Green Juice 101. Juicing Series.

Green Juice gets a lot of buzz. But unlike more pedestrian juices like apple, orange and grape - "Green Juice" has an alluring level of mystery to it.

Green Potion. When I first heard the term green juice, I figured that it was some powerful health tonic or potion, the recipe a well-kept secret. But really, the term green juice, is meant to signify any such juice - that is in fact some shade of the color green. Green juice may be a combination of fruit and veggies or it may be 100% veggies. Green Juice ingredients may be all green, or they may be a rainbow of colors.

Veggie Haters Drink Up. Many people might logically assume that if they hate veggies, they will hate green juice. Not so. Green juice, when properly prepared is a delightful intermingling of flavors: salty with sweet. Spicy with sour. Pungent with mild. Tart with warm. Each ingredient produces a unique juice property - and with a little creative license, you can easily craft your perfect variation of "Green Juice". Here is my favorite recipe, and a few steps to creating your own...


Green Juice Ingredients. There is more than a handful of ingredients that you can add to your green juice recipe: beets, chard, arugula, lime, lemon, apple, pear, garlic, scallions, basil, cucumber, orange, kiwi, romaine, pineapple, mint and many many more. See towards the end of this post for my laundry list of Green Juice ingredients.

How Much Green Juice Do I Get? Leafy greens are a funny bunch, because unlike an orange or even an apple, it is tricky to predict how much juice will come from them. Here is one example to give you a feel for green juice amounts:

8 leaves of Rainbow Chard = 10 ounces green juice + foam.
Pulp = only about 1/3 cup:

Foamy Juice. Green Juice often foams up quite a lot. But not in the same debilitating way that pineapple juice does. In a good way. The end result is juice that is frothy and foamy, like a soy latte. Fresh, fluffy and delicious.

Green Juices 101. There are a few different flavors of juices: sweet, spicy, grassy, zesty, mild, juicy (hydrating), tart, bitter and sour. I like to keep about this ratio of juice in my green juices:

3 parts grassy greens juice
4 parts sweet juice
2 parts zesty/sour/tart juice
1 part spicy juice

Example:
3 parts romaine/spinach juice
4 parts apple juice
2 parts kiwi juice
1 part ginger

NOTE: Green Juice ingredients do not have to be all green! This may seem silly to say, but it is often a green juice myth among newbies.

Kitty Break! My view as I photographed the green juice:


The recipe I made for this post is one of my favorites. Here it is and a few other easy Green Juice recipes to try:

Sweet Garden Greens
vegan, serves two

3-4 ounces green chard juice
*About 3 medium leaves
1 extra large bosc pear OR 1 1/2 medium pears
1 orange, peeled
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled
1 lime, peeled

Directions:

1. Wash your ingredients well.

2. Peel the rind off your lime and orange - discard. Slice your fruit.

3. Juice your chad greens, orange, lime, pear and ginger.

4. Serve immediately.

My Sweet Garden Greens Juice:

Straight-Up Rainbow Chard Juice, 100% Greens:

Green Juice Ingredients. Here are a few of my faves and my flavor analysis of them:

Greens Ingredients:
Arugula - spicy, grassy
Basil - sweet, spicy
Bell Pepper - hydrating, sweet, zesty
Cabbage - mildly grassy
Celery - zesty, hydrating
Chard - grassy, sweet
Cilantro - sweet, fragrant
Collard greens - grassy
Cucumbers - hydrating, sweet/sour
Endive - bitter
Fennel - anise, zesty
Green apples - very sweet, tart
Green grapes - very sweet, tart
Green onion - zesty, spicy
Green pears - very sweet
Honeydew - sweet, hydrating
Jalapeno - spicy, zesty
Kale - grassy, dark
Kiwifruit - tart, sweet, zesty
romaine - hydrating, mild, grassy
Limes - sour, zesty
Mache - grassy, dark
Parsley - grassy, zesty
Spinach - grassy, dark, pungent
Watercress - spicy, grassy, hydrating
Wheatgrass - very grassy
Zucchini - hydrating, mildly bitter
Mint - vibrant, minty, cooling
assorted green herbs

Non Green Ingredients
Pears - very sweet
Apples - sweet/tart
Ginger - very spicy
Orange - zesty, sweet
Lemon - tart, zesty (remove seeds)
Pineapple - zesty, very sweet
Carrots - sweet, thick
Grapefruit - sweet/tart, mildly bitter
Blueberries - sweet, thick
Jicama - thin, mild, cooling
Radish - zesty
Beet - sweet, dark
Garlic - zesty, spicy
Tomato - sweet, zesty

Other Add-in's:
Black Pepper - spicy
Spirulina - seaweed/nutrients
Cayenne - spicy

More Recipes and Green Juice combos to try...

*pineapple/mint/cucumber/arugula
*beet/leafy greens/carrot/lemon/ginger
*carrot/apple/spinach/ginger
*lemon/cucumber/apple
*scallion/kiwi/apple/celery
*celery/honeydew/parsley/lime
*beet/grapefruit/orange/spinach
*pear/ginger/celery/mint
*basil/tomato/celery/black pepper/cayenne
*bell pepper/apple/lemon
*orange/chard/apple/ginger
and on and on and on....

Get Creative and discover what Green Juice blend you fall in love with.

The Result: You'll be feeling vibrant and energized after a tall glass of green juice.

Who is Green Juicing?
*Sarma M, owner of Pure Food and Wine in NYC often tweets that she drinks about a quart of Green Juice a day! Her fave is "Swan Greens" available at One Lucky Duck in NYC. No wonder she glows so much.
*Celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow in her GOOP Newsletter, often remark of their love of Green Juice.
*Tons of Green Juice suppliers pop up all over the country. There's Blueprint Cleanse and Organic Avenue in NYC.