Omega Vertical Juicer VRT 350 HD String of the Day Post #3

Today I juiced carrots, one apple, a handful of alfalfa sprouts, and organic spring mix, which is fresh, tender, little baby lettuce and greens -- you know, the type you can buy in bulk or purchase in a one pound recyclable plastic box.   And now Southwest Desert Blogger presents . . . the Omega VRT 350HD string of the day photo:

Measure in inches. 

 This is the last in the "string of the day" series.  I do not enjoy this stringy material in my Omega VRT 350 HD juice.  In my opinion, juice should not have strings in it.  The sound of the VRT350HD juicer squeaking has grown old. I will no longer try to invent ways to clean places that their cleaning brush does not fit.

VRT 350HD juicer spout with solid plastic piece in the middle:  the space between the solid rectangular piece hanging down in the middle of the spout and the wall of the spout  is less than one-half inch.  You can see the sort of material that gets caught there.  In one of my many posts reviewing the VRT 350HD I tried to guess the purpose of this rectangular piece. [see post dated Oct. 29, 2011, et al.] 

I am getting rid of this Omega.  Good riddance.  Adios.  Bon Voyage.  Bye-bye.  Cheerio.  Sayonara.  Adieu.  Arrivederci.  Au revoir.  Auf wiedersehen.  Ciao babe. My 16 year old juicer can juice stringy  vegetables such as celery and chard stems without a single string in the juice.  It can juice root vegetables, greens, ginger, fruits, and anything else I have put through it without strings or particulate pulp. The old juicer produces a juice that is smooth and clean.  I find it produces a sweeter carrot juice than the VRT350HD.  I cannot explain why.  It has less parts to clean and actually cleans faster than the VRT350HD!  Finally, I don't have to get the grit out from between my teeth after drinking my old juicer's juice.  With the VRT350HD there was the need to brush and floss the solid material in the juice out of my teeth!  No mas!

May all your juice be smooth and sweet,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2012  P.S.  Support this blog by using 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 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.   www.iherb.com -- check it out.

Problems with the Omega VRT350HD Continue

This morning I tried straining the juice from the Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer.  The 2 ounces of kale juice produced so much foam it nearly covered most of the 5 inch strainer.  I chose to just juice 24 ounces of vegetable juice and strain the juice afterward.  The juice contained kale, carrots, celery, and a small amount of apple and cucumber.  Here are some photos of the results.
Notice the celery strings on the rim of the strainer.
These strings, and more, were in the juice!
There are many more strings in the pulp.

Close-up of pulp after I pushed out much of the juice with the back of a spoon.  Look closely and notice more celery strings throughout the pulp.  This pulp also contains carrot and apple.  The green kale material, which Omega says the 350HD does the best job of juicing, predominates this pulp although it was less than 10 percent of the total juice.

Select Celery Strings in the Omega 350HD juice:  Up to 2 inches long!

 Notice some celery strings from the juice in the photo on the right.  And yes Omega, I did cut the celery into quarters prior to juicing.  This celery was not the most stringy variety I have ever purchased.  It's strings were average.  This would have juiced very well in my 16 year old centrifugal juicer.  The old juicer produced a sweeter, pulp-free juice in less time, with no strings and fewer parts to wash.  Omega's answer to the problem of the large quantity (more than photographed) of strings in the juice:  it might be a defective auger.  This is the second auger!  I will try the third auger when it arrives and let you know whether things improve.  I am developing a new string theory.

So far, my experience with the Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer has been a strain.  And no, this is not pulp fiction.

With apologies for the puns,
Southwest Desert Blogger   P.S.  To support this blog, use discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements (Garden of Life), 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, organic soaps, raw organic cacao, organic raw 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 .  Thanks.

If you want to learn more about the 10 day juice fast (also see my September 2011 posts), the 7 day raw food challenge (see my July 2011 posts), or just want a free eBook with vegan juice and smoothie recipes and informative blog /videos link to:http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344
Be happy!
C. (c)2011

Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer - Replacement Juicer Update

As you remember, I am using the replacement Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer the company sent me.  I just juiced and feel the need to brush and floss because there is so much pulp in my mouth after drinking a pint of juice.  I want to show you how the juicer is juicing by way of the pulp produced via the pulp ejection port, i.e., the waste product of juicing. See photo.

