Juicing Fresh, Local Oranges from The Veggie Bin

Jan. 27, 2011

Cheers to week two of receiving my bin of local, seasonal, farm-fresh produce from The Veggie Bin in Jacksonville, FL. Now that I've picked up my bin that was delivered to Life's Journey Yoga & Wellness, well, all that's left to do is nourish myself and my family with the varied produce. One simple way to do that is to JUICE some of it, starting with the oranges tucked away in the bin of the day.

For this juicing adventure, all I have to do is peel the oranges...leaving as much as the white pith on them as possible...and then feed them through my juicer. In seconds, voilà, I'll have a glass of tasty orange juice up to my mouth!

"...By law, orange juice sold in cartons and bottles in the supermarket is pasteurized, a process that kills life-giving enzymes. .....because most of the vitamin C dissipates shortly after juice is made, many manufacturers add synthetic vitamin C to bolster the content. Still others add sugar for sweetening. None of this is necessary if you juice your own oranges.....What emerges is a thick, foamy drink with a heavenly creamy color." ~Jay Kordich in "The Juiceman's Power of Juicing"

By the way, if the orange juice doesn't turn out to be as sweet as you would like it to be, perhaps add the fresh juice of an apple or two to it (one of my son's favorites). Or, just stir in a little local honey or cinnamon in place of the apple. Smile at the life-giving enzymes you'll be feeding your body!

Happy Orange Juicin'...

Penny

Update: Jan. 28, 2011

To a friend of mine who also gets a bin from The Veggie Bin delivered to Life's Journey each week, I texted this note: "Just juiced oranges from bin. Only oranges....peel and juice...delicious! Wow! Took everything in me to share." LOL

Yes, the flavor of these juiced oranges was incredible. Seriously! Of course, the flavor can vary from orange to orange, but the orange juice from the oranges in my bin were certainly tasty.

In The Juiceman's Power of Juicing, Jay Kordich talks about how his mother used to squeeze fresh oranges, but he says it wasn't really juicing, because "she simply rotated the halved oranges on a reamer and pressed them in a squeezer." He explains that was simply "rubbing tissues against membranes and creating" what he calls "orange water. It may taste healthy," he says, "but has few of the health benefits of orange juice made in the juicer."

So just what is in orange juice other than the obvious vitamin C? Kordich's list also includes: "B complex, bioflavonoids, potassium, zinc and phosphorous. Orange juice "contains almost all of the oranges' food value," he writes. "Consumed pure, it is a perfect balance of nutrients."

Note: The orange juice I made (pictured above) was actually a little brighter in color than the picture shows.