How To Clean A Juicer

It might seem simple, but learning how to clean a juicer is one of the most important things you can do to keep your auger juicer running. If you let your juicer remain dirty, then not only are you shortening it’s lifespan, but you are also making it so that it’s less likely that you will juice. After all, who wants to use a dirty juicer?

So, what I did here was set up a game plan to cover the best way to clean a juicer. Also, I attempt to answer some questions such as if you even have to clean a juice (yes, you do!) and how often you need to clean your juicer.

Let’s jump right into it:

 

How To Clean A Juicer With Soap and Water

The easiest way to clean a juicer is with soap and water. If you do it after you finish juicing each time, even if you wait a few hours, then it will make cleaning up much easier and faster than putting it off for several juices. The best and easiest way to clean the juicer is to take it apart and run it under water. Most juicers don’t get that dirty—as long as you don’t let the juice and pulp dry and get gunked up.

I’ll use the Omega juicer as an example. When I am finished juicing, I completely disassemble the Omega. This takes less than 5 seconds. It’s very fast. Basically you can to make sure that the auger, and the juice chute, and the filter (if you use it) are all taken and put into the sink. You can submerge them all in water and then use a brush to scrub any residual juice and pulp off the juicer. It’s that simple.

That takes care of cleaning the main part of the juicer. I also go over the body of the juicer (which doesn’t really come into contact with the juice) and clean it with a cloth or paper towel. This prevents any little spots of juice that might have splashed onto the body from drying.

That’s it! Then I take the auger and juicing assemble and let it dry.

 

How To Clean A Juicer with Vinegar and Water

You don’t always have to use soap and water. In fact, sometimes it might be good to use simple water and vinegar. There are benefits to using vinegar over soap when cleaning your juicer. For one thing, vinegar is a healthy cleaning agent that doesn’t require as much water to remove. So you won’t risk having the soap remain on the juicer and alter the flavor of your juice. Vinegar doesn’t have to be scrubbed off with as much effort as soap.

The other great reason to use vinegar to is that it helps to “descale”, which means that it will help remove any mineral build up. This can happen over time whenever you are using a kitchen appliance. Vinegar will help to wash off the mineral build up.

In order to clean with vinegar you have to use the right type of vinegar. While apple cider vinegar is the go to recommendation for healthy vinegar, it is not the best vinegar for cleaning your juicer. The type of vinegar that you want for cleaning is basic white vinegar. Apple cider, especially apple cider vinegar from a brand like Braggs that has sediment aka mother, it’s suited for cleaning.

What I do is take plain white vinegar and then mix it with a little water. You can use a paper towel (make sure it’s a strong paper towel) or a sponge and use the vinegar and water mixture

Tools of the Trade: What You Need To Clean Your Juicer

There are only a few things that you need in order to effectively clean your juicer. They are the following:

• Soap/Vinegar
• A Cleaning Brush (some juicers such as the omega cold press juicer come with a cleaning brush)
• Clean towel or paper towel

 

Do You Have To Clean A Juicer After Every Use?

I suggest that you do clean your juicer every day. It helps to prevent the juice from building up and getting sticky. The longer you leave your juicer without cleaning it, the more gunky and hard to clean it will become. It’s the same principal as when you leave dishes build up in the sink and don’t clean them…it becomes harder to clean the dishes when you eventually do clean them, it will be very difficult.

The problem with not cleaning the juicer becomes compounded because you have pulp and juice (which as natural sugars). And you don’t want to have to be rough and scrub too hard. If you over scrub you might end up damaging the juicer. It’s rare, but you could scratch the feed tube, for instance, which would end up causing not only debris to build up, but potentially also a split in the plastic.

So, yes, you have to clean your juicer after every use!

Soap or Special Cleaners For Cold Press Juicers?

If you’ve been using a cold press juicer, then you’re probally use to the rinse and submerge method. Because auger juicers don’t have cutting blades, they are much easier to clean. In fact, in an article I wrote, I suggest that cold press models are the easiest juicers to clean.

And, sure, you can simply submerge the auger and other non-electirc parts in water, but it would be beneficla to someimtes clean with soap or a dedicated juicer cleaner.

The main thing you want to use is the cleaning brush that comes with the juicer. If you’re buying an Omega or other masticating juicer, they will come with a device like this. They are basically deep cleaning brushes. They look like big toothbrushes.

You can use a small ammount of any soap and then clean the auger and the screen. You don’t want to use only water because that will eventualy lead to a build up of gunk.

Scrub the juicer screen and auger with soapy warm water and you’ll have a clean juicer that won’t breakdown as fast as a dirty one.