Notice the whole skin of a wedge of apple on the right.  There are also 2 other pieces of undigested apple skin.  The largest in the photo is the full size of the piece of apple put into the juicer: 3 inches long x 1 inch at the widest part.  The white seeds are un-masticated cucumber seeds in the very wet cucumber pulp!  Of course, the orange material is carrot pulp.  Again today the Omega VRT350HD jammed because of a carrot that was a mere 1 inch in diameter.  I tried calling the customer service phone line, but they are too busy at this time.  They are experiencing "high call volume."  This has happened before.  I held for over 2 minutes and seem to have been disconnected.
I just wanted to give them an opportunity to explain why their juicer is not masticating produce fully and produces a wet cucumber pulp.  Actually, the carrots did not produce a particularly dry pulp either.
I am now on hold with Omega again.
Wait!  They answered the phone and told me all my problems are just normal for this juicer.  It gets less yield than a centrifugal juicer for carrots and other fruits and vegetables and only excels when juicing greens.  This is not what I was told prior to purchasing the Omega vert.  Yes, it will jam from a one inch diameter carrot, it may not masticate apple peel, difficult to remove the bowl from the base, etc. -- all normal!  They know all the issues and accept it.  If you get one, just be sure you can return it if it is not for you.

Going to brush and floss the Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer juice "pulp" out of my mouth,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011   
P.S.  To support this blog, use discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements (Garden of Life), 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, organic soaps, raw organic cacao, organic raw 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 .  Thanks.

If you want to learn more about the 10 day juice fast (also see my September 2011 posts), the 7 day raw food challenge (see my July 2011 posts), or just want a free eBook with vegan juice and smoothie recipes and informative blog /videos link to:http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344
Be happy!

Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer Update #4 - The Replacement Arrived

The replacement Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer finally arrived.  It has been over 2 weeks since I shipped the original juicer back to the company.  The replacement unit is better than the one I returned; however, it has a couple of features that trouble me.

First, the bowl that attaches to the base of the juicer is very difficult to remove for cleaning.  It is a major effort to rotate it and thus unhinge it from the base.  This is physically difficult to do as the base is smooth and has no grips.  The bowl fits too tightly.  The amount of effort needed to disassemble is unacceptable.

Second, the pulp produced after extracting the juice is, on average, one ounce heavier per 16 ounces of juice produced than my old juicer.  The old juicer, as you recall from previous posts, is 16 years old.  One of the reasons I purchased a new juicer with supposedly "dry" pulp was to get greater efficiency in juicing, i.e., extract more juice from the produce.  I am concerned about the consistently higher weight of the waste pulp as compared to my old juicer.  On average, the weight of the Omega VRT350HD pulp is over 6% more than that of my old juicer, and that does not include any pulp in the actual juice produced by the Omega.  My old juicer produced a juice that was virtually pulp-free.
Six percent may not seem like a lot, but over time, it adds up.  I had hoped the new juicer would be more efficient, not less efficient.  If you try this sort of comparison at home, be sure to include the pulp that remains around the auger and in the pulp ejection port, a very narrow rectangular space 2 inches x 1.25 inches x 1/2 inch.  The pulp tends to get stuck in this narrow space and is a challenge to clean.  The cleaning tool included with the juicer is like a toothbrush with a narrower part on the handle end.  However, the bristle head is too wide to fit into the pulp ejection port so it can only be rinsed with water, not brushed out.  The narrow handle end is not the right size for effective cleaning.  I may have to use a chop stick.

Additionally, there are several parts that are difficult or impossible to clean due to their trapping bits of pulp or becoming stained with juice pigment after each juicing.  The main exit port for the juice, the juice spout, is like a cylindrical pipe.  Normally, one could clean a cylinder large enough for a finger, sponge, or wash cloth.  But, this cylinder has a hard plastic wall dividing the cylinder like a radius dropping down from the top of the cylinder.  This little radius-like wall within the cylinder makes thorough cleaning difficult and cleaning the little "wall" is almost impossible as it is acts as a pigment and particle magnet over time and the diameter of the pipe is not large enough to use the cleaning tool bristles.  It is impossible to easily and effectively clean the narrow space around this small, yet hard to access "wall" using any tool or technique I have tried.  Bad design.  [See post dated 2/8/12]

If the function of the bad design wall is to break down the foam the juicer produces, it is not working in my opinion.  If the bad design wall has any other function, I cannot figure out what it is.  Bottom line:  it is impossible to quickly or effectively clean the juice exit port because of this bad design wall, thus there will be additional particle and pigment build up.  Is this healthy?

