My Breville juicer wire basket is clogged up. I use it every day for carrot/celery/parsley and clean it but there is obvious build up and the children have used it without cleaning it straight away a couple of times. The juice is now leaking out the sides. I have tried lemon juice and hot water without success. Any constructive suggestions would be appreciated.
Another note: While holding the strainer blade upside down under running water, you can sometimes use the toothbrush to scrub the outside of the basket. It will release the food stuck in the holes and the water will flush them out. Which side you scrub depends on the type of juicer and the shape/type of basket it uses.
Lemon juice will brighten the basket, but won't clean the clogged holes. Soak it to moisten the food fiber, then use a toothbrush to scrub the fiber off the basket. Mine actually can with a tool that looked a lot like a generic toothbrush, but I buy a good one with stiff bristles since it works so much better.
In the future, clean the basket as soon as you are done using the machine. A clogged basket will make the motor run harder and wear out sooner.
When I disassemble mine, I take the basket and scrape my fingernails across it to remove the lose food fibers--you can use a butter knife if you don't have any nails. Then I hold it under running water upside down so the food fibers fall out into the sink and not back onto the blade, which would be counter-productive. While it's upside down, I scrub the inside with the toothbrush to remove the rest of the food stuff, then set it in the rack to air dry. It can be a pain to clean, but the fresh juice is so worth the work.
HINT: Make sure you have one of those little sink strainers in your sink so your drain doesn't get clogged over time. Or you can save the water in a pan and use it to water plants outside--the pulverized bits of fruits/veggies will act as fertilizer for your plants.
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