Juiced Up

A couple of years back when I was spending a summer here at the beach, I got a juice notion in my head and came home one day with the monster of juicers, a Breville Juice Fountain. Let me warn you from the start, if you like the sound of making fresh juice and are thinking about a juicer, the Breville is terrific, but so large you may need to remodel your kitchen to make room for it.

While in Japan, I used for years a small juicer made by Panasonic and it worked well enough, but required difficult cleaning after processing a small amount of fruit or vegetables. Thus, it took more time than I wanted to spend for an eight-ounce glass of fresh apple juice. Hoping to avoid that problem here, I chose the giant Breville Juice Fountain. And it was a good choice apart from the problem of storing the darn thing.

Can’t imagine there’s anyone who would deny that drinking freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juice offers better flavor and more nutritional punch. No question it’s not as convenient as the supermarket carton or bottle; higher quality usually requires a sacrifice of some kind. But a word about that above mentioned ‘better flavor’… To put it simply, everyone I have ever offered a glass of fresh juice has been knocked out by the flavor—EVERYONE.

Around the same time I got the Juice Fountain, I found the perfect companion book. The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies by Natalie Savona is colorful, fact-filled and offers 365 natural blends. Each of the recipes includes a two or three line description of the flavor, a list of the nutrients, and a zero to five star chart measuring the degree of benefits in: energy, detox, immunity, digestion and skin. The simplest recipes are for things like orange juice (The Original Juice) and apple juice (Eve’s Downfall), but for the more adventurous are recipes like Black Mud (tomatoes, beet, kale leaves and lime). Admittedly, something this exotic—or weird—is not for the beginner. I can recall some of my own disastrous ‘blends’ that ended in 8-10 hours of hysterical colon seizures. But in all honesty, ninety-eight percent of the recipes in Ms Savona’s book are a taste treat and offer a bundle of health benefits.

Following are a few of my personal favorites:

APPLE GONE LOUPEY

3 apples

2 thick slices of melon

1 small bunch of fresh mint

This one’s high in energy, detox, immunity and skin benefits.

EVE’S PEACH

2 peaches or nectarines

2 apples

High in energy, immunity and skin benefits.

CREAMY PEAR

3 pears 1 thick slice of melon

1 small bunch of mint

Good for energy, immunity and skin.

GREEN PINES

1/2 pineapple

3 sticks of celery

1 large handful of watercress

This one’s a bonanza in everything.

BREATH FRESHENER

4 medium carrots

1 handful parsley

High powered in everything; freshens the breath from the inside, and not merely a mouth rinse.

PEPPERY TOM

6 tomatoes

1 large bunch of watercress

1 stick of celery

The watercress is the seasoning in this one; also great for energy, detox, immunity and skin.

See Natalie Savona’s book at Amazon or BetterWorldBooks