a Cheaply Made Brand

Number 1 is somewhat contraversial in the land of juicing. There are many folks out there that use a centrifugal juicer and feel that it works fine. Personally, once I started using a cold press juicer, I never looked back.

Cold press juicers simply get more juice out of leafy greens. They literally squeeze the juice out. That’s why they are calle cold press juicers. Other juicers, such as centrifugal juicers, use tiny blades to slice up the vegetables and then any juice that happens to sill out is collected.

It’s so simple that when you think of it, it becomes apparent that you just can’t rely on a juicer that is not a cold pressd juicer. You won’t get any reasonable ammount of juice from leafy greens without one.

Secondly, don’t buy a cheaply made brand. That’s important to remember since there has been an influx of juicers on the market lately that have tried to capatalize off of the popularity of the cold press and masticating hype.

I spend a lot of time discussing why you should never buy garic from china, and why you always want organic fruits and vegetables, but it’s just as important to make sure you buy a well made machine. There is a whole ethical argument against supporting the terrible conditions in chinease factories.  And in addition to that, you’re going to end up with an inferior made product. That’s why I like Omega and other brands that are made in places like South Korea and other areas where they have skilled workers and human rights are enforced.

What Makes Leafy Greens Hard To Juice?

It’s the fiber, simple as that. It’s not the size of the greens (you can cut them up, but it won’t matter). The only thing that matters is that leafy greens are fiberous. Which is good for you, but tough to juice.

The easiest things to juice are apples, cucumbers, celery, and yes…even hard vegetables such as carrots. Toss in ginger, lemons, and fruit like pineapple, and you have a nice list of the easiest to juice fruit and vegetables.

But what about leafy greens? What about them and what is it that makes them so darn hard to juice?

As mentioned, it’s the fiber content. Non-fiberous fruits and vegetables are not really “non fiber” it’s just that they have less than what are called fiberous vegetables. And that’s ok.

Tips For Juicing Leafy Greens

I’ve been using a juicer to make green juice for many years. And part of that process involves learning how to juice leafy greens without any problems.

So, what I am doing here is laying out my best tips for juicing leafy greens. If you’re a long time reader of my blog, then you’ve seen this before. But I wanted to include it here as an important part of the process for beginners.

The first step involves choosing a good juicer. I have a a article that covers the best juicer for the money. These juciers are still auger cold press juicers, it’s just that they are not going to set you back that much.

Once you’ve got yourself a good cold press juicer that you can put leafy greens into, it’s time to move on to the next step.

You will want to select the right types of leafy greens to juice. Now, what that means is different to everyone. What I am specifically talking about is to choose leafy greens that don’t present more of a problem than others. So, if you want to juice kale, try picking out an easy to juice kale variety such as lacinto or better yet, get baby kale!

Finally, you will want to make sure that you’ve got a nice combination of fruits or vegetetables in your leafy green juice. Do you really want to drink straight kale juice or even straight spinach juice? First off, it’s not even healthy. You shoudln’t be under the impression that you should drink 8 ounces of straight kale or spinach juice. No one does that.

What you should do is make a nice mixture. Include something such as a green apple or a lemnon and some cellery. Not only are these great tasting and improve the palatability of the juice, but they are healthy.

So, make sure to add palatable fruits and vegetables (such as cucumbers) and then go ahead and make yourself a delicious juice.

What Type of Juicer Can Handle Juicing Leafy Greens

While you can technically juice leafy greens in any motorized juicer, you should focus your search on juicers that are labeled with the following:

• Cold Press
• Auger
• Masticating

Here’s a good list to choose from. I whole endorse all of these brands. They are much better made than the cheap stuff that’s been popping up in stores recently. I have been using an Omega for years and almost every juice I make contains some sort of leafy green.