Magimix Le Duo juice extractor
The Magimix Le Duo is a centrifugal juicer and should fit on the smallest of
kitchen work sufaces as it takes considerably less room on the worktop than
the twin gear and single auger juicers. With its simple stylish design and clean
lines and availability in a number of colours the Magimix is set to meet most
peoples appearance standards.
Anyone who is familiar with a food processor will immediately feel at home
with Le Duo, its assembly was extremely quick (10 seconds) and straightforward.
A plastic spatula is included which is designed to fit snugly into the pulp
basket to remove the bulk of the pulp. A pusher that is almost identical to
one found on food processors helps guide the produce down the feed chute. The
Lid of the juicer is clear plastic which enables you to see how full the pulp
basket is. The juice outlet spout is at a reasonable level for fitting a jug
under; it would be nice if you could fit a pint glass underneath though although
that's being a bit picky. Le Duo also comes with a citrus press attachment that
can be used to juice citrus fruits without having to first peel them.
The pulp basket has stainless steel mesh sides and sits on a shaft that spins thus
giving the basket its centrifugal action. The Magimix Le Duo is noticeably louder
in operation than the twin gear models.
Using the Magimix is is very similar to feeding produce through a food processor.
Pieces of produce can be fed down the juicer one after another with no need
to pause; this can cause many non-centrifugal juicers to clog up and so makes
the Magimix one of the quickest juicers around. The feed chute is of a reasonable
size, apples have to be cut into quarters or sixths. When the pulp basket gets
full you need to stop the juicer, remove the lid and used the supplied spatula
to remove the pulp from within the basket and then put the basket back in and
lid on. Whilst this process only takes 20 seconds it can be a nag if you are
making large quantities of juice.
Another annoyance is when a piece of produce breaks off and lodges against
the pulp basket wall, rather than being shredded. This can result in uneven
weight distribution around the pulp basket. This results in uneven centrifugal
force that can cause the juicer to 'hop' across the surface - this nearly knocked
my juice jug off the worktop on one occasion. The answer to this problem is
to empty the pulp basket as soon as this problem starts to occur. This problem
seems to occur when you are juicing citrus fruits without using the citrus press
so can be mostly cured by using the citrus press for citrus fruits.
The citrus press certainly makes quick work of making delicious citrus cocktails
such as orange and grapefruit. Simply slice your fruit in half and place it
in the citrus press, then lower the press arm. We found that better results
were had by starting and stopping the motor when pressure was applied on the
citrus press arm. This prevented juice spraying around the kitchen. The juice
from the citrus press was considerably more pulpy than when using the same ingredients
through the regular feed chute. If you don't mind a bit of pulp in your juice
then the citrus press is an express route to creating citrus juice.
The Magimix gave a good juice yield with both apples and carrots - see the
juicer comparison tables. It also handled other fruits and vegetables with ease.
The Le Duo is not suitable for juicing wheatgrass. It can juice leafy greens
if they are rolled up and fed alternatively with harder produce such as carrots
but the Twin Gear juicers are more suited to the leafy greens. The juice contained
very little pulp (when not using the citrus press).
The Magimix must be one of the easiest juicers to disassemble and clean, there
is only the basket bowl, lid, pusher and the basket to remove and clean. The
lid and basket have no hard to reach areas and the parts are dishwasher safe.
If you use the citrus press there are two parts that need cleaning instead of
the basket and the pusher. Again, no silly hard to reach nooks or crannies.
What could be simpler? No cleaning brush is included which is a shame as although
the spatula does a good job of removing the bulk of the pulp there is normally
a need to get into the holes of the basket screen. All is not lost though as
you could just use an old toothbrush for this purpose.
If you are looking for juicer that does good job of juicing most fruits and
vegetables and are also a person with a busy lifestyle and limited time for
juice preparation then the Magimix Le Duo could be the one for you.
Other models reviewed in this juicer comparison series include:
