REVIEW – Juicing (in the sense of extracting juice from fruits and vegetables, not in the sense of being “juiced” or under the influence) is a popular health practice for many. Since we never lived in an area where typically juiced fruits were abundant growing up, my mom always got concentrated orange juice in a can for us for breakfast. But with modern shipping and marketing practices, I now find my regular grocery aisle packed with everything from apples and pears to guavas and pineapples – throughout the entire year! So, on a whim, I volunteered when AMZ Chef offered their Slow Juicer and was selected to review it. Let’s see if it changes my life!
What is it?
The AMZChef Cold Press Juicer is a slow juicer with receptacles for pulp and juice.
What’s in the box?
- Motorized Juicer base unit
- Hopper for juicing materials
- Internal auger
- Base unit with screens for solids
- Pomace receptical
- Juice glass
- “Pusher” rod
Hardware specs
Click to expand
- 5.2-Inch Reversible Wide Chute & Auto-Cutting Power
- Non-Clogging Slow Cold Press Tech
- Maximized Juice Yield
- Precision-Crafted for Quality
- Easy to Assemble & Clean
Design and features
The AMZChef Cold Press is a full-sized juicer, designed for the single purpose of removing the juice from any fruits or vegetables put into the hopper. There are four small suction cups on the bottom to keep it from sliding across the countertop. There is a 30” power cable that runs out the rear of the unit. The power switch is on the back, hidden from the front side, which is an irritation, but there are only three positions: Juice, off, and reverse.
The first two lock into place, so only the reverse will turn off when you release it. But it is a bit disconcerting to not be able to see the controller when you’re turning on something that will grind anything you put into the hopper into juice and dust! (The solids from juicing are known as “pomace”, which was a new term for me.)
Once you’ve set up the output bins (the one with the pour spout is the one for the juice), you just put plant materials into the hopper and turn it on. There is a safety bypass that turns off the motor when you open the top lid. The hole on top allows entry of the “pusher” piece, which can guide items to the input area without ever being in danger of grabbing it and pulling it down. You can also fit pieces of material to be juiced into this hole (pineapple spears and celery stalks fit very nicely!) But as soon as you unsnap the lid, the juicing motor turns off. I’ve worked enough in places like printing houses and such where having a physical disrupt prevents folks from turning “I’m just gonna push this little piece in” into “I’m now missing a finger.” Respect the safety features of your gadgets, people!
Setup
Other than washing all parts before use, it’s just a matter of putting things together. They fit together easily and precisely, without any loose fittings or “slop” in the connections. Removing the pieces is just as easy: they pull apart without twists or catches. Well, until the celery gets involved. More on this later.
Performance
The juicer does its job well. It will slowly pull everything in the input hopper into the juicing chamber when powered on. I’m not a fan of the taste of apple cores or seeds, so I quartered and cored them, but I think it would have been fine to just core them if I had a corer. The pineapple I peeled and also freed from the core. Celery was just a matter of cutting off the dead ends and feeding in. Very few pieces needed the help of the pusher. I can imagine if I’d put in a larger apple, there may have been a need for some guidance, but only a few pieces got caught under the rotating arm. Once the auger grabbed something, it was fed in slowly and methodically.
The juice begins running out of the spout almost immediately. There is a plug that can be put in place so that when you’re changing receptacles, you don’t spill juice all over your workspace. It seals very tightly, but opens back without any issue. This allows for tasting mid-squeeze!
As mentioned earlier, celery. I love the taste and crunch of celery and usually have a stalk cut up into crudités with some type of dressing (Blue Cheese! Mmmmm!) in my lunch. When I put the stalks into the juicer, it obediently pulled them down and began the juicing. But as more and more of the celery pomace came out, the output port became clogged.
I used some forceps to pull it out, but it was a losing battle. After 8-10 stalks, there was far too much fibrous material for the screens to handle, and, as stated earlier, it is totally dry, so it packs tightly! I let it run until there was no more juice coming out and cut the power. The pulp had backed up under the auger and was packed into the screen tightly.
Cleaning is easy, for the most part. There is a toothbrush-looking tool included, which has a two-part fine brush and pick on the other end. The screen and other filtering areas catch a lot of material, but for the most part, it can be removed easily while it’s moist. The few problem areas are under the angular lid locking area (which could be redesigned to be smoother for easier access) and some of the fine plastic slots. See photos.
All in all, I think next summer may see me trying out more berry and fruit concoctions. It would be a good way to rescue fruits that are on the verge of rotting before I can eat them, which is a frequent occurrence.
What I like about the AMZChef Cold Press Juicer
- Fit and finish are excellent
- Juice is fully extracted – the pomace is completely dry!
- There are no settings at all – put stuff in and it’s juiced, period!
What I’d change
- When things clog, there are few options – you just have to disassemble it all.
- Some things get under the gearing and are tough to clean.
- Cleaning out the screens is a pain. I don’t know how this could be fixed without making the screens removable.
- I’d love to have the control buttons visible from the front.
Final thoughts
Now we get into the whole philosophy of juicing vs. just eating whole fruits and veggies. I have loved V8 Juice for years, and my oldest is an expert on where to get the best Bloody Mary in town. But while testing and sending pics to my daughters, the common refrain was “juicing is so wasteful” because of all the pomace being removed and, usually, tossed out. A friend suggested adding the pulp to yogurt, which I considered, but wow, there is a LOT of pomace generated from just a few apples! I was quite impressed with the taste and clarity of the juice, but the idea of buying six apples to get two cups of juice weighs heavy on my mind. Maybe I could ferment the pomace into cider…
Price: $109.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by AMZChef. AMZ Chef did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
