The juice is (almost) loose

[greatbear]

A couple weeks ago while running errands, Jeff and I stopped at the Goodwill store in Columbia. Since the place seems to have a rather fast turnaround of items, there's always something new. I've picked up everything from a "police scanner" radio to my medical cane, all for nearly a song. This last outing I found a Champion juicer, seemingly intact and in good shape. Since I had wanted to get a juicer for quite a while now but kept putting it off because of the cost of the better ones, I picked the beast up and gave it a closer inspection. While not in it's box, it appears the unit has never been used, with the original shipping wax on the motor shaft and not a scratch on the thing. And for the princely sum of $20, I snagged it. I figure if it was not usable for some reason, I can re-purpose it as a shop buffer or something, since it's built around a 1/3HP capacitor start induction motor. When I got home that evening, I checked out the Champion website and discovered that it was missing only one piece (a blank screen for grinding/juicing without separating pulp from the juice) and the owner's manual. With the user manual downloaded and printed from the site, I thought about future uses for the thing and how my bumper crop of apples and tomatoes could be made into sauces a lot faster than with my old, hand-crank Squeezo juicer. I looked around the 'net for user reviews and other information and found that the machine has been produced in some form or another since 1955, the reviews were mostly quite positive, and that I got a hell of a deal on the thing.



Tonight I ordered up the large-hole screen as well as the missing blank. The total for these pieces, with the shipping, came to $22 dollars. More than what I paid for the juicer! Once these pieces show up, I'm going to do some experimenting. That's where my dear readers come in. How many of you use a juicer, now or in the past? What brand/type? Any suggestions, hints, tricks or recipes? Beuller?

Comments

[rockybear02.livejournal.com]

Hmmn jeeze that is one nice tongue you have there...

AND beets are the best :)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I hope to use this thing as a solution for speeding up processing of the fruits and veggies we grow and probably not so much as a juicer on a regular basis. I'll experiment, see how I use the thing. You know me, I love my gadgets!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I don't have a juicer but your story reminded me of the time I found a Burton propane stove at the goodwill, case and all for $10, I think it was the Great Harvest or some such rebranded for Target version of the Burton that while it didn't have the instruction booklet, clearly had never been used.

Those things normally go for more than $20 these days.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The Goodwill store, plus yard sales, consignment shops and even the dump are good places to get cool stuff on the cheap. Today I picked up a new receiver to replace the one I am using to drive the studio monitors, the ancient Pioneer is beginning to resist my attempts at keeping the switches and pots cleaned, and it's starting to sound distorted in one channel. The Sony STR-K750P I replaced it with sounds great. I'm not going to be using the video switching features of the thing or the surround, however.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Yep, the integrated you see in some of my shots in my bedroom above my monitors is my old Sansui A-707 that was part of a full rack stereo I bought new in 1985. It's the ONLY thing left of that system. Still works but the tape 2 switch is funky these days, hence the folded up piece of paper in it, it won't stay locked on anymore.

[anim8rbear.livejournal.com]

I have the exact same model. Its a great piece of equipment. You can make some very tasty stuff. However I remember the first time I used it. I thought I would create a nice mix of veggies and fruit and ended up with one of the most disgusting swills I've ever tasted. Sometimes more is not better.. especially when you try to throw a little garlic or other strong veggies into the mix. Oh it was horrible.

Since then I generally find that sticking to various families of ingredients work best. Do a berry mixture with some generally sweet veggie additions like carrots and you'll be fine. Also choose a base flavor and make that the predominant taste. Otherwise you'll wind up with horror drinks like my first one.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna start off simple, juicing and making sauce out of the apples and tomatoes that are starting to come in. There's apparently a whole lot of things this juicer can do, but I'll have to decide if they do it well. Not sure if I'm going to go all mad scientist and try to create some crazy, disgusting hybrids. lol