Got my Vita Mix today! -Question-

[pippin07]

Anyone know if you can actually use whole fruits & vegies to make smoothies (passing up the juicing part)? I usally juice my apple & greens then use a blender - adding bananas kiwis, strawberries, ect to make the smoothie.

[Rawkinlocs]

You can definitely put the whole fruit and greens in there and blend away! Now, I don't use like the core and seeds but I believe there are some who do...but don't quote me on that. But basically, you do not have to juice anything and add...I even add carrots to my smoothies... just right into the VM they go! Celery, virtually any fruit and veg is fine.

[Aleesha Sattva]

i do i do i do. i cut my apples into quarters and toss the entire thing in! seeds, core and all.

i add avocado seeds to mine now as well!

[FloridaPatty]

with fruits and it turns out great.

Vitamix should have sent you a recipe book. A bit of advice - the veggie smoothies and drinks - follow their recipes before you start experimenting. Veggie drinks are pretty bad taste wise unless you know what you're doing.
Congrats on the Vitamix. I love mine.

[goingrawchelle]

I throw everything in myself, including carrots, apple core and seeds (but I do quarter them first) Congrats! Best investment you'll ever make in your raw kitchen. ;)

[Revvell]

- follow their recipes before you start experimenting.

The last place I would look at recipes would be in the VM recipe book. I've not found them to be healthy. Maybe something's changed?

There are plenty of recipes here, *whispers* or in my book ~ "Smoothies and Smoozies for Life".

As everyone says, no need to juice. I do juice oranges and use that as a base but I've also peeled them and thrown them is whole. Never done seeds and core of apples though. :)

Revvell

[Eva]

I will tell you... I've heard of people using the core of an avocado... I tried it. My mom and I were thoroughly grossed out. We tried doing many things to it, and we just had no luck. I typically can eat ANYthing and not be grossed out. So don't get tooooo crazy in the beginning!! ;)

That said, I do make a smoothie that includes even the PEEL of lime, and it's GREAT.

But yeah, I agree there's no reason for you to juice on most items.

[baltochef]

The seeds of most fruits contain chemicals that have a slightly bitter taste..Many raw foodists will include the seeds of apples & pears in their smoothies in order to benefit from the phyto-nutrients in the seeds..

When trying to benefit from the nutrients in seeds it is usually necessary to add ice to the smoothie in order to prevent the mixture from overheating due to the longer run times needed to effectively pulverize the seeds..

Regarding avocado pits, I have tried this & do not particularly care for the texture of the smoothie when the pit is included..The run time to smoothly incorporate the pit into the smoothie necessitates more ice than I like to put into the smoothie in order to prevent overheating..In addition to the phyto-nutrients in the avocado pit, there is supposed to be a tremendous amount of fiber which people are trying to benefit from..

The Vita-Mix recipe book will provide good guidelines as far as the proper way to use the blender..But as Revvell has stated, there are other better sources for the recipes themselves..

Putting the whole of the fruit into a smoothie is an excellent idea..Putting the fruit whole into the smoothie is not a good thing to do..The larger the pieces of food that are put into the carafe, the harder the electric motor has to work in order to overcome the dead weight inertia of the foods while starting up..Regardless of how soft a food my appear to be, the larger the pieces in the carafe, the harder the blender must work in order to start up..Personally, I cut everything that goes into the carafe into pieces no larger than 1" x 1"..By doing my best to never over-stress it, I can be assured that my expensive blender will still be working decades after I have purchased it..

Bruce

[ForTheHealthOfIt]

I can't wait to ge my VM!!! Ordered it yesterday it was a bd gift.
I made something with lemon today and will definalty omit the seeds next time. It almost ruined it for me...but I ate it anyway.

[pippin07]

Thanks for all your responses! I am so excited to get started using it. It will so much easier to make smoothies than the way I was doing it.

[Frugal Raw]

I have only ever had a vitamix while raw. It works like a dream! I put all sorts of things in my vitamix to make smoothies - sweet, green, and even savory! I've never had a problem with it, but have found that seeding citrus is a good idea because of taste. I love peeling and seeding oranges and making full orange smoothies out of them! I also love adding hot chiles to mine. I have three pages in the recipes of FRUGAL RAW! dedicated to smoothies I've made in my vitamix! Ginger root is another unusual item I like using. You can peel and blend those to add heat to smoothies or to make an Asian-inspired sauce in your vitamix as well!