DIY Eat: Juice Pulp Dog Treats

If you’ve jumped on the juicing bandwagon, you’re enjoying amazing, fresh, homemade juices, but likely wondering: isn’t there something I could be doing with all the leftover juice pulp? Well wonder no longer! You can make these little, healthy, fiber-rich, low-calorie dog treats! Susan Powers of rawmazing.com, a fantastic raw food blog, shares this dog-approved recipe.

I was looking at the dwindling doggie treat jar and the pups expanding waistlines and made a decision. I would accept the juice pulp challenge and make doggie treats from the pulp! 

I started collecting my leftover pulp and placed it in the freezer. When I had a significant amount (only three juicings), I pulled it out, let it thaw and started making these little treats. With the addition of sunflower seeds and flax, I created a jar full of treats that the pups went wild for and wouldn’t pack on the pounds. I think this is a winner.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: There are some fruits and veggies that are toxic to dogs. Please make sure you don’t include these in your treats. Onions and grapes are two huge no-no’s as they’re poisonous to dogs. Oranges are okay but many dogs don’t love the taste of citrus. Here are just a few of the good-for-dogs fruit and veg pulp you can try: carrot, kale, cucumber, apple (not seeds), lettuce, celery, spinach, melons, pear

For fruit & veg that are good for dogs, also go to: moderndogmagazine.com/fruitfordogs and moderndogmagazine.com/goodveggielist

What you need

• 8 cups juice pulp (make sure you don’t have anything toxic to dogs in your pulp*)
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup ground flax soaked in 2 cups water for ½ hour
• ¼ cup nama shoyu (optional)

How-to

1. Mix all ingredients together and spread on non-stick sheets ¼ inch thick. 
2. Score into 1-inch squares.
3. Using a dehydrator, dehydrate at 145° F for 1 hour, reduce heat to 115 ° F and continue to dry until completely dry, flipping once during dehydration, approximately 12–14 hours. Makes two trays. Store the treats in a glass jar in a dark cupboard and they should keep for weeks.

If you don't have a dehydrator, you can use your oven. Set it to the lowest setting—usually 140° F, use a non-stick oven-ready pan, and keep the door open. If you have an oven fan, turn it on to keep the air flowing. Note that the timing will be different when using an oven versus a dehydrator. You may need to “dehydrate” for less than half the recommended time—get in there and check periodically. Keep in mind they need to be really dry to keep—Ed.

Want to get started juicing? Get yourself a home juicer! We love our Breville Juice Fountain Compact. In Bon Appetit’s January issue round-up of best home juicers, this model took first place for value, space, assembly, extraction quality, ease of use, and clean up, something we definitely second on all counts. Super-easy to use, quick to clean up, and lightning fast in its dispatch of whole bunches of carrot or handfuls of kale, the Breville Juice Fountain Compact has us juicing up a storm. $100, brevilleusa.com or $150, breville.ca

Want to know what other "people" foods are good for dogs? Click here and here for more tasty ideas!