Juice can be extracted from fruit in many ways. Use good quality fruit (remove damaged areas) and dice finely to extract as much juice as possible. Leftover pulp can be made into fruit leathers.RAW JUICING
You can use a manual or electric juicer to extract juice from raw fruit. As the fruit is not being heating, this juice will be lower in natural pectin, so commercial pectin will need to be added. This method is handy for large amounts of fruit but results in a “fruity” flavoured juice that needs lots of straining before being made into jelly.
SIMMERING FRUITThe most common method for juice extraction of small and large quantities. Diced/crushed fruit and cold water are brought to a boil, then simmered (covered) until fruit is soft. This heating releases the natural pectin into the juice but loses a small amount of flavour. For firm fruit add 1 cup of water per pound (450g) of fruit and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Soft fruit needs ¼ cup to ½ cup of water per pound of fruit added (to prevent scorching) and simmering for 10 minutes. Do not overcook fruit.
STEAM JUICER
To get the highest quantity of 100% fruit juice, a steam juicer is recommended. These stovetop units have three tiers - for chopped fruit, juice collection, and boiling water. Some models have tubes that transfer the juice into a bowl. Fruit is heated, so pectin is released into the juice, but no water is added so the resulting juice tastes “fruitier”.