We’ve all heard we need to eat more servings of fruit and vegetables every day. While some fruits and quite a few vegetables could have some folks wrinkling their noses, an author has an easy and delicious way to add those nutrient-dense food to one's diet: juice them!
Chef, food writer, and recipe developer Robin Asbell has been juicing for 27 years and believes it’s one of the best way to get the nutrients a body needs.
“When you eat processed foods,” said Asbell, “you deplete the necessary compounds and phytonutrients your body needs, which means you can be deficient.”
In her new book, "Juice It! Energizing Blends for Today’s Juicers," Asbell, shares 65 recipes for vibrant and delicious juices. She also provides an overview of the hardware you’ll need and how to pick ingredients.
When it comes to equipment, Asbell said it’s helpful to distinguish between smoothies and juices:
“A smoothie is a meal and a juice is a drink,” she said.
For smoothies, a person can use a blender, which essentially chops and liquidizes the ingredients that are used.
To make juice, there are two main options: a high-speed or slow-speed juicer. Asbell prefers the slow-speed, or mastication juicer, as it squeezes the produce rather than grinding it.
According to Asbell, a person doesn’t need to fork out thousands of dollars for a good juicer. There are several high-quality options in the $150-to-$200 range.
When it comes to ingredients, Asbell is clear on the importance of using organic produce wherever possible.
“The benefits are in the skin, so get organic,” she said, adding that it’s easy to plant a juice garden with ingredients like beets, spinach and cucumbers. That way, people merely have to look to a garden for fresh organic ingredients.
The last thing a person needs is imagination. Asbell encourages people new to juicing to experiment with interesting combinations, like a “Green Lemonde” made from apple, lemon, spinach and cucumber. Or, if someone needs a bit more guidance, try out a recipe she shared from her book and blog.
Purple Haze
Blueberry – Blackberry – Grape
Think purple, and combine tangy blackberries and blueberries with sweet purple grapes for a decidedly colorful cocktail. Put berries to work fighting pesky free radicals — deliciously.
Makes about 2 cups/480 ml.
- 1 cup/170 g blueberries
- 1 cup/145 g blackberries
- 3 cups/380 g purple or red grapes
Juice the blueberries, blackberries, and grapes, in that order.
Run the pulp through two times to extract as much liquid as possible.