Product Review: Breville Juice Fountain Plus

Sophomore year of college, I lived downstairs from a bunch of football players. Every Sunday, the boys would venture off campus to a teammate’s house to play a game they devised called “Can You Fry It?” in which they’d batter various items, most but not all of them edible, toss into a fryer, and see what happened. They’d return in the afternoon to report their findings: Doritos — you can fry it! Cat food — you can fry it! Cupcake frosting — you can’t fry it. And so on. This lasted an entire year. It never got old.

Today, I received as a gift the Breville Juice Fountain Plus, which juices whole fruits and vegetables, no cutting or chopping or peeling required, in five seconds or less. I’ve wanted a juicer since my month-long experiment eating raw (currently on hold during fried clam season), but I also despise any sort of kitchen work, and juicers are notoriously messy. But apparently, I can toss whole cantaloupes into this thing. Or so it seems.

So began my own version last night of Can You Fry It? First, a whole apple. (You can juice it. Though you’ll want to remove the stem.) Then, some raw Brussels sprouts. You can juice it! You can not juice a grapefruit without peeling it. And you can’t juice a hard boiled egg. You can not juice a peach with pit intact. A banana: You can juice. But you won’t really get anything out of it.

The Breville, a best-seller at Linens ‘n Things, comes with a 115-page operator’s manual which includes info on which foods juice best, recommended juicing speeds, recipes for juices but also for non-juices like Bloody Marys and the sort of random vegetable bacon soup, and tips on “getting the right blend.” At $199, it’s Odwalla money well-spent.

615 Arsenal St., Watertown, 617-924-8800, lnt.com, breville.com