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Auger & Pulp

Juicers by Produce

The most useful way to narrow the field: start from what is going into the machine, not from the spec sheet.

By Brijon M. · Last reviewed October 2, 2026

Nobody buys a juicer in the abstract. They buy it because they have decided to drink celery juice every morning, or because there is a bag of kale going soft in the fridge, or because a ginger shot costs seven dollars at the cafe. This section is organized the way the decision actually happens.

It is also the fastest way to avoid the common expensive mistake. Produce sorts into a small number of mechanical categories, and once you know which category your produce is in, most of the machine decision is made for you.

The four produce groups that decide the machine

Produce groupExamplesWhat it needsWhere to start
Long fiberCelery, kale, chard, wheatgrass, herbs, romaineAn auger that drags and crushes fiber. A spinning basket rides over it.Cold press
Hard and denseCarrots, beets, apples, firm pears, ginger, turmericTorque. Both mechanisms work; a wide chute saves real prep time.Centrifugal or cold press
Soft and wateryTomatoes, watermelon, cucumber, grapes, peeled citrusGentle handling. Too much speed turns these to froth and sludge.Cold press
Seeded or segmentedPomegranate, oranges, grapefruit, lemonsPressure, not cutting. A press or a slow auger, depending on the fruit.Citrus

If your shopping list spans groups -- and most people's does -- weight the decision toward the hardest group on the list. A machine that handles celery will handle an apple. A machine that handles apples will not handle celery.

Fresh leafy greens on a pale surface
Leafy greens are the group that most often sends a buyer back to the shop for a second machine.

The three produce questions worth answering before you buy

1. Will it clog?

This is the celery question, and it is also the kale, chard and wheatgrass question. Long fiber wraps an auger or rides a basket. The features that genuinely help are a reverse function -- Nutribullet and AMZCHEF both state one -- and a narrow chute that forces produce into the auger in a controlled way, which is exactly what Kuvings' 1.75 in auto-cut chute on the REVO830 is for. See juicer clogging fixes.

2. How much prep will it cost me?

A 3 in chute takes a whole apple. A 1.5 in chute takes an apple in quarters. Over a daily habit that is the single biggest time difference between two machines, and it is published on almost every product page, unlike yield. If you juice hard fruit, chute width is a more honest buying criterion than wattage.

3. How much produce does a glass actually take?

More than people expect, especially for leafy greens and celery, and that is a running-cost question rather than a machine question. How much celery it takes for one cup of juice covers the arithmetic, and juicing on a budget covers what to do about it.

A note on what we will not tell you

Start with your produce

The tiles below cover fifteen specific produce items. Each one names the mechanism that suits it, the machines that fit, what clogs, and what a realistic glass takes. If you are still choosing between types rather than models, masticating vs centrifugal is the page to read first.

Start here

Each of these carries its own picks, the four-criteria table and a source label on every figure.

Questions people ask

What is the hardest produce to juice?
Celery and wheatgrass, for the same reason: both are long fiber with relatively little free liquid. They need an auger that crushes along the fiber rather than a basket that cuts across it, which is why they are the produce items that most often force a second juicer purchase.
Can one juicer handle everything?
A cold press machine comes closest -- it will do greens, hard produce, soft produce and peeled citrus. What it will not do is be fast, and it will not match a dedicated press for whole citrus. Weight your choice toward the hardest produce on your list.
Do I need to peel produce before juicing?
It depends on the item rather than the machine: citrus peel is bitter and should come off, ginger skin is usually fine, and apple cores are generally fine in both mechanisms. Our individual produce guides cover the prep for each one.
Does a wide chute mean I never have to chop?
For round hard fruit, largely yes -- a 3 in chute takes a whole apple. For long produce like celery and carrots you are still cutting to length, and for leafy greens you are bunching regardless of chute size.

Sources