Valerie Aikman-Smith - Juicy Drinks 40 recipes for delicious homemade juices and all kinds of juice-based drinks, from breakfast smoothies to evening cocktails to frozen desserts

From summer to winter, its easy to crave juice. Freshly squeezed citrus wakes us up in the morning. Creamy smoothies offer healthy sips on the go. Tall, cool pitchers satisfy on scorching afternoons. And evening cocktails are all the more seductive with fresh fruit or vegetable flavors. Colorful juices dazzle with splashes of purple, red, pink, orange, yellow, and green.

In this book, youll find a rainbow of fresh colors and flavors. Flip through to a deeply violet pomegranate-blueberry juice, or set your sights on the shocking red of a summer cherry sparkler. Light up martini glasses with delicately pink grapefruit juice, or fill champagne flutes with orange-hued peach nectar laced with sparkling wine. Pour tall glasses full of a sunny pineapple elixir, or enjoy a blend of vegetal green, whipped into an appealingly thick smoothie. A juicer and a blender are essential tools for many juice-based drinks, extracting pure flavors from fruits and vegetables and whipping them into smooth pures. With the flip of a switch, fresh juices and smoothies are just seconds away.

Enjoy a pure, unadorned juice on its own, or look for an exciting twistmany of these recipes feature extra tips to take you from breakfast to cocktail hour in style. There are also a handful of delicious juice-based frozen desserts, from raspberry ice pops to tangerine sorbet to sour-plum granita. Whether youre juicing for health, blending for fun, or muddling and shaking for a party, this book offers juice-based drinks for every occasion. Bottoms up! juicing for health Drinking fresh juice helps boost overall health and well-being in a number of ways: Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are rich in nutrients, offering vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin C and potassium. Certain fruits such as blueberries and pomegranates also offer disease-fighting antioxidants. Smoothies, made by whirling fruits and vegetables in a blender, preserve some of the fiber from the original produce.

Extracting or blending makes raw fruits and vegetables even easier to digest. Drinking raw fruits and vegetables can help you fulfill your recommended daily servings, giving you more in a single glass than you might otherwise consume. Sipping juice can help keep you hydrated, providing an energy boost throughout the day.

An electric juice extractor and a blender, preferably a high-speed model, are essential sidekicks for home juicing. These countertop appliances create fresh, delicious drinks with the flip of a switch. Prized for their separating action, juicers use sharp blades to cut through fruit and extract as much liquid as possible from solids. Prized for their separating action, juicers use sharp blades to cut through fruit and extract as much liquid as possible