The Best Juicer for Celery

In some comparisons there is a clear winner. That wasn’t the case with celery.  Because celery has a high water content (95%), it gets good results in most juicers. So to determine a “winner”, we had to consider other factors like juice quality, price, ease of use, and cleanup. Representing the horizontal single auger juicer is the Sana 707, the most popular juicer we sell. Horizontal juicers are simple. Produce is pushed down a feeding tube, and a long horizontal screw slowly takes "bites" out of the produce. These pieces are then pressed against a stainless steel perforated screen, resulting in efficient and gentle juice extraction. While not as inexpensive as a centrifugal juicer, horizontal juicers tend to cost less than the more complex vertical models.

Because it has a large pulp outlet, the celery didn’t need to be cut into small pieces like in a vertical single auger, which means whole stalks could be fed in a fast as the juicer could process it.  Juicing was very fast, taking less than two minutes (1:58) including prep. The horizontal was the easiest juicer to clean afterward, as the large auger didn’t get tangled with fibers like the twin gear or have a tight pulp outlet like the vertical. Yield was the lowest of all the tested juicers, at 450 ml, but the juice was dense and tasty. Given the price, speed, juice quality, and easy cleanup the Sana 707 ranked #1 even though the yield wasn’t the best.

• Easiest juicer to use for celery
• Quick cleanup
• No cutting celery required
• Good quality juice
• Simple to assemble

• Lower yield than the other juicers

Vertical juicers aren't usually ideal for celery. That is because verticals have a very small pulp outlet, and the long stringy fibers in celery pulp can form a knotted ball, plugging the outlet. The only way to get around this is by cutting the celery across the fibers into small 2 cm pieces. This prep adds about a minute to the total juicing time. In addition, it can be a little trickier to feed handfuls of little celery pieces into a juicer, versus simply feeding single stalks. 

We selected the new Sana 828 vertical juicer, which brings some features we thought could prove useful for celery. Chief among these is an adjustable pulp pressure regulator. This is a lever on the front of the juicer that allows you to partially open the pulp outlet rubber plug. Normally this plug is kept fully closed to allow maximum pressure and yield. But for softer produce, the partial opening could help reduce clogging at the cost of slightly lower yield. The Sana also has a large side tray on the feeding tube that proved to be ideal for feeding small celery pieces without having them fall everywhere.

A clogged pulp outlet wasn't a problem in the Sana 828. That's mainly due to the celery being cut into small pieces, but the adjustable pulp outlet helped as well. While we could have set it to maximum pressure for slightly more juice, we still had an impressive yield of 510 ml. It was the slowest total juicing time of the four juicers at 3:25, due to the extra time taken cutting the celery. Cleanup was fairly fast at 2:58. The Sana's simple feeding tube design meant no places where produce could get stuck, and the adjustable pulp outlet meant there was much less celery fiber to remove. The side feeding tray and pulp controls made it much easier for celery than most vertical juicers.

• Easy to use, once the celery has been cut
• Excellent juice quality 
• Good juice yield
• Fairly easy to clean

• Extra preparation time - celery must be cut into very small pieces
• Small pulp outlet susceptible to clogging

Twin gear juicers usually give the highest yield of all juicer types. This is because they use two long counter-rotating screws which break produce down to the smallest bits, and then press those tiny bits against a juicing screen. We selected the Angel 5500 to represent this category. Made entirely of stainless steel, the Angel is very expensive - about three times more the price of the other juicers in this test. Even at that price, it is the most popular twin gear juicer we sell. Is the ease of use and juice results worth the extra cost? That's what we wanted to see.

As expected, the Angel twin gear juicer gave us the highest yield at 550 ml. It was also relatively fast, taking 1:50 for our 700 grams of celery stalks. Just like with the horizontal, there is no special prep required for celery. Just feed each stalk whole. The juice was of excellent quality, but not noticeabley different to the taste than from the horizontal or vertical slow juicers. Cleanup took a little longer, as the juicing screen is fairly large with some difficult corners to clean. Also the long fibers wrapped around the augers and had to be pulled off so as not to clog the sink. Overall, it performed the best, but at three times the cost of the other juicers, it is really for the hard-core juice enthusiast.

• Highest juice yield
• Outstanding juice quality
• Fast
• Very dry pulp

• Very expensive
• Tricky to disassemble after juicing
• Most time-consuming to clean

Centrifugal juicers are the most common juicers on the market. That is because they are simple and inexpensive, although higher-quality models can cost more than 300 euros. That higher cost usually gives you features like variable speed control or metal construction. Centrifugal juicers are the fastest juicers because they run at very high speeds up to 10,000 rpm. However, this high speed can cause heat and oxidation, resulting in a less nutrient-dense and watery juice. Some oxidation can be avoided by using a lemon or lime in a recipe - the ascorbic acid retards oxidation. Centrifugals do well processing high water content produce, but aren't recommended for lower water content produce like leafy greens. We chose a high-end commercial-grade Sage BJE820 juicer with a micro-mesh screen which usually gives great results.

The results were surprisingly good for a centrifugal juicer, likely due to the very high water content of celery. It was by far the fastest juicer, processing out 700 grams in under a minute (55 seconds). It also gave an impressive 510 milliliters of juice - tied for second place with the vertical slow juicer. Cleanup was a little cumbersome. The very wet pulp was sprayed all over the pulp container, and had to be manually scraped out (the other machines produced a much smaller quantity of drier pulp). And the large screen took a little more time to brush. The juice quality was noticeably more watery tasting than the others. The juice was also a lighter color than the slow juicers, indicating less of the fibers were processed in the juice. We ranked it fourth mainly due to the quality of the juice, but were actually impressed by the speed and yield. As long as you plan to drink the juice immediately and don't mind the messier cleanup, a centrifugal is a solid choice, and far better than using a blender and straining the result.

• Loud
• Large screen takes longer to clean 
• Pulp is wet and messy
• Watery juice
• Oxidation - juice must be consumed immediately and cannot be stored for later

• Cheap to buy
• Very fast
• Not much pulp in the strainer