When it comes to bottled juices, artificial colors and sweeteners are prevalent and even “all-natural” picks can still come with chemically-altered fruit byproducts. Making your own fruit juices at home can help you avoid such contaminants and may be just what the doctor ordered.
Whether you’re looking for a diet-friendly way to consume your fresh fruits for breakfast, for a nutrient-rich drink to serve to your kids or for a responsible way to use up all your fresh fruit before it goes bad, there are many recipes to choose from. Here are some juicing ideas and tips for your culinary pleasure.
6 Tips For Making Basic Fruit Juices
1. Use ingredients you have on hand
One of the great things about making your own fruit juice is that you can completely tailor a recipe to suit your taste buds and the fruit drawer you already have stocked. Inventory your fruit and vegetable drawer, making sure to use what you have on hand. If you only have apples and bananas around, then an apple-banana juice it is. If you can’t find any lime juice but have a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge, perfect.
2. Shop wisely and keep an eye on fruit sales
Watch your local grocery stores for produce sales and clearances to take advantage of cost-effective options when they come up. Making your own juice can add up, but taking in enough fruits and vegetables is an important part of a healthful diet so budget accordingly. Visit farmers’ markets and haggle down the price whenever you can.
3. Customize a recipe to avoid components you’re allergic to or just dislike
If you’re allergic to coconut, you can easily avoid implementing such a pick since you’re in complete control. Similarly, if you hate cranberries more than anything else in the world, your homemade fruit juices never need to include such an ingredient. Either skip over any recipes that contain ingredients you don’t like or just adapt a recipe by substituting in a fruit that serves the same purpose.
4. Leave out the added junk
If one of the reasons for making your own fruit juice is to avoid the chemicals and added sugars in store-bought options, don’t get sidetracked by recipes that call for ingredients that aren’t contributing anything healthwise. You don’t need to put in some sugar or splenda to enjoy the already-sweet taste of fruit. You also don’t need to add in manufactured picks like sparkling water, which can cause uncomfortable gastrointestinal effects. Stick to fruits and veggies for your body’s delight.
5. Understand the difference between blending and juicing
When you blend a piece of fruit into juice, you generally end up with a thicker option because you still have the juice and pulp of a fruit. When you use a juicer to separate the liquid of a fruit from the pulp, you lose out on the nutritional components of any discarded pulp and skin. Fruit juice without a fibrous pulp can act like instant energy for your body, but having the full nutrition intact when you go to consume your fruits in liquid form can also be a plus. Recognize that there are trade-offs depending on which kind of approach you use to create your homemade fruit juices and proceed according to what suits your particular needs best on any given day.
6. Make a fruit juice smoothie when you’re in need of more protein
You can use ice and a liquid like almond milk or protein powder and water to thicken up your smoothie while adding needed servings of protein. Especially if you’re counting calories and using fruit juice as a meal replacement, it’s important that your beverage provides the nutritional content that you need. You can also add in vegetables like spinach, cucumber and carrots to enhance the amount of vitamins and minerals your drink offers.
Basic Recipes To Get Your Thoughts Flowing
Consider these basic suggestions so you can mix and match ingredients from the various recipes according to what suits your taste, budget and calorie preferences.
Even if you don’t normally count the fruit you eat when you’re on a diet, drinking fruit juice regularly might leave you consuming much bigger portions than you otherwise would have so be careful to not overdo it or else your healthy drink can cause you to pack on some pounds.
Everyday blend: apple, strawberry and banana
Combine two apples, one cup of strawberries and one banana to create a tasty juice. According to your preferences, you may want to peel the apples or you may want to keep the nutrients and opt for not discarding the peels. When it comes to making your own fruit juices and smoothies, you can use old pieces of fruit like a dark banana that you’d never dream of eating by itself. Mix all your ingredients together until the consistency is smooth and serve right away.
Citrus delight: orange, grapefruit and lime juice
Gather two oranges, one red grapefruit and some lime juice. Peel the oranges and grapefruits before placing the fruit sections into your juice blender. If you have a fresh lime, go ahead and peel the fruit as well, but feel free to use a little lime juice from a pre-bottled source that you’re comfortable with if you don’t have any fresh sources on hand. If there are any visible seeds in any of your fruit, go ahead and take them out before making your juice. Blend all the fruit sections together and feel free to add in some ice if you want a slush-form of this citrus treat.
Tropical bliss: mango, orange, banana and pineapple
Combine one mango, one orange, one banana and some fresh pineapple chunks to make this heavenly blend of fruit juice. If you don’t have any pineapple on hand, no problem. The juice will still taste great with any number of fruit combinations. Mix all of the tropical fruits together until the texture is even and enjoy right away.
Berry blend: blueberries, raspberries and strawberries
Mix together one cup of blueberries, one cup of raspberries and one cup of strawberries for this berry concoction. If you have a frozen bag of mixed berries, you can go ahead and just scoop out a few cups of that for your berry fruit juice. Blend the ingredients together until your consistency is desirable and then chug away.
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