Is the Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer worth the money?  This is a highly subjective question.  Personally, I expect better design and function for the price.  After all, it is just plastic parts with a motor.  Also, there are other parts that are difficult to efficiently clean due to particles getting caught in poorly engineered fittings such as the auto cleaning brush fitting.  The auto cleaning "brushes" are just rubber-like windshield wipers that wipe the pulp strainer baskets.  Good idea, but the wiper material stains after the first use juicing pigmented vegetables such as carrot, and will stain after each such use. Juice material including pulp gets lodged in the crevices where the "brushes" are attached to the plastic.  This organic juice matter builds up over time and the cleaning tool does not dislodge it effectively.  There are no instructions for use of a special cleaning product except "Do not use metal sponge . . ." and "Do not use dishwasher to clean."  I use a biodegradable liquid soap.  It does not remove all the pigment stains but does lessen the pigment deposits on the juice bowl.  Note I said reduce, not totally remove the pigment stains.  Thus, they will build up over time and form a patina.  There are too many little places that produce material gets lodged and stuck, and no tool can clean.

The replacement Omega VRT350HD juicer produces less pulp in the juice than the Omega VRT350HD I returned.  It produces a juice that is like the most pulpy orange juice, but with some, how to describe it, chunkier style pulp -- little chunks of carrot, etc.  Today I got a string of celery in my juice that was nearly an inch long.  This was not pleasing.  And as I have described in previous posts, the strings of celery or wheatgrass tend to get packed into the pulp ejection port area and can be time consuming to dislodge.  Note that I cut my celery into lengths half as long as Omega recommended to me (although their suggestions have varied from person to person), put all produce into the juicer slowly, and almost never use the pusher.  I have been using the smallest carrots I can find.  Although they are not baby carrots, the largest carrot diameter, at its widest, is 1/2 inch.  Nevertheless, the Omega 350HD jammed and had to be put into reverse to clear the jam.  Come on Omega, a one-half inch diameter carrot!  What's the problem with your product?

Am I totally satisfied with the Omega VRT350HD juicer?  In a word, no.

Added Dec. 17, 2011:  photos of sample of strings, etc. from today's baby spinach and carrot juice.  I have had strings as long as 2 inches in the Omega VRT350HD juice since the original post!  Not pleasant to fish a 2 inch string out of one's throat! 

This gives you the size of the strings in inches.  The photo on the left has added material from the juice.  This is just a small sample and does not include the chunks of "pulp" which are ever present in Omega VRT350HD juice.  There are several other reviews of this juicer in my blog.

Thinking of a way to grow and juice enough wheatgrass to make the Omega VRT350HD worth it,  but juicing the wheatgrass just produces too much foam!
I AM
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011   P.S. Support this blog by 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 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.  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 .  Thanks.
 Also: a free eBook with vegan juice and smoothie recipes and informative blog /videos (recommended by Southwest Desert Blogger) at this link:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344

Having Fun With My Old Juicer

Still waiting for the replacement Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer to arrive.  In the meantime, I am juicing better than ever with my 16 year old juicer.  This is an older compact juicer.  It is small but does a good job.  It is centrifugal and fast.  It does greens if you put them through slowly and roll the large leaf greens such as kale and chard like cigars.  I first fold the leaf stem over the leaf so that it is in the center of the leaf, then roll the leaf like a cigar with the stem as the core.  Sometimes I need to push it all the way into the juicer with a carrot.  I have gotten an ounce or two with two very large chard leaves put through the juicer this way.  Parsley can be less productive though the juicer instruction book says to bunch it up in a ball and push it through.  The quality of the juice is smooth and pulp-free!  Heaven.

The old Juicer is eating up the celery.  I just cut the stalks in half lengthwise and out comes the juice -- no strings, no jams, nor errors.  The juicer produces a fine celery juice stalk after stalk.  I do not have to rotate the produce I insert.  I can juice all carrots (seems to produce more juice, certainly quicker than the Omega VRT350 HD), then switch to beets, celery, and a couple of handfuls of spinach.  The problem with the verbal Omega instruction to rotate the produce, i.e., juice one carrot, a 1/3 length of celery stalk, a piece of beet, a  piece of apple, then another carrot, celery, etc., is that one cannot measure the ounces of juice produced by a particular type produce.  How will I know when I have juiced one ounce of green juice or 4 ounces of carrot juice?  I think knowing how much green juice has been produced is important because I do not want to overpower the juice with too much green, yet want to get at least one or 2 ounces of green juice per pint.

