Blending and juicing are two methods that are used to transform solid food such into liquid forms. Although many people assume that these two processes are the same, there is a major difference between blending and juicing. Juicing involves extracting the juice (liquid part) from fruits and vegetables. Blending process involves pulverizing the whole food into the liquid form. This is the key difference between blending and juicing.
What is Blending?
Blending involves pulverizing vegetables and fruits into a smoothie. This is usually done with a blender. The blender chops the fruits and vegetables into very fine pieces at high speed and liquidizes the whole product. The result of blending is a smoothie, which is a pulpy, thick drink. This is thicker than juice and contains more fiber and nutrients. These fibers make smoothies more filling. Therefore, they can be considered as a complete meal and can even substitute one of the main meals.
However, fibers can also slow down the absorption of nutrients. People who are concerned about their blood sugar may prefer smoothies since fibers slow down the absorption of sugar.
What is Juicing?
Juicing involves extracting juice from fruit or vegetable. This process separates the liquid and the pulp. The liquid part is then known as the juice. Juices do not contain any fiber since they don’t have pulp. However, they are rich in nutrients. The absence of fiber helps the quick absorption of these nutrients since the digestive system does not have to put in a lot of effort to break the fiber.
However, juices are not thick as smoothies and won’t make you feel full quickly. So you have to drink juice from a lot of fruits and vegetables to obtain a maximum amount of nutrients.
What is the difference between Blending and Juicing?
Meaning:
Blending is the process of turning whole fruits and vegetables into liquid.
Juicing is the process of extracting juice from food by separating the pulp and vegetables.
Result:
Blending results in a smoothie.
Juicing results in a juice.
Machine:
Blending is done with a blender.
Juicing is done with a juicer.
Pulp:
Blending does not remove the pulp.
Juicing removes the pulp.
Absorption:
Blending ensures that nutrients are absorbed slowly due to the presence of fiber.
Juicing results in the quick absorption of nutrients.
Imagery Courtesy:
“2011.09 smoothie2” By Sigurdas – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
“Apple juice with 3 apples” By Flunse (Patrick Geltinger) – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia