Rashaka's Guide To Smoothie Making
Jul. 29th, 2005 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockI am the budding goddess of smoothies.
See, back when I lived in San Jose, I would go to Vallco Shopping Mall. It's kinda dying out, but hey, it's got an ice rink. It's also got a kiosk in the middle of the mall that makes the best smoothies I've ever had. Jamba Juice is a pale imitation. PALE.
In an effort to figure out how to make good smoothies on my own (because driving all the way to the mall for a smoothie is way lame), I've been teaching myself over the last two or three years.
This week i hit the jackpot. I made two important discoveries:
1. use an entire yoplait yogurt. it makes it smoother.
2. use more fruit. a 3:1 ratio of fruit to ice seems to work well.
I was using too much ice before in an effort to achieve a fruit smoothie instead of fruit juice with pulp. But too much ice makes it icy, not smooth. So the key is frozen or semi-frozen fruit. Also, if you make ice cubes with fruit juice or a mixture of fruit juice and water, the smoothie gets even more flavor with the ice you do use.
Sometimes you want to sweeten your smoothie, though usually the fruit is sweet enough. If you do, DO NOT use sugar. It's too much.
Sweeteners that work instead of sugar:
1. honey
2. jam or jelly (it's full of sugar and it's more fruit flavor)
For Juices as a thinner I reccomend:
1. orange juice
2. canned pineapple juice (USE SPARINGLY!--very potent)
3. cranberry/other mixed juice
4. if you're desperate, stuff like Sobe or Snapple might work too
5. milk or half-&-half
Don't be afraid to use milk as another liquid thinner. Like the yogurt it helps cut the intensity of the sweetness. Especially if you use too many strawberries. I usually just pour a little in for kicks.
Fruit suggestions:
1. strawberries (fresh or frozen)
2. banana (fresh or frozen, great for counter-acting the intense sweetness of the strawberries)
3. oranges (fresh or canned)
4. peaches/nectarines (fresh or canned)
5. pineapple (fresh or canned, USE SPARINGLY!)
6. other berries (can be expensive, but if you have them fresh go for it)
failed fruit experiments:
- plums (too weak)
- grapefruit (too strong)
- apricot (too weak)
- watermelon (too watery and weak)
CANNED FRUIT IS YOUR FRIEND. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with using it in a smoothie. It tastes perfectly fine, and the leftover juice from the canned fruit (what you decide not to use) can be mixed with water and frozen into ice cubes for use as flavor in your next smoothie. I recently used canned Mandarin oranges in a pinch because I was short on the amount required for other fruits, and it worked very well.
YOGURT IS YOUR FRIEND. Yogurt helps cut the intensity of the fruit flavor. You might be thinking "Hey, I *want* the intensity of the extreme fruit flavor." To which I tell you to try the smoothie I made last week when we were out of yogurt and out of bananas. It was like drinking liquid strawberries. Not of the good. Ice and juices/liquids help tone down the intensity of strawberries and of citris fruit. However, yogurt is the miracle of smoothiedom. It cuts sweetness, it smooths out the consistancy, and it goes with any fruit you use. It also comes in many flavors of its own. Right now I'm very attached to Yoplait yogurt cups, especially using Orange/Pineapple or Orange Creme for smoothies.
Other things you can add to jazz up a smoothie:
- ice cream
- Sprite, 7-Up, or ginger ale
- tequila
See, back when I lived in San Jose, I would go to Vallco Shopping Mall. It's kinda dying out, but hey, it's got an ice rink. It's also got a kiosk in the middle of the mall that makes the best smoothies I've ever had. Jamba Juice is a pale imitation. PALE.
In an effort to figure out how to make good smoothies on my own (because driving all the way to the mall for a smoothie is way lame), I've been teaching myself over the last two or three years.
This week i hit the jackpot. I made two important discoveries:
1. use an entire yoplait yogurt. it makes it smoother.
2. use more fruit. a 3:1 ratio of fruit to ice seems to work well.
I was using too much ice before in an effort to achieve a fruit smoothie instead of fruit juice with pulp. But too much ice makes it icy, not smooth. So the key is frozen or semi-frozen fruit. Also, if you make ice cubes with fruit juice or a mixture of fruit juice and water, the smoothie gets even more flavor with the ice you do use.
Sometimes you want to sweeten your smoothie, though usually the fruit is sweet enough. If you do, DO NOT use sugar. It's too much.
Sweeteners that work instead of sugar:
1. honey
2. jam or jelly (it's full of sugar and it's more fruit flavor)
For Juices as a thinner I reccomend:
1. orange juice
2. canned pineapple juice (USE SPARINGLY!--very potent)
3. cranberry/other mixed juice
4. if you're desperate, stuff like Sobe or Snapple might work too
5. milk or half-&-half
Don't be afraid to use milk as another liquid thinner. Like the yogurt it helps cut the intensity of the sweetness. Especially if you use too many strawberries. I usually just pour a little in for kicks.
Fruit suggestions:
1. strawberries (fresh or frozen)
2. banana (fresh or frozen, great for counter-acting the intense sweetness of the strawberries)
3. oranges (fresh or canned)
4. peaches/nectarines (fresh or canned)
5. pineapple (fresh or canned, USE SPARINGLY!)
6. other berries (can be expensive, but if you have them fresh go for it)
failed fruit experiments:
- plums (too weak)
- grapefruit (too strong)
- apricot (too weak)
- watermelon (too watery and weak)
CANNED FRUIT IS YOUR FRIEND. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with using it in a smoothie. It tastes perfectly fine, and the leftover juice from the canned fruit (what you decide not to use) can be mixed with water and frozen into ice cubes for use as flavor in your next smoothie. I recently used canned Mandarin oranges in a pinch because I was short on the amount required for other fruits, and it worked very well.
YOGURT IS YOUR FRIEND. Yogurt helps cut the intensity of the fruit flavor. You might be thinking "Hey, I *want* the intensity of the extreme fruit flavor." To which I tell you to try the smoothie I made last week when we were out of yogurt and out of bananas. It was like drinking liquid strawberries. Not of the good. Ice and juices/liquids help tone down the intensity of strawberries and of citris fruit. However, yogurt is the miracle of smoothiedom. It cuts sweetness, it smooths out the consistancy, and it goes with any fruit you use. It also comes in many flavors of its own. Right now I'm very attached to Yoplait yogurt cups, especially using Orange/Pineapple or Orange Creme for smoothies.
Other things you can add to jazz up a smoothie:
- ice cream
- Sprite, 7-Up, or ginger ale
- tequila
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
heh
Date: 2005-07-29 11:57 am (UTC)Wanted to randomly say hello. Saw you in
So, hello there. =)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-29 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-29 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 06:17 am (UTC)::makes note for future experiments::
I've mixed vanilla ice cream into them before. Usually I only do that for more deserty smoothies, because it really changes it. Makes it much richer.