VRT 350 HD String of the Day in the Desert

The Southwest Desert nights have been chilly.  The mercury is down into the 30s (F.).  The days warm up into the 60s or 70s.  The weather is good for working outdoors, hiking, snowbird sports like golf and tennis, or just sitting in the sun.

I will give you the Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer "string of the day" report:  today the inch of ginger root I added produced a really tough string in my carrot, baby spinach, cucumber, and apple juice.  It was nearly as long as the strings I photographed from yesterday's juice.  See first photo:  spinach strings.
1/20/12

Strings from baby spinach in yesterday's juice!  A few pieces of pulp got into the lower portion of the photo.

Lower strings (green) are the dried strings from yesterday's juice, 1/20/12, as in the first photo. Upper string in this photo is the ginger from today's juice, 1/21/12.  The measure is in inches.

  

I apologize for the poor quality of the photos, but it gives you the idea of what my juicer produces when juicing what I think of as string-free produce, and/or produce cut in small pieces.  The problem is exacerbated when I juice celery or other stringy vegetables.  I assume there are strings that I unknowingly swallow, thus never photograph.  I only pull out the strings that are bothersome in my throat or mouth.  I never experienced a juicer that produces a juice with strings like this.  Have you?

The price of celery has gone up over the past few weeks, so I switched to cucumbers as an addition to my daily mixed vegetable juice.  I have been getting good quality non-organic cucumbers and peeling them prior to use.  I try to avoid cucumbers with oil on their skins.  What is that about?  --keep their skin moist?  --keep them from drying out?  --add weight to the produce?  And what exactly is that oil-like material on the cucumbers?  And what about the wax on the apples?

I have found a thin, wax-like material on organic apple skins.  Sometimes you can scrape it off with a knife, but it does not wash off with reasonable effort, so if I have time, I will return the wax coated apples to the store.  I expect organic to be free of artificial coatings like wax. Apparently this is not always the case.  Is the wax "organic"?

Next week we will have a waxing moon.  Let us not have waxed apples.

Tip: try soaking a spoonful or two of shelled pumpkin seeds for 2-4 hours.  It makes them tender, wetter, and a good snack. 

Be well,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2012  P.S.  Support this blog by using discount code WAL660 for $5 off your first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements, raw and organic food such as tahini, coconut oils, energy bars, goji, etc., herbs, teas, organic and natural shampoos, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, dry skin brushes, Madre Labs acai and Cafeceps, soaps such as Dr. Bronner's, raw cacao, organic chia seed, hemp seed, seaweed, nuts, kelp noodles, oils, homeopathics, organic pet food, etc. at discounts.  Currently, they ship free for US orders of $20 or more.  They also ship internationally.  Just enter code WAL660 at check out.    Plus, there are helpful product reviews.   And more free:  iherb offers a variety of FREE PRODUCTS to sample, so be sure to select one with your order.  www.iherb.com -- check it out.  Thanks.

Got Omega VRT Problems?

Wheatgrass (?) string in my Omega VRT350HD juice

This morning I made a juice with my Omega VRT 350 HD juicer.  I juiced baby spinach, a handful of second growth wheatgrass which was not more than a few inches in length, skinny carrots, yam, cucumber, and a bit of apple.  In addition to the usual huge amount of pulpy particles there was a 1.5 inch fibrous string that I assume to be a piece of wheatgrass (what else could it be?  baby spinach has short tender stems) in my juice.  It was, as the youth used to say, "Gross."

Then I read an anonymous comment asking whether I cut my veggies into pieces, feed them slowly, and rotate the produce (leafy then non-leafy) as I feed.  Yes, yes, and yes, generally.  As I understand the official Omega version of the cut the veggies into pieces, from my contact at Omega, is that too small is not necessarily better.  Other so called experts vary suggestions regarding the size of the produce to feed into the Omega VRT.  It jams if the carrots are over an inch in diameter so... I like to keep the jams to a minimum.  Feed slowly?  I never use the pusher tool.  Slow enough I presume.  Rotate the produce?  If I don't, all I get is wheatgrass foam and maybe finally a bit of juice.  I need to put in a carrot or something else to get the VRT juicer to put out or push out the green juice.  This makes it difficult to accurately measure the amount of green juice produced.  In other words, the green juice does not come through on its own when I just want an ounce of wheatgrass of a couple of ounces of baby spinach.  There appears to be green juice, perhaps in stages of juicing, that requires another firmer fruit or vegetable to push it out.  The Omega VRT I have seems to need the variety of produce to juice most effectively. 

"Anonymous" commenter, why don't you tell me and the other Southwest Desert Blogger readers how small you cut your veggies?  Do you have a VRT350HD?  How do you get one ounce of pure wheatgrass juice without rotating in other produce?  I don't want my wheatgrass mixed with anything else, and I do not want to produce mass quantities of wheatgrass juice.  Just an ounce or two of fresh, pure wheatgrass juice.  Not wheatgrass foam!  Mono-juice; not V8.  

