Enjoy the gifts of nature from the garden or discover them while wandering through meadows and forests. Have vegetables for breakfast and fruit for a snack.
Cook a genuine mushroom soup and pour boiling water over the herbs to enjoy your favorite herbal tea. However, if you have more than you can consume immediately, process them. In addition to freezing, preserving, or juicing, do not forget about drying. In every form, fruits and vegetables will liven up your diet and give your body vitamins to fight viruses. That’s why having a handy juicer, smoothie maker, and dehydrator for fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and herbs is worth it. There are many brands to choose from. Here are some valuable tips for their selection and a few recommendations on handy electrical helpers from the Slovak brand Orava.
The Right Juicer for You
Healthy fruit and vegetable juices will please children and adults all day. You can juice different types of fruits and veggies, such as citrus, apples, and beetroot. A handy juicer will help you prepare various tasty and healthy juices. What should it be like? First, it should have a high-power motor, at least 1000 W, so it can handle even longer juicing without overheating or other problems. The reverse function protects the engine from clogging even with a maximum portion of juiced pieces and is very practical. A handy gadget is the large feeding chute for inserting fruits and vegetables. If it is large enough and can hold even a whole apple or peeled citrus, you do not waste time and energy unnecessarily slicing ingredients into small pieces. It should have at least two juicing speeds, which you can switch according to the consistency and softness of the ingredients. Quiet operation is another benefit. The following healthy plus is a smooth operation ensured by intelligent pulp removal from the juicer during juicing – through an opening in a separate container or juice. Otherwise, it would accumulate in the juicer, so you would have to repeat the juicing drill – stop – cleaning – juicing more often than you would like). Besides, the pulp is an excellent source of fiber. The juicer should be resistant and made of high-quality materials. At the same time, it should be easy to operate and clean. If the operation is complicated and cleaning becomes an adrenaline game of nerves, once and for all, it ends up cluttered somewhere on the shelves, and juicing is over.
We recommend the Orava Taurus-2 low-speed juicer. It embodies a revolutionary way of home juicing: it presses fruits and vegetables like a meat grinder. Thus, it obtains more juice from it containing up to 10 times more biologically active ingredients than the juice obtained by a high-speed centrifugal juicer. At the maximum speed of 110 rpm, the glass of juice is loaded with vitamins, including the “C,” which will not get spoiled so quickly, as there is no oxidation during low-speed juicing. The juicer has a large feeding chute, so you don’t have to cut the ingredients into small pieces. The juice container is 800 ml, and the pulp container is 600 ml. Do not throw the pulp away. Dry it, pour boiling water, and your tea is ready. You will find the top 10 recipes for preparing healthy juices, such as Memory, Green Detox, or Body Booster. The Taurus-2 can be yours for 99 euros.
Colorful Smoothies
In recent years, smoothies have become very popular in Slovakia. People enjoy preparing their own flavors from fruits and veggies. Recipes for smoothies can be found on the Internet. Many have also been published in books. In addition to great taste, they also offer benefits that help heal the body. But beware, smoothie makers are not juicers! These are high-speed blenders that blend the ingredients into a smooth consistency. Ideally, they allow you to use at least two speeds. What you get from the container of a smoothie maker is not – although it looks like it – a drink, but a meal! Therefore, in addition to “drinking” smoothies, drink plenty of fluids, especially clean water. Do not overdo it with fruit smoothies – too much fructose means an overloaded liver, which has to break it down, and sometimes it can cause fatty liver. Smoothies taste different each time, depending on which fruits and vegetables you blend. It is a quick, healthy, and great snack alternative. Even after gym exercise and training outdoors, it fills you up and recharges the body with the necessary energy. However, it tastes best when freshly blended just before consumption. And that’s precisely what the Orava RMU-40 portable USB smoothie blender is for. You recharge it at home, cut pieces of fruit and vegetables, and take them with you. When you get hungry, just press the button on the lid, and the healthy meal is ready in a few seconds. You can enjoy your favorite perfectly fresh smoothies at work, in the gym, on a trip, or in the middle of the forest. 400 ml is enough for a really hearty snack. The blender boasts an extra-sharp stainless steel four-blade knife, up to 20,000 rpm speed, and a practical handle for convenient transport. It weighs 500 g and is very handy, so you can easily fit it in a larger handbag, sports bag, or backpack. The RMU-40 can be yours for €33.90.
Bulk Drying – A Suitable Dehydrator for You
Low electricity consumption is the key to home drying of fruits and vegetables. If the dehydrator were to be the “gobbler” of electricity, drying health-charged pieces could shatter your budget considerably. Ideally, the appliance should feature 5 to 7 trays for drying food. If there are fewer, you must binge-dry, which takes too long. If more sliced food is in the dehydrator, it may mean that the drying process will be prolonged, or only some of the pieces will be dried perfectly. Some models feature practical nets for drying small fruits. Good ventilation will ensure that the gifts of nature are dried evenly on all trays. The dehydrator should be able to regulate the drying temperature from 35 to approx. 60 0 C. depending on the specific type of dried food. An excellent option is a dehydrator with a display on which you can clearly see for how long and at what temperature and performance you are drying the food. A handy solution is to use a timer on the dehydrator so it works independently during the night and uses cheaper energy. The appliance switches off automatically. It is an advantage if the lid and grids are made of transparent material to see if the slices of fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, and pieces of herbs are properly dried or if they still need to be “passed” a little more. If these parts were made of opaque materials, you would have to open the dehydrator to detect the condition of the drying process, and the heat would escape.
Our tip is the Orava SU-105 dehydrator for fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and herbs. It has up to 10 grids that allow you to quickly dry even larger volumes of nature’s gifts. It is easy to operate and will enable you to adjust the drying temperature from 40 to 70 0 C and regulate the flowing air temperature at any time during the drying cycle. Thanks to the digital timer, you can choose a specific drying time with automatic shutdown, up to 48 hours. In the manual for using the product, you will find valuable advice on becoming a food drying expert and a practical recipe book. The SU-105 can be yours for 99€.
Text: Stanislava Murínová, photo source: Orava, Pexels.com
