100% Fruit Smoothie with a Good Head of Foam

Smoothies are such great food! It seems like every restaurant, food court, and fast food place (and their grandma) offers some kind of smoothie, but one of the problems is that popular food places often add unnecessary fillers that decrease the quality and nutritional value of the smoothie. You know what I mean… sherbet, “special sweeteners,” yogurt, ice cream, and other things. Even adding ice is unnecessary as far as I’m concerned.

One thing I’ve always done is use frozen fruit instead of ice. Pair the frozen fruit with chilled juice (100% of course), and you’ve got yourself an all natural, vegan, 100% fruit smoothie. Here’s a basic recipe of sorts that I use all the time… in a lot of ways, I’d call it a structure instead of a recipe. It’s something easily modified for any fruit or juice. In experimentation, I really like the combination of a juice, a fresh fruit, and a frozen fruit.

100% Fruit Smoothie

• 2 1/2 cups chilled juice (I use a cranberry peach juice a lot because it’s got a lot of depth of flavor, but any 100% juice will do. I also often use apple or apple and pomegranate. I do stay away from citrus juices that are really strong like grapefruit or tangerine.)
• 1 banana cut into about six pieces (If you don’t like bananas, try another fresh fruit like strawberries or mango.)
• About 5 ounces of frozen berries (You can use any frozen fruit here. I often mix frozen berries with frozen mango or pineapple. You don’t have to be fanatical about the exact amount. I buy 10 oz. bags of frozen berries and use about half a bag… hence the 5 ounce measure.)

Pour the juice into a blender. Add the banana or other fresh fruit. Add the frozen fruit on top of that. Blend until smooth. Pour, drink, and enjoy! This recipe makes about 36 fluid ounces… enough for four healthy servings (unless you’re doing smoothie shots… then it’s enough for about 18 shots).

Here are some extra tips:

• Use the highest setting on the blender for the smoothest smoothie.
• Pulse a few times after the blending is basically done. This helps get all the bits blended in.
• If you don’t like seeds, strain the smoothie with a sieve (this doesn’t always work well if your smoothie is thick).
• If you need more fiber and roughage, don’t strain berry seeds out. They’re a good natural laxative.
• If you only use frozen berries, you may get a lot of tasty, tight foam. This isn’t a bad thing at all, but if you don’t want the foam, try a mix of other frozen fruit. For some reason, berries cause the most foam. If you know why, comment please! I’d love to find out. I think the foam is kind of neat. It’s all the rage in fine dining establishments, right?
• If you make a big batch to save for another day, consider adding juice from 1/4 of a lime or lemon during the blending. The citric acid helps retain the color.
• If you like smoothies a little chunky, then don’t blend it as much or blend on a lower setting. However, a chunky smoothie is kind of an oxymoron.
• Don’t be afraid of unusual combinations like apple juice with fresh white peaches and frozen cherries (don’t forget to skin and seed the peaches).