What about the fiber

Welcome David!

Any ideas on how to incorporate (back into the diet in a yummy way) the fiber material that is separated out during juicing?

The one thing I don't get about the juicing thing is that you're taking out the fiber, something that our body gut flora needs. Then you're looking into options of putting fiber back into your diet. Huh? I don't get it. Maybe it's just me and that fact that I'm old, but I'd rather eat the whole shebang. Blend it up and make a veggie smoothie out of it at least. And I have I objection to my smoothies being in actuality - chunkies.

Gail, that post sounded like I was intent on insulting you. No way! I didn't mean that. It's just that I personally don't understand the juicing trend. Maybe I'm just missing something and don't get it.

By juicing you can eat more....
And there is some fiber iin the juice, because all fibers are not fibrous!
Pear juice is supposed to be one of the richest stuff concerning fiber.

Then, I have some solution, that I used for dogs! I juiced carrots for them, soo that they had some vitamins etc, and I cooked the fibrous part... because it is more digestable.
I also did it for myself, carrot juice + the rest in soup.
Soup is the best way for this stuff.

Fiber mmmmm....

Don't throw it out, put it in soups to thicken them or stocks to flavour them, and put it in rice to flavor and color it - sweet potato and carrot fiber in Spanish rice anyone. And rice means risottos and paella, as well as stir fry, every culture has a rice dish. If it's green, ferment it! If it's fruit fiber put into homemade ice cream, or pancake batter or cake batter, dehydrate it and powder it on yogurt, or mix it into your granola recipe. Use it as an ingredient for low gluten cooking in breads and other pastry.

And so I say, mmmm fiber.

Seth
Permie chef

Some interesting observations on juicing and fiber. Greens tend to be a bit harder to juice than carrots, celery and many other juicing ingredients. I am generally in the camp of just blending the whole greens with whatever else gos in the smoothie. Not always as elegant or smooth for that matter. Americans on average consume less than half the recommended fiber, so a little extra in the smoothie seems like a sound idea. I guessing readers of this forum get more fiber and generally have a better diet than average Americans. Taking the fiber out of the greens to make juice then adding it to soups or other dishes would also work but less well for the lazy cooks like me.

Su Ba wrote:The one thing I don't get about the juicing thing is that you're taking out the fiber, something that our body gut flora needs. Then you're looking into options of putting fiber back into your diet. Huh? I don't get it. Maybe it's just me and that fact that I'm old, but I'd rather eat the whole shebang. Blend it up and make a veggie smoothie out of it at least. And I have I objection to my smoothies being in actuality - chunkies.

I'm with you Su. To me, it seems much simpler to run stuff through a blender and drink the fiber. Blenders can be had for $2 at many yard sales, or $30 for a new one. They clean up in under a minute. Some juicers are very expensive and I've never seen one that cleans up in seconds.

Some fruit juices are high on the glycemic index. The same fruit eaten with the fiber, gives up sugar a little slower. This summer, I discovered that my gardening partner was harvesting massive amounts of greens, running them through a juicer and then throwing away the pulp. I would go to the garden and find that a lot of stuff was missing, and at first thought she was freezing it or selling it. No, just throwing lots away. She was constantly hungry. I gave her a choice. Quit juicing or I withdraw all further help in the garden. She quit.

Su Ba wrote:Gail, that post sounded like I was intent on insulting you. No way! I didn't mean that. It's just that I personally don't understand the juicing trend. Maybe I'm just missing something and don't get it.

Not taken that way, Su!

Great ideas. I was thinking about taking the pulp and trying to make fritters. What do you think, Chef Seth?

I would go a little further....

- An excess can lead to its reverse excess...
Yes modern societies do not eat enough fiber, and yes spoil.
-> Do not over value fiber,
-> Distinguish between different kind of wasting.

1) Apes do juice: they eat, swallow the best, and spit the excess fiber.
2) No problem if you "waste"... if you give it back to the garden.
When you grow cereals or wood-rich plants, you can give a lot back to the earth.
When you grow potatoes, almost all the carb is in the edible part.
And a lot of people rely on outside fertilizers. Natural, BUT from outside.
So I see no problem in putting fiber into the compost pile. And I see more problem in selling or giving away to people who will not give back their poo nor urine to the original garden!

Xisca Nicolas wrote:
Pear juice is supposed to be one of the richest stuff concerning fiber.

More than prune juice? Hard to believe.

CJ, haha, we agree on 1 thing, JUICE has fiber!

Also, fiber is a different matter if you talk about veggies or fruits.
I do not drink fruit juice because fiber is needed with the fructose intake. Essential.
Even fruit smoothie is not as good as unmashed fruit.
The important thing is the rise of sugar linked to the speed of digestion. Even with fructose.

About vegetables, when you eat them raw, you get more vitamins, enzymes etc.
When you cook them, you can eat more.

Juicing + cooking the fibrous part gives you the best of 2 worlds, hopes this helps Su Ba especially.

Xisca Nicolas wrote:CJ, haha, we agree on 1 thing, JUICE has fiber!

Also, fiber is a different matter if you talk about veggies or fruits.
I do not drink fruit juice because fiber is needed with the fructose intake. Essential.

OK we agree on 2 things!

I personally think you're better off eating the whole fruit or veggie otherwise you're just drinking sugary water which is barely above soda in my book! It reminds me of this quote from The Saccharine Disease

Obesity stems from the appetite being deceived by the unnatural concentration present in white flour and in sugar, so that a person eats too much. For example, the average consumption of sugar today is about 5 oz. per head per day (against less than 1 oz. about a century ago). This 5 oz. is contained in nearly 3 lb. of sugar-beet or in up to a score of ordinary apples. Who would consume this quantity of sugar in its natural, dilute form? The same argument applies to white bread, and other articles containing white flour, as compared with unrefined wholemeal bread.

By following Rule 2, above, the natural fibre (roughage) is restored to the diet, and the natural dilution is restored also. As a result the appetite can again be allowed to regulate the amount to be eaten, as it is designed to do, and we can ignore any question of calories, just as all creatures in the wild state ignore them (and they never suffer from overweight).

Xisca mentioned that there might be problem of nutrient loss with products being given away and sold. I may take fall leaves from my friend's yard. I've never asked anyone to bring me their poo. If they do this on their own, they are off the preferred customer list

"Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything transforms"....

If you take something away, you have to take something in. When people grow, eat and excrete in the same place, this is simple.
When nutrients go away... Just think about it on a braod scale and you get the problem that started when cities started.

I would rather sell carrots with just the root instead of the nice appearence with greens (that is normally thrown away by most buyers).
Even when people compost them, they have changed place.

This is out of place anyway in the cooking forum, just mention that fiber thrown away is not at all a loss, because we absolutely need to grow stuff with some fiber = carbon that we do not all eat. Produce potatoes and you eat almost all the carbon produced by the plant. Produce cereals and some of the carbon is left for your soil (straw = very big fiber content!!!)

We tend to be guilty (as people with ecological awareness) when we follow the modern habit to waste / spoil / throw away.
I could see some concern about not wasting in the question may be, and in the throwing away you mention Dale. Was she putting it into the compost pile? To me this is better than selling away!!!

Now a cooking recipe with the pulp, which is not all fiber... Mix with any flour, egg, water or watever liquid, with any spice you like and salt, and fry it, or bake it, or grill it. You can try different wetness of the mass. I have tried the chapati form for example.