Juicing in Bulk - Making large batches of juice like a pro

Whether you're making large batches of juice for a business, for your family, or just for yourself for the full week, it can be a struggle to juice in bulk in an easy, organized manner that doesn't feel stressful. There are many struggles including how to batch recipes, equipment limitations, and bottling the juice. After working in the juicing industry full time for over ten years, I will try my best to explain the most important parts of bulk juicing successfully.

Bulk Juicing Recipes

If you're used to juicing for yourself, you are likely to be using recipes that use "unit" measuring, for example "1 apple, 1 cucumber, 2 medium carrots". This may work when you're making 1-2 glasses of juice, but once you start making twenty, fifty, or even 500 bottles of juice per session, this is not reliable.

Since the size and weight of product varies so much, you really need to be using recipes that are measured by weight. This is the way all the pros do it. Once you know the weight measurement for one bottle of juice, you simply multiply it for however many of bottles you need to produce.

You may struggle to find recipes measured by weight, since almost all juicing recipes found online and in books are done by unit measuring, but have no fear! We have over 100 chef-created recipes done by weight right here in our juicing recipe archive.

If you need a good place to start, check out our free 25 Essential Juice Recipes downloadable PDF.

Best Juicer for Bulk Juicing

If you're at a point where you're researching how to produce juice in bulk, you really need to consider upgrading to a commercial juicer. You've probably already experienced the limitations and labor time associated with using a residential juicer. The absolute best juicer for bulk juicing that will give you the highest quality juice and longest shelf life is the Goodnature Hummingbird commercial cold press juicer. It is literally designed for bulk juicing, enabling one person to make 30-60 bottles of juice in an hour.

Hummingbird features innovative features like "press and walk-away" which allows you to do other things around the kitchen while the machine is working. It's also a real cold press, meaning there's an actual press that slowly squeezes the juice out of the pulp using thousands of pounds of force, as apposed to other juicing methods like masticating or centrifugal that end up with a separated, chunky mess. You can learn more about the difference in juicer types here.

Goodnature Hummingbird is also super easy to clean since it doesn't have any metal screens that have to be scrubbed. All of the parts are dishwasher safe, and the juice pulp is simply lifted out in the FreshFilter press bag, which can be composted or thrown away.

Other Juicing Equipment

Besides the juicer, there are a few other pieces of equipment I recommend for large batch juicing:

• A commercial scale
  I recommend investing in a commercial kitchen scale, which there are many to choose from. My favorite brand is Escali, which makes a wide range of professional scales. I personally use one with a 13 lb capacity.
• Bins for weighing and storing recipes
  It's always important to have enough bins for prepping recipes. You wan the ability to weigh out and separate all of your recipes before starting to increase efficiency. If you're using Goodnature Hummingbird, invest in some of the integrated recipe bins, which hang right of the front of the juicer. It's also good to have some 8 qt cambro bins around for storage.
• Pitchers for bottling juice
  I like to have some nice big pitchers than I can use to pour juice into bottles. This is the most efficient way to bottle juice. Get some nice big 2 qt or 4 qt measuring pitchers. The measuring marks are important so you know how many bottles of juice you have ready.
• A large cutting board
  Invest in a large wooden cutting board that has plenty of room to prep produce, and an indentation around the edge to catch liquid. This will make your life easier for cleanup.
• A Sharp Knife
  Always have a sharp knife on hand. It's super important when it comes to cutting and preparing fruits and vegetables. If your knife is dull, it's going to take more work to prep, and it's actually more dangerous because you have to use more pressure. If the knife slips while applying more pressure, you have a better chance at cutting yourself.

Bottling

Once you create a few gallons of juice, how are you going to store it? I recommend investing in some nice, reusable glass bottles that you can use again and again. If you're starting a business, you can offer a bottle return program that gives customers credit when they return their bottles. This is very common practice and is a good customer loyalty program.

You should look for bottles you can buy by the case, like Goodnature's premium reusable glass juice bottles. They have an iconic milk-bottle style with a special ergonomic grip that makes them perfect for taking on the go.