Juicing Kale | Kale Juice Questions And Answers

Juicing kale is gaining popularity as the message about outstanding health benefits of kale  spreads around.   If you need to know  how to juice kale, check out my  kale juice recipes page. It contains several easy tasty kale juice recipes and (as I thought) all  practical information  needed to start juicing kale . 

However, I still keep getting questions about juicing kale.  So I realized that many people need more in-depth information about it. This is what this page is about :

Kale Juice Q&A: Top 20 questions

(Questions are listed in no particular order)

Can you  juice kale? Is it okay to juice kale?

Yes you can!  And it is more than just OK - it is an excellent health food. 

Check my Kale juice recipes. Even though kale looks like there is not much juice in it,  what you can juice out of it is very valuable. In fact, kale juice stands right  next to wheatgrass juice, the champion of healthy green juices.

How to juice kale in a juicer? How do I juice kale? My juicer doesn't juice kale!

Not every juicer is good for juicing kale.

 Masticating juicers, such as Omega 8005 or Green Power are meant for juicing leafy greens including kale. Not only they extract twice as much juice from kale than a centrifugal juicer, they cause much less oxidation during juicing process.

Centrifugal juicer, the most popular type on the market, not only produces less kale juice, it also makes juice oxidized.

Using masticating juicer,just feed kale to it at a steady pace and push it down with a stick that comes with your juices. FOr best result, alternate kale leaves with carrots or other veggies. 

Using centrifugal juicer, try to  juice  kale together with juicier fruit ( apples) and hard vegetables ( carrots, celery) . 

How to make kale juice without a juicer?

I don't know.

Is it good to juice kale with veggies? 

Absolutely! Veggies have different nutritional profile; so, when mixed together with kale, they create a very balanced drink containing most of your daily vitamins. 

Try juicing kale with  carrots, cabbage, celery, cucumbers, rutabaga, tomatoes, red and green peppers, and  zuccini. If you have ulcers, raw porato juice in small portions could be added.

What to mix with kale juice?

Fruit, veggies, berries, herbs and spices, aloe vera, and.... omega-3 oil! Let's look at each of them separately.

• Veggies: I have listed vegetables that are good for mixing with kale in the previous question.
• Fruit: Watermelon, melons of all kinds, grapes, lemon, orange, pear, plums, apricots, peaches.
• Berries: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, black currant, red currant, blackberries.
• Herbs and spices: Parsley, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg.
• Why oil? Vitamin A in kale juice is oil-soluble! If you don't consume it with oil, it doesn't benefit you. You simply waste your effort. So you can either take your juice with food or add a reaspoon of flax oil to it and mix it well. You won't feel itiof your flax oil is fresh!
• Aloe vera is good for you and can be easily mixed with kale juice. Use especially when you exercise hard.

How to make kale juice properly? How to make a kale drink? What are the best juicer recipes with kale? Any anti inflammatory juicing recipes?

Check out my Kale juicing recipes page. All kale recipes I post are anti-inflammatory.

How much kale to juice? 

It depends on your goal. If you want to receive all your daily Calcium from kale. you need to juice 3-4 cups of kale a day.  Read  Interview with Brenda Davis,RD: Calcium Rich Foods to understand the true value of juicing kale to get more Calcium.  My family juices 15 leaves ( about 5 cups of kale)  a day for the four of us.

Do not overdo kale juice, start slowly.  Otherwice, your stomach may not tolerate such a healthy lifestyle. Always add some other fruit and veggies to kale.

Do you juice kale stems? 

I do. 

How about eating kale pulp from juicing? 

Kal pulp is insoluble fiber. It doesn't get digested.  You can certainly try to eat it; however,  if you do it simply because you don't want to waste  whatever has remained from the kale plants, consider the following :

Freeze it together with pulp of other veggies. When you have enough,  slow boil the pulp with water, separate liquid and now throw the pulp away. 

This is a VERY valuable veggie soup base  with tons of macroelements in it.

Another great idea is to use kale pulp in baking or dehydrating recipes, for example in carrot muffins. If you plan to do this, juice stems separately from the leave! Hard part of kale steam is stringly and undigestable  while pulp from the leafy part gets "chewed" by the juicer quite nicely and can be used.

Can you drink kale juice every day? 

Yes you can. In fact, drinking equal amount every day  is the best.

Can you drink too much kale juice? 

Yes you can, especially if you are on blood thinners! That's why kale needs to be mixed with other fruit and veggies and consumed in equal portions every day.

How much Vitamin K do you get out of kale juice? 

I did not find a direct answer, however we know that Vitamin K is a part of the cell liquid, so I presume most of it goes to  the kale juice, not pulp. 

1 cup of kale contains 547 mcg of Vitamin K, which constituted 685% of your recommended daily value. 

How to store kale for juicing?

Excellent question! It depends on time period you need to store it for. 

If you have too much kale, you will have to pack it into the air-tight container and freeze it. I have  not tried juicing frozen kale, but why not?

For the use within 2 weeks,  first of all, don't wash that kale. You will wash it before use. Wrap it into the paper towel,  and place in the plastic bag on the bottom shelf of your fridge.  In a week, pull it out of the fridge, sprinkle some water on paper tower, and put it back in the bag.

Do I juice kale raw?

Yes.

How do I prepare kale for juicing?

1. Wash kale leaves thoroughly 
2. Inspect them for rot, and remove rotten parts ( if you stored them for a while, that may happen). Yellow parts are OK for juicing although their nutritional value is not the same anymore.
3. That's it if you have a masticating juicer. 
4. For the use in centrifugal juicer, chop kale in smaller pieces

Which kale is better to juice?

Fresh kale is the best. Seriously, I juiced all three available kinds of kale: curly green, Russian blue and Dinosaur (Lacinato) kale, and I found that there was not much of a difference. What made a difference was how fresh and crispy that kale was. That's why I grow my own kale. I can rarely find kale in the store that is as good as fresh kale from my square foot garden.

This answers most of the questions I have received so far... Enjoy kale juice - the easiest way to consume enough kale!

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