Juicing, Blending and Processing Explained

Lots of you ask about the differences between juicing, blending and processing so I thought I’d dedicate a whole post to it! I know lots of you already know the answers to this, but if you’re new to healthy living then it can be a bit confusing. I always feel terrible when people say they tried to make energy bites and raw brownies in their blender and their blender broke! So hopefully this post will stop that from ever happening again. I’ve run through all three processes below, but to summarise – I use my juicer to make juice, my blender to make soups and smoothies and my food processor to make raw treats, hummus, pesto and other more solid things. I find I use my blender and a food processor almost every day, they’re real staples in my kitchen, whereas I use my juicer less as it’s a bit of a nightmare to clean but I still love it!

Juicing – juicing can only be done using a juicer. The process removes all the fibre from the fruit and veg to create a thin liquid. Taking the pulp and fibre out of the juice means that the goodness can be absorbed really quickly straight into your bloodstream, as it doesn’t need to be broken down and digested in the way that food does. As you remove the fibre you’ll need more produce to make the same amount of liquid, which means juicing is slightly more expensive than blending, but you pack in extra vitamins and minerals. I tend to have a juice as an afternoon snack or alongside my breakfast, as it’s not very filling so I find it’s not enough on it’s own in the morning. There are lots of different types of juicers, from centrifugal to cold presses, I’ve written all about the differences before so if you want more information on juicing and specific juicers then have a look at my post here. 

Blending – blending is done using a blender to make smoothies. This process mixes all the ingredients together until they form a liquid, whilst the fruit, veg and other ingredients are broken down all of their fibre remains in the drink. This means it’s much thicker and more filling, it also means that it can use lots of other ingredients rather than just fruit and veg, and you always need to add a liquid base. I add things like oats, dates, nut butter, chia seeds, cacao powder and hemp seeds to my smoothies, along with either almond milk, brown rice milk or coconut water. If I have a smoothie for breakfast I tend to just have a smoothie as I find it’s filling when you fill it up with a mix of banana, spinach, frozen berries, oats, almond butter, hemp seeds and almond milk. If you want more information on blenders then have a look at my post here.

Processing – this is done using a food processor to make things like nut butters, hummus, energy balls, pesto and raw desserts. I find using a processor makes a plant based diet way more versatile as it really increases the number of things that you can make at home with fresh, natural ingredients. Unlike juicing and blending, it doesn’t make drinks, instead it grinds ingredients up – so the final product isn’t as smooth. This is because the blades are much bigger and fatter. The other major difference between a blender and processor is that a processor don’t need a liquid to work, whereas blenders do, which is why you need both as they both make different things. If you want more information on food processors then have a look at my post here.

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