what do you put in a smoothie for taste ?

[proteus]

what do you put in a smoothie to enhance its taste ?

i like oranges and ascorbic acid powder ( Vitamin C ). my mother likes lemon.

pomegranate juice works even better, but unfortunately i have never tried making my own pomegranate juice - i just tried it with store bought once. but i don't want to buy store bought because its pasteurized.

the reason i didn't make it myself is pomegranate has these little seeds right? are they even edible? if i put a pomegranate into my green star will it just juice the seeds? what will the result taste like?

i would love to make my own pomegranate juice but scared to try :(

[streetsurfer]

I think the inner hard part of the seed leaves a little bitter or pythy taste. like eating the pyth of an orange or lemon. Yes you can eat them but on some fruit it is harder and makes it a little chewy if any gets past the gauntlet-on some it is softer. I don't know if that is a function of ripeness or what. I have juiced them in a centrifugal only, seeds removed from the fruit first.

I like figs in my smoothies, vanilla, cinammon, sunflower seed butter, cacao.

[proteus]

seeds removed from the fruit first

you mean the juicer automatically removed them, or you removed them before juicing ? how did you do it ?


sunflower seed butter

whoa, where did you get that ? back in USSR we used to have unrefined sunflower oil as widespread as corn, canola and soybean oil are in US - it was delicious, very flavorful.

we also had "halva"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halva

of a simple type made of just sunflower seeds and sugar ( probably with hydrogenated fat too, but i was a kid then didn't know about this ). it was delicious as well - everybody loved it.

but i never heard about sunflower butter. that sounds exciting. do you buy it online? is it raw?

[Stina]

Love juicing oranges or apples for the base.

[streetsurfer]

I removed them first. I slice the outer skin in quarters. Start as though you are peeling the skin off which will usually break the fruit in smaller pieces. Then kind of crumble the seeds off of the pithy part, by gently rubbing across them with my thumbs. When you come to a layer or sheet of pith you can bend it into a curve with the seeds being on the outer edge of the curve. That opens the space between the seeds, making them easier to crumble apart. Dropping the quarters or whatever size chunks it comes out to in water helps the pith seperate from the individual seeds also. It takes a little soak time, maybe 5 minutes, but it does help.

Sunflower seed butter:
There are raw ones we get, but depending on availabilty I sometimes have to settle for roasted. I think one brand name is SunButter but not sure if they are a raw or roasted. Google and you'll find other brands which are not roasted. I don't tolerate peanuts so I sub in sunflower, almond, and most rarely, hazelnut butters. We usually find it at Trader Joes or Whole Foods. In Florida I found it in a Publix once. You should find it next to the peanut butters if a store carries it.

Hey, curious now that you've mentioned Russia. Did you have camelina oils and use camelina as a common grain there?It's actually the seed of a brassica. I am waiting for it to become popular here so I can try it. It is being experimented with for biodiesel and jet fuel. I cant have wheat and am always looking for good grain replacements. I know of an organic farm in the driftless region of SW Wisconsin that is growing it for using to make fuel. I had heard it was once a grain more common in europe than wheat. And then something like we changed the popularity of camelina in Europe by introducing greater incentives for wheat production after the World Wars.

[proteus]

I removed them first. I slice the outer skin in quarters. Start as though you are peeling the skin off which will usually break the fruit in smaller pieces. Then kind of crumble the seeds off of the pithy part, by gently rubbing across them with my thumbs. When you come to a layer or sheet of pith you can bend it into a curve with the seeds being on the outer edge of the curve. That opens the space between the seeds, making them easier to crumble apart. Dropping the quarters or whatever size chunks it comes out to in water helps the pith seperate from the individual seeds also. It takes a little soak time, maybe 5 minutes, but it does help.

oh i see we've miscommunicated. by seeds i meant what you referred to as "inner hard part of the seed". so you made no attempt to remove that ( the hard part ) ? centrifugal processed it ok ?

[kaleboy]

1/2 an avocado makes a big difference...try it out.

[proteus]

1/2 an avocado makes a big difference...try it out.

ok, but what difference ? i once tried to blend an avocado and it was a traumatic experience - never tried again. it produced so much fiber ...

the only other thing in my experience that produces as much fiber are the chia seeds, but i only use a spoon or so of those.

[streetsurfer]

oh i see we've miscommunicated. by seeds i meant what you referred to as "inner hard part of the seed". so you made no attempt to remove that ( the hard part ) ? centrifugal processed it ok ?

No removing them, just put the red "berries" in whole. For the most part if seperates them well, but a little sneaks through at times, if I remember correctly. sorry about the confusion.

[bananafish]

I would rarely if ever make a green smoothie without a banana. That usually forms a fair amount of the taste. Also like adding cinnamon.

I like citrus in a juice or dressing, but not in smoothies.

[proteus]

No removing them, just put the red "berries" in whole. For the most part if seperates them well, but a little sneaks through at times, if I remember correctly. sorry about the confusion.

ok i see. thanks!

[siennagray]

You could also try manually juicing pomegranite.
We received a bounty of choke cherries last summer. Choke-cherries have seeds that can be very dangerous (and crushing just one can ruin the flavor of a large batch), so we put them in a jelly roll pan and used a potato masher (or in a gallon ziplock bag and rolled over them with a rolling pin), then squeezed them through a strainer. We learned another method people use is to crush them enough to break the skins, then transfer them into water and let them sit a while to dissolve into the water then strain to remove the large chunks. I imagine something similar could be done with pomegranite.

I have made a few times a yummy "chai" smoothie using cinnamon and cardamom with young coconut, strawberries and spinach.

[Aleesha Sattva]

I would rarely if ever make a green smoothie without a banana. That usually forms a fair amount of the taste. Also like adding cinnamon.

I like citrus in a juice or dressing, but not in smoothies.

by adding citrus to your smoothies you body will be able to access the iron! so adding citrus is really an essential part of every smoothie.

as for poms... you juice them on a manual citrus juicer, same way you would a grapefruit or orange. then take the "pulp" (seeds) and rub them between your hands.

two poms should give you a nice sized glass of juice.

[bananafish]

by adding citrus to your smoothies you body will be able to access the iron! so adding citrus is really an essential part of every smoothie.


Interesting, have never read that. Maybe I'll start adding a segment of citrus to my smoothies in the future. :)

[streetsurfer]

as for poms... you juice them on a manual citrus juicer, same way you would a grapefruit or orange. then take the "pulp" (seeds) and rub them between your hands.

two poms should give you a nice sized glass of juice.

Thats a great tip, thanks Aleesha.

[Revvell]

My smoozies are simple; don't need to enhance the taste...

Juice ~often citrus or apple, enough water added to blend; bananas, fruit, greens. That's it!

Pomagranates... open in water, let the lil red guys come out ~ eat 'em! Chew!

[cbowden]

Cayenne Pepper! Can't have a green smoothie anymore without a generous sprinkle or two of Cayenne.

Banana, coconut milk, green sun-tea, spinach, carrot, sprouts, blueberries....
and Cayenne Pepper.

Yummy!