I wanted to get off the complaining about the Omega VRT350HD, but that 1.5 inch string in my uber-pulpy juice this morning chaffed my emotional chaps. Then the anonymous commenter with the standard cut the produce, feed it slowly, rotate... line peeved me.  Are you from Omega?  Do you sell Omega?  Do the Omega sales give dealers more profit than other brands like the other vertical juicer I was talked out of by the dealer?  I suggest "anonymous" teach the Southwest Desert Blogger readers how to deal with the produce and pulp that gets under the auger regularly, how to clean the tiny pulp port and juice exit port, how to get beet and green stains off the parts and tiny areas the cleaning tool does not reach, how to clean the vegetable matter caught in wiper blade assembly.  Should I take the blades out?  Or maybe anonymous can tell me how strings are getting into my juice?  Don't just feed me that old "slow feed and rotate" line.  We are talking about an expensive juicer, not a buffet and square dance.

Is it possible I have received 2 defective VRT350HDs?  Is it possible all the folks who use search terms like "Omega sucks" (not my words mind you) and "Omega ... too much pulp" who find their way to this blog are just not feeding the produce slowly?  If I fed it any slower, I could write a post between additions.  I'll tell you what.  Why don't you get your own blog and laud the virtues of the Omega VRT350HD?  Based on our experience, some of us just think it is a poorly designed, sloppily manufactured, disappointing product for the purpose which we intend it.

I need to get a wisdom tooth extracted.  I would like to drink healthful, nourishing, fresh juices after the extraction, during the time I must avoid hard food, vigorous swishing, brushing, and flossing the extraction area.  However, the juice my Omega VRT350HD produces is too pulpy and stringy.  I would worry that the "pulp", which is actually composed of tiny pebbles of produce, would irritate the healing gum area during the initial sensitive recovery period.  I will use my other juicer, as I do several times per week, to get a clean, pulp-free and string-free juice.  The only good thing about my Omega VRT 350HD: it is a little quieter than my other, 16 year old juicer.  But for me, a pulp-free, string-free juice quality is more important than the noise factor. 

Tried to end on a positive note, really,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2012   P.S.  Support this blog and get healthy products using discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements, raw and organic food such as tahini, coconut oils, energy bars, goji, etc., herbs, teas, organic and natural soap, shampoos, conditioners, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, dry skin brushes, Madre Labs acai and Cafeceps, soaps such as Dr. Bronner's, raw cacao, organic chia seed, hemp seed, seaweed, nuts, kelp noodles, oils, homeopathics, organic pet food, etc. at discounts.  Orders of $20 or more ship free in US.  They also ship internationally.  Just enter code WAL660 at check out.    Plus, there are helpful product reviews.   And more free:  iherb offers a variety of FREE PRODUCTS to sample, so be sure to select one with your order.
Thanks.

Got Winter Food?

My diet has been mostly raw, live food since the 7 Day Raw Food Challenge this summer (see July 2011 posts and http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344 for more info).  Now that the cold days and nights have set in I have added some warm food.   OK, it's the Southwest Desert so a cold night is around the freezing mark, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, zero degrees Celsius.  I realize you folks from the Northern US, Canada, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, and the Italian Alps, are laughing at me and thinking, "That's not cold."  I hear you.  Nevertheless, I found a list of warming foods, herbs and spices we can use.  *I know there are Southwest Desert Blogger readers in the Southern Hemisphere where it is summer, but most of the earth's population lives in the Northern Hemisphere, so you Southerners will have to store this warming food info for future use and scroll down to the raw cacao treats.
Warming foods:
cinnamon, garlic, ginger, cloves, coriander, cumin, chives, dill, fennel, fenugreek, lemongrass, mustard, nutmeg, oregano, pepper, spearmint, radish sprouts, fenugreek sprouts, quinoa sprouts, dried red hot pepper, cayenne powder, miso soup, peppermint tea and my own tamari soup.  Here is my recipe for quick and easy tamari soup.  The only thing that makes it quicker than miso soup is that you do not have to blend the thick miso paste with water.
Tamari or Shoyu Soup:
-one cup or mug of warm, pure water
-one teaspoon tamari (or more to taste)
-garlic and ginger to taste (You can use sliced, diced, grated, or powdered garlic and ginger; if using powdered, just a pinch or two will make a nice, flavorful, warming, quick broth.  If using fresh, just add a tiny bit so that you do not overpower the broth.  You can always add more to your taste.)
-optional: serve in a bowl and add bean or lentil sprouts, a bit of scallion (green onion) or any other thin cut veggies you have on hand.  Another option is to substitute miso or Bragg's aminos for the Tamari.

