7 Tips For A Delicious Green Smoothie

I genuinely love starting my day with a green smoothie. I always recommend it to people and I think more people should get on to the green smoothie band wagon. It’s a great way to consume your greens, refreshing and full of nutrients. Most people think that vegetable smoothie tastes awful, perhaps from bad experience in the past or just because it looks green and healthy. Of course it can be, I’ve had my shares of terrible green blend in the past. But trust me, when prepared the right way, green vegetables can turn into a super delicious drink that is packed-full with all the nutrients, protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals that is so nourishing for our bodies.

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There’s so many green smoothie recipes online that it can be overwhelming if you’re just starting out. Unlike juicing, blending vegetables can be a more tricky in terms of making it delicious and share-worthy. so I wanted to share some tips that I’ve discovered through experimentation. Hopefully, this gives some of you the inspiration and encouragement to start blending up those greens.

7 Tips For a Delicious Green Smoothie

1. Freeze green leafy vegetables to remove their ‘green’ taste

Freezing will get rid of vegetable’s grassy, often, bitter taste. This works really well with kale as it can taste a bit too overpowering for new green smoothie drinkers. It also works well with other green vegetables such as spinach and silverbeet, fruits (including avocado) and nuts. Freezing is also a great way to store fruits and vegetables. It preserves their nutritional content and you won’t have to worry about them going bad in the fridge.

2. Know your fibre

There are two types – insoluble and soluble. Green vegetables are high in insoluble fibre whereas fruits are high in soluble fibre. You need both for a great, well-blended smoothie. If you have only insoluble fibre (i.e., just veggies and water) – your smoothie will separate into layers of insoluble solids and liquid because insoluble fibre doesn’t dissolve in water. It will taste awful. Add fruits into the mix and your smoothie will blend a lot better with thicker, smoother consistency. This is because the soluble fibre in fruit dissolves in water and allows the water molecules to blend with all the ingredients in your smoothie.

3. Fruit it up

Apart from being rich in soluble fibre needed to make a rocking smoothie, fruit makes any smoothie tastes good. It provides natural sweetness and flavour which masks the bitter earthy taste of green vegetables. Banana, papaya, pear, apple and berries are my favourites. You can also throw some soaked dates, prunes, figs for added sweetness

4. Herb it up

Add parsley and mint or both to make your smoothie smell and taste FRESH!

5. Add flavour

Maple syrup, vanilla extract, rosewater, etc. I tend to use Vanilla protein powder or Vital Green so I get both protein as well as a tad of their sweet flavour.

6. Add some fat

Yep, a good smoothie needs fat! Not just any fat of course, good fat! It will transform your watery smoothie to a creamy, rich and morish velvety drop. Avocado is my fat of choice but soaked nuts (cashews or almonds) and coconut oil are also good.

7. Put some ice on it

Not only does it make your smoothie icy cold, ice also helps with the blending process so you won’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a power blender. I’ve been using my eight year old $80 Breville blender for my smoothie and this works magic. The ice will help your blender grind vegetable leaves and stems so you won’t have bits of leaves stuck inside your straw.

Note: The important thing is to start simple. Start with a couple of ingredients first, taste and build it up.

Now, your homework is to starting blending using these tips and let me know how you go. Happy Blending!

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