I'm juicing my way to health with the Hamilton HealthSmart Juicer

Now your probably wondering why I do a lot of juicing with fruit and vegetables. First of all let me tell you when I first started juicing. I was taking care of my older brother who lived alone and was diagnosed with colon cancer. I had to go over to his home each day to give him his medication, along with taking him for his chemo treatments. My brother juiced quite often before he got sick. This is when I started juicing. I had to do his vegetable juicing for him. It was the only thing that he could keep down. Then when he got into the last stages of cancer, he didn't enjoy the juices anymore. He finally told me to take the juicer home and use it to make juice for my husband and myself, which I did. It wasn't long after that, that he finally passed away. That was 10 years ago

Every now and then I did use his juicer. In fact it was an older Hamilton Beach Juicer model, but still worked fine until last month. My husband has a garden each year which he plants peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We had an abundance of tomatoes this year. After he finished canning 50 jars of salsa, we still had a lot of tomatoes left. So I decided to start juicing up and making a tomato veggie juice. Took the juicer out of my cabinet, placed the tomatoes, along with his peppers and some carrots in the juicer. Half way through the juicing the motor made a funny noise and then abruptly stopped. I unplugged it and replugged it again, but it still wouldn't work. I knew then that it was time to purchase another juicer.

I decided to look around for another Hamilton Beach juicer. After all this one had lasted 10 years. After checking out several stores I finally found one in Kmart. It was a Hamilton Beach HealthSmart Juicer #67800 which cost $34.99. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a juicer and this one seemed perfect for my husband and myself.

FEATURES:
1)---350 Watts of power, which rapidly juices my fruits and vegetables.
2)---Large removable pulp bin which snaps out easily for emptying.
3)---Food pusher for pushing the food down into the food chute.
4)---Food chute. Could be a little larger.
5)---Stainless steel cutter/strainer. This separates the pulp from the juice.
6)---On and off switch.
7)---2 Safety latches located on each side of the juicer. The juicer will not operate if the safety latches are not locked.

Before I used it for the first time I washed all the parts out (except the base) in warm soapy water and dried the parts. And then I assembled the juicer which was very easy to do.


HOW TO JUICE:
If I'm using vegetables from the market, I always clean the vegetables and then soak them in water for 5 minutes. I'll also put about 2 teaspoons of vinegar in the water also. This helps to eliminate the remnants of any fertilizer or any impurities. I then rinse them again and I'm ready to juice then.

I usually cut up all of my fruits or vegetables and place them in a bowl. Then I plug the juicer in, making sure that the pulp bin is in place and the safety latches are locked. I then place my container under the juice spout.

Once the food is placed into the food chute, I just press the food down lightly with the food pusher. And I always empty the pulp bin before it gets really full. You must turn the juicer off first before removing the pulp bin. Depending on how much juicing I'm doing, I may have to empty the pulp bin 2 or 3 times.

I like to juice 2 or 3 times a week. It seems that I juice more vegetables then I do fruit juicing. You have to remember fresh fruit juices from fruits are not calorie free, because they are a concentrated source of natural sugar. I will put in a few pieces of fruit along with my vegetables to give the vegetables a more pleasant taste.

Sometimes I like to add a few leafy green vegetables when making vegetable juices. All I do is roll the leafy greens up in a small roll and place them in the food chute. I have experimented with different veggies and fruit combinations, and have ended up with some great juices. Usually about 2 pds. of fruit or veggies will make about 16oz. of juice. In the manual there are some recipes to try. But I have fun just making up my own recipes.


WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THAT VEGETABLE PULP:
If I happen to just juice vegetables without any fruit in it, I will take the pulp and place it in a freezer container and freeze it. Then I can add the pulp to a recipe like stew or even soups that I'm making. A few times when I have made apple juice with the Hamilton Beach juicer, I have peeled the apples, this way I can use the pulp for making apple sauce. Although it's not necessary to peel the apples if all you want is the juice.