I am currently growing a 12 inch diameter pot of wheatgrass.  I expect to test my new, replacement Omega VRT350HD with a handful of wheatgrass.  I am wondering whether I can replace some of the pricey greens with home grown wheatgrass.  I will have to experiment and see how much wheatgrass it takes to produce an ounce of juice.  From videos I have seen, it should be an economical trade off. [It did not go as expected as future posts reveal. The replacement juicer was a saddening disappointment.] Where will I grow a rotating crop of wheatgrass? 

Free Stuff for you: While we wait for the replacement VRT350HD juicer to arrive, let me give you a code 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 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.  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.
Also download a FREE Juice and Smoothie Recipe eBook, and view hundreds of short videos on a variety of raw food and health topics on this site: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344

Just watching my wheatgrass grow,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011

Omega VRT350HD Vertical Juicer Update #2

My father had a saying: "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all."  If I were to adhere to his advice, this would be a mighty short post.

As you may have read in previous posts, I am displeased with my new Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer.  I have seen dozens of videos of happy people using their VRTs on youTube.  Rarely does one jam or overflow.  Rarely does anyone mention the pulp content.  I have even seen folks juice several whole stalks of celery, whole bunches of kale, bunches of chard, parsley, medium size carrots, and wheatgrass.  I, on the other hand, have been cutting my celery into bite size pieces, slimming my carrots so as not to jam the machine, and cut my leafy greens into 2 inch lengths.  If the juicer jams, and I put it into reverse to clear the jam, huge amounts of pulp come out of the juice port.  I finally tried placing a metal strainer over the juice collection container and the strainer clogged because the "juice" was so thick!  I finally resorted to taking the smallest strainer I had, about 2 inches diameter, and repeatedly skimmed the juice for pulp.  Then I mashed the pulp in the strainer to extract all the juice I could, and although this system is far from perfect, I extracted a few ounces of pulp this way, and the juice was still pulpy.  There were strings of celery, up to 2.5 inches in length in the juice!  Unacceptable.

I finally phoned Omega and told them I needed a replacement juicer.  Cleaning the overflow juice off the motor cover, straining huge quantities of pulp, and drinking celery strings was not making me happy.  They agreed and sent UPS to pick up the juicer.  Luckily, I still had the shipping box.  I packed the juicer, instruction manual, and all, and it is on it's way to Omega.

I juice daily.  I weighed the pulp extracted from the Omega on my last day of juicing.  I generally juice 2 pints of mixed vegetable juice daily.  The pulp weighed, conservatively, 12 ounces.  Now, while my Omega is on it's way to headquarters, I am again using my trusty, 16 year old Juiceman Jr.  It is louder, but it does a good job.  I have figured out how to juice greens with it.  It juices much more quickly than the Omega.  I had hoped to get higher yield from the Omega.  The Omega boasts its pulp is dry.

I weighed the pulp from 2 pints of my old juicer's juice.  There was considerably less waste than the Omega; plus, 16 year old juicer porduces a smooth, pulp-free juice with no leaks, no drips, no jams, and no strings in the juice.  The old juicer has less parts to clean.  Clean up does not take any longer than the Omega VRT.  Assuming the Omega replacement juicer works well, with a tolerable amount of pulp in the juice, the only 2 reasons I can come up with to keep the Omega are: 1.  it is quieter, and 2.  supposedly the juice has more nutritional value because it is a slow juicer, thus less oxidation takes place.

Again, this is a pricey juicer and the fact that it performs worse, so far, than a 16 year old centrifugal juicer is disappointing.  I told Omega I want to be happy with this juicer.  Lots of folks are happy with it.  We are assuming my first Omega had a factory defect or two.  But honestly, I am enjoying the pulp free juice from my old juicer so much that I am not sure I want to spend big bucks for anything less than perfection from Omega.  Stay tuned for the arrival of the replacement Omega Vert.

Thanks for reading this post.   To support this blog, use discount code WAL660 for $5 off first purchase at www.iherb.com .  They sell nutritional supplements, raw supplements (Garden of Life), 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, organic soaps, raw organic cacao, organic raw 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 .  Thanks.

You can also download a FREE Juice and Smoothie Recipe eBook, and view hundreds of short videos and other info' on a variety of raw food and health topics on this site:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344

May all your juice be sweet,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011
P.S.  Howdy to the blog readers from Russia.  Do you juice?