The best juicers are no longer just for the fitness fanatics or the health conscious, but rather they’ve become a staple in most kitchens. Having a juicer on hand makes food tasks and healthy snacks much easier, and they have a array of other benefits, from squeezing fruits and opening your mind to more vegetable varieties, to saving you time and money on homemade juice.
You’re probably thinking you can chuck any fruit or vegetable into your juicer and you’ll be left with delicious results… but you’d be wrong. As I’ve found through my ‘foods you should never put in…’ series, there are some foods that even the best kitchen appliances can’t tackle, whether that’s because the food will taste inedible, the appliance might break or you could start a fire.
Now, it’s the juicers turn so here’s 7 foods you should never put in your juicer.
For more food tips, check out the foods you should never cook in an air fryer, on the barbecue, in a multi cooker, in a slow cooker, using a non-stick pan, in a microwave, with a toaster and in a blender.
1. Bananas
This might surprise you but bananas should never be put through a juicer. A key ingredient for smoothies and ‘nice creams’, bananas are best suited to those tasks as they give a thick and creamy texture. However, the bananas’ consistency isn’t suited for juicing. Bananas are high in fibre and potassium and have a soft and mushy texture, all of which means they don’t yield much juice. So, no matter how hard your juicer tries, you’re just going to be left with pulp or a drink which is more slime than juice. Working your juicer that hard also isn’t recommended as you can break it or shorten its lifespan. If you want a banana-based drink, use them to make a smoothie with the best blender or the best Nutribullet.
2. Avocado
Similar to bananas, avocados shouldn’t go in your juicer because of their texture and consistency. The mesocarp of the avocado (the green fleshy bit) is incredibly soft, creamy and buttery which can clog your juicer. Avocados don’t contain much juice so it’s a waste of time trying to juice them and you’ll likely be having to buy multiple avocados to get a glass of juice which isn’t cheap. Just like bananas, you’re better off using avocados in a smoothie or spreading them on toast.
3. Pineapple
Pineapple juice isn’t exactly unheard of but generally speaking, you probably shouldn’t put pineapple in your juicer. While juicers can handle a pineapple very well, the juicing process strips the fruit of all its vitamins, nutrients and fibre. What you’re left with is an incredibly sugary drink which isn’t healthy and can cause your blood sugar and insulin levels to spike.
4. Coconut
Coconuts aren’t suited to juicing, mainly because the coconut flesh is too hard and dry to pull any liquid out of. Not only will you not get much juice from a coconut but the texture of it can clog and damage your juicer, causing it to break. This goes for the flesh of the coconut and the bristly outside shell of the coconut, which you should definitely not be putting in your juicer! As coconuts produce coconut milk and coconut water, stick to these liquids rather than trying to juice coconut flesh.
5. Pears
The reason you shouldn’t juice pears is a strange one as you can technically get lots of juice out of a pear and they’re unlikely to jam your juicer. But juicing pears is largely unrecommended as they contain sorbitol. Sorbitol is a type of carbohydrate and a non-digestible form of sugar which is found naturally in fruits like pears, apricots, peaches, plums and figs. Consuming too much sorbitol, especially in juice form, can cause gastrointestinal symptoms which is why many people drink pear juice to relieve constipation. Juicing pears also extracts all the nutrients and leaves you with lots of sugar, so it’s not particularly healthy either. So, if you don’t want to be rushing to the toilet all the time, you might want to give pear juice a miss.
6. Rhubarb
Rhubarb is another fruit that shouldn’t go in your juicer. As rhubarb is incredibly high in fibre and has a tough crunchy texture, juicers tend to have a hard time breaking it down so it doesn’t produce much juice and can damage the inner workings of your juicer. Even if you cut rhubarb into pieces before running it through the juicer, the stalks are just far too dense and stringy so stick to stewing them instead.
7. Broccoli
If you love a nutritious green juice, you’ve probably considered throwing broccoli in your juicer to take advantage of its high vitamin C content. But, you should try and avoid this as broccoli can be difficult to digest. A similar reason to why you shouldn’t juice pears, broccoli can result in IBS symptoms like bloating, cramping and gas which can be painful and unpleasant. Other cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and cauliflower should also never go in your juicer for this very reason.