The manual states that any juices should be served immediately. But I've found if I juice later at night and store the juice in the fridge in a glass bottle, tightly sealed and we drink it first thing in the morning, the flavor and color of the juice remains the same as if it was just freshly juiced. Any freshly juiced juice should be used within 24 hours as the nutrient content will decrease when juices are stored.

I've found that when I juice fruit or vegetable juices in the Hamilton Beach Juicer that the juice tends to be a little thicker, rich tasting and more delicious than juice in the supermarket.

I try not to mix anymore than 3 fruits or 3 vegetables together, otherwise you're likely to end up with a bit of a non-identifiable mush that doesn't have any main flavor coming through.


CLEANING:
All parts should be washed immediately after juicing in hot water, rinsed, dried, and then reassembled for storage. All of the parts are also dishwasher safe, except the cutter/strainer which should only be washed out by hand. Sometimes the cutter/strainer will have some build up of food particles. I usually soak it for few minutes in hot soapy water and then with my pastry brush I gently clean out the particles from the strainer rinse it and then dry it. The base of the Hamilton Beach Juicer can be wiped down with a damp cloth.


CAUTION:
When I do wash out the cutter/strainer by hand I'm very careful because the cutter teeth are very sharp, so caution should be used when washing it out.
I always turn the switch to off before removing any parts of the juicer.
Never feed any food by hand. Always use the food pusher.
The food chute should never be overloaded. Just drop any food pieces, one at a time into the food chute, and slowly press with the food pusher.

WARRANTY:
The Hamilton Beach HealthSmart Juicer comes with a warranty of 2 years.

One thing though I wish that the opening in the food chute was a little larger. You can put sticks of celery and those baby peeled carrots in the chute just fine. Some other fruits and vegetables have to be cut up into smaller pieces.

All fruit and vegetables should be washed thoroughly before juicing. Remove all pits and large seeds from peaches, cherries etc. Peel any thick skinned fruits or vegetables such as lemons, grapefruit, tangerines, oranges, watermelon, and even winter squash. If I do decide to put some green leafy veggies in the juicer for juicing, I just roll the leaves up and stick them in the food chute.

We still eat fresh fruits and vegetables, but it's nice to have fresh fruit juices or a vegetable juice a few times a week.


HOW NOISY IS THE JUICER:
A lot of people complain that most juicers are very loud and noisy. Now I have to say that the Hamilton Beach HealthSmart Juicer is by no means quiet, but I've found that my blender makes more noise then the Hamilton Beach HealthSmart juicer makes.

BENEFITS OF JUICING WITH THE HAMILTON BEACH HEALTHSMART JUICER:
Have you ever checked the ingredients in vegetable and fruit juices on the shelves of your supermarket? Well the juice from these stores contain just bits of fruit or vegetables juice. They contain sugar water and also contain a number of additives, coloring agents and a number of preservatives. When you do your own juicing you'll get the nutrients that are found in fruits and vegetables. This means natural nutrients in natural proportions, not added sugars like those juices found on grocery shelves.

I love my Hamilton Beach HealthSmart Juice Extractor. I feel that preparing juices with the juicer are always tastier, more nutritious and extremely important to my health. When I do juice I try to drink a glass of juice before I eat my breakfast. This way I always get a quick energy lift in the morning because the nutrients in fresh juice are quickly absorbed. When taken prior to my breakfast the juice tends to serve as a wonderful digestive aid, providing my body with enzymes that assist digestion.


MY FINAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Hamilton Beach HealthSmart Juicer will rapidly juice a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and tomatoes in no time at all. I feel that it would be a worthwhile gift to give to someone you know on any given occasion. It's a wise investment that will benefit your health also in the long run. Juicing with fresh veggies and fruits makes healthy drinks without all of those additives and preservatives like the kind found in the supermarkets. I do recommend the Hamilton Beach HealthSmart Juicer 67800.

Thanks for reading!!

~~Naomi~~