I know there is debate in the community as to whether Tamari and Bragg's aminos are pure enough products.  Are they raw?  As I see it, I do not use these things often, and if you are hard-core, you can just warm water (I said warm, not necessarily boil) and feel the comfort of holding the warm cup in your hands.  Personally, I have been making mild organic miso soup with sprouts almost nightly.

*I add organic powdered cinnamon to any sweet I make with raw organic cacao* and carob*.  David Wolf has written about raw cacao (chocolate) and lauds its virtues.  You can get *organic cinnamon, vanilla extract, nuts, raw cacao powder, beans,  and nibs, miso, Bragg's products, herbs, homeopathics, raw and natural vitamins, coconut oils, hemp seeds, chia, tamari, natural pet food, natural cleaning products, etc., all at discount at iherb: www.iherb.com/info/benefits  Use the discount code WAL660 for $10 dollars off first order of $40 or more, and free shipping for orders over $20. Also see their freebies pages and select one free item with your order.  There are product reviews that are helpful.  I have been buying from them for years.  They also ship to over 180 countries.

I like organic raw carob better than organic raw cacao powder at this point, however they mix well and may have synergistic action.  Carob has some calcium and cacao has magnesium as well as caffeine.  Cinnamon* has chromium which is said to balance blood sugar, so it is nice to add to sweets.  I have been mixing 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, a tablespoon of honey, generous dash of cinnamon, 1/4 to half teaspoon vanilla extract* (optional), and a blend of raw cacao powder and raw carob powder to make a desert.  If you blend in enough powders, you get the consistency of chocolate truffles.  I like to grind brazil nuts and sprinkle into the blend for added selenium and texture.  I have also sprinkled in a bit of hemp protein powder for added nutrition.  Even the carnivores will like this sweet.  You can just eat it with a spoon or shape into balls or other shapes for presentation.  Just be careful of the caffeine in the cocoa -- it could keep you up at night.

It is a challenge to be pure raw in a world that prizes preservation and shelf-life.  I believe the herbs and spices we purchase are heat dried and may be irradiated.  The vanilla extract is probably well cooked, but I have found a superior organic vanilla extract -- not raw, but delicious.  I like the taste better than the organic raw powdered vanilla I purchased at a fancy price.  Maybe some day I will get used to the taste and texture of the powdered vanilla.  It appears to be a purer product, but for now it does not work for me.  I found a nice quality organic cinnamon powder in a glass jar at a local store.  I have seen the same product, Simply Organic brand, available in other states, so look around and see what you can get.  The quality of the Simply Organic powdered cinnamon* has been consistently high.  I keep it in the refrigerator and it lasts a very long time.  Bottom line here is that we generally do not use much vanilla, cinnamon, etc., so if it is not raw and organic, the choice is yours.  These are surely exotic luxury foods to be treasured and used judiciously.

I enjoyed some baked winter squash and yams for the holidays.  I added raisins and butter to some, cinnamon and raisins to others, ground nuts, raisins, and cinnamon to some, and a dash of salt sometimes.  This was a very warming and physically satisfying winter treat.  Not raw, but festive.  Sometimes I juice yams and sweet potatoes with my fresh carrot, greens, apple, celery juice.  It adds a nice thicker texture and richness to the winter juice.  I prefer the smoothness of the juice I get from my old centrifugal juicer over the Omega VRT 350 HD juicer.  The Omega produces weird "pulp" and strings along with the juice.  For those of you wondering, the Omega VRT350HD produces pulp in root vegetable juice too.   

Unless noted, I try to get organic produce whenever reasonably possible.  In my daily mixed greens and vegetable juice with a bit of apple, the weight of the pulp (waste material) from the Omega VRT350 HD is noticeably more than the waste pulp produced for the same amount of juice using my 16 year old centrifugal juicer.  Perhaps results would vary based on the brand of centrifugal juicer you use, but I get more overall efficiency, i.e., juice versus pulp, from my old centrifugal juicer.  Plus, I like the clean, flavorful, pulp-free juice the centrifugal juicer produces.  Also, the centrifugal juicer is faster and does not jam or leak as frequently as the Omega VRT 350 HD.  Don't get me started on an Omega Vert rant.  There are at least 9 previous posts dedicated to my Omega vertical juicer and its problems. 

Another interesting thing I have noticed this winter -- I do not like my tea or soup as hot as I used to.  A high raw diet has made me more sensitive to hot food and drink.  My soups are warm and I allow my tea to cool to comfortably warm.  Conversely, I do not like my smoothies as cold as I used to, even in summer.  In other words, I am more sensitive to the temperature extremes of food and drink and prefer to consume food closer to "room" temperature.  This seems natural. 

Environmentally, I use very little energy or fuel for cooking as compared to a conventional diet.  Over 75 percent of my winter diet is raw, including daily, fresh, mixed vegetable juice.  In summer I was 90 to 100 percent raw.  The juicer uses energy, but I save fuel by growing sprouts.  The sprout seeds require very little packaging and shipping fuel.  They produce at least ten times their volume in fresh green produce.  Sometimes a rounded teaspoon of seed will produce one or two cups of sprouts, or more, depending upon how long I let them grow.  The seeds are compact and require minimal storage space.  I keep them in glass jars with tight fitting lids.

I have been reading You Are What You Eat by Dr. Gillian McKeith.  It is one of a wealth of raw food and transition diet books in my local public library.  This book covers a broad range of health and nutrition topics.  The author espouses adding more raw to the diet, but does include information on the best grains, herbs, and nutritional supplements to use for therapeutic purposes.  It would be a good book for beginners looking to improve the diet, get educated, detox, and add more raw, live foods, although it contains good information for anyone looking to fine tune what they eat.  Check your public library and online resources to educate yourself.

Be happy.  Be healthy.
Staying warm,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2012  *P.S.  Let me gift you a code for $5 off any purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements, raw and organic food such as tahini, coconut oils, energy bars, goji, etc., herbs, teas, organic and natural shampoos, conditioners, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, dry skin brushes, Madre Labs acai and Cafeceps, soaps such as Dr. Bronner's Castile, raw cacao*, organic chia seed, hemp seed, seaweed, nuts, seaweed noodles, oils, homeopathics, organic pet food, etc. at discounts.  Currently, they ship free for orders of $20 or more.  They also ship internationally.  Just enter code WAL660 at check out.    Plus, there are helpful product reviews.   And more free:  iherb offers a variety of FREE PRODUCTS to sample, so be sure to select one with your order.  I think you will find iherb prices lower than your local store.  It is interesting to browse www.iherb.com so check it out.

Got Comments?

This week Southwest Desert Blogger had readers from USA, Russia, Spain, Germany, and Latvia.  This month the blog had visitors from Canada, Australia, Brazil and the Netherlands in addition to the previously mentioned visitors this week.  A couple of days ago this blog's first reader comment, from JB, was received in response to the Dec. 3, 2011 post about the Omega Vert/ VRT350 HD juicer.  Thanks JB and congrat's on being the first comment ever received.  You can read JB's comment at the end of the Dec. 3 post.  JB, may you continue to provide feedback and be an inspiration to others.

I also want to send a sincere Southwest Desert "Howdy" to the reader who found this blog using search terms "Omega sucks" -- nice economy of words.  Couldn't have said it more succinctly myself.  Thanks for bringing a smile to the Southwest Desert. 

I will respond to the reader who searched using the question about whether one can juice apple and orange seeds with the Omega VRT350HD.  I am not sure of the official Omega line regarding apple and orange seeds, but I have juiced them with no problem.  I have seen lemon seeds, albeit a bit crushed sometimes, in the exit port pulp.  I usually remove apple and citrus seeds if they are visible.  Naturally, some escape my notice.  Other times I just do not care if some apple seeds get through as they are smaller than citrus seeds.  There is debate in the health community as to whether it is best to remove seeds.  Some may contain toxins.  Do your research and decide for yourself.  The amount of seeded fruit you juice might also figure into your decision.  I imagine the commercial juice producers do not de-seed their produce before juicing, but that is mere speculation, not to be construed as fact.

There was also a search for Omega 350 "too much foam".  I agree.  Your beer should have a head on it, not your juice.  

One last thing -- I didn't know that Seamonkey is a browser -- available in 24 languages.  How do you like Seamonkey?   I thought Sea Monkeys were little creatures that grew in water . . . What do you expect from a Southwest Desert dweller?

Awaiting your comments,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2012

Got Meteor Showers?

Tonight there will be meteors or shooting stars in the sky around 3am Eastern Standard Time (USA).  The Quadrantid meteor shower, the first meteor shower of the year, is a northern-hemisphere phenomenon.  The best seeing should be in the Eastern United States around the time the moon sets.  If the skies are clear, get warm clothes and blankets and relax in a lawn chair to enjoy the predicted 60 to 200 "shooting stars" per hour.  They are not really shooting stars, but just tiny particles, some the size of a grain of sand, diving into our atmosphere at speeds up to 90,000 mph. They usually burn up around 50 miles overhead.  A shooting star may streak across the sky in a mere second! 

The Quadrantids are a short show -- just a few hours.  If the conditions are right, you can see some shooting stars when the moon sets.  If so, stay warm and enjoy.  Wish upon a star.  Otherwise, go back indoors to sleep and have sweet dreams.

Going to check the Southwest Desert skies in the early morning hours,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2012