With the apples I quarter them and then sprinkle about 1/2 cup sugar over them. The sugar seems to help extract the juices. I steam on high heat for one hour, then sometimes refill the water pan and go for 1/2 hour....dump the pulp and do another batch...sometimes.....I put two batches of pulp together and go another 1/2 hour...
Last night I had a produce fridge melfuntion and froze everything, including a nice box of apples I was saving for eating...I put them frozen in the basket whole and they juiced up real nice.
I think the time for juicing depends on the fruit too...grapes, raspberries and strawberries juice up real quickly if they are not frozen...if the fruit basket is full, the frozen ones take awhile to thaw before they start to juice.
Enjoy your juicers and share your experiences.Edited by: Northern Winos