Juicing Echinacea Purpurea
Answered by: Richard Alan Miller
Question from: Anita Langendorf
Posted on: March 5, 2001

In the future we might press juice from Echinacea purpurea. (Please note the "might".) It depends on whether or not we can get hold of some of the monies Europe give away to growers. I actually just wonder if you know where one could purchase such machinery. Not easy at all to find information about it, so I hope you donīt mind me asking you about this.

Conrad Richter asked if I might have some suggestions on juicing Echinacea purpurea. Are you wanting to juice the herbaceous herb, or the root? That will make an enormous difference in the selection of processors.

The liquid which results from juicing will not contain as much of the chemistries desired from dehydration and powdering, as they are not water soluble. This is why this crop is mostly sold as a tincture or whole material (for best results).

And, since this does not deliver the chemistries, overall marketing of this will detract some credibility toward further purchases. It’s my belief that this market is driven on delivery of chemistry, not a fad. I had to say that before I could offer help toward your request.

With that, the proper way to juice most things like carrots, beets, and other vegetables would be to first mill it into a puree, and then cold press it like you would apples. You will need a screen mesh (to size) for removal of smaller particles from the juice itself. It will be mostly water, with some solids (unfiltered). Other techniques use high speed blenders (juicers).

There are many places that you can find uses professional machinery of this kind. Here is a list of them in North America. I do not have this list for Europe or Asia, but suspect there are just as many. The equipment should be 1/4 (or less) original cost. Stainless steel must be used wherever the juice is in contact by FDA regulation in the U.S.

Used processing machinery is available from the following sources:

Aaron Equipment Co., P.O. Box 80, Bensenville, IL 6010680, Bensenville, IL 60106.

Clark Machine Sales, 5431 Production Drive, Huntington Beach, CA 92649.

Federal Equipment Co., 8200 Bessemer Ave., Cleveland, OH 44127.

George Equipment & Machinery Co., 333 Hamilton Blvd., Bldg. 17, So. Plainsfield, NJ 07080.

Mercer Processing Equipment, P.O.Box 5626, Trenton, NJ 08638.

Union Chemical Packaging & Processing Equipment, 805 E. 141nd. St., New York, NY 10454.

Universal Processing Equipment, Inc., Box 338, Roosevelt, NJ 08555.

Videx Machinery Corporation, P.O.Box 345, Ft. Washington, PA 19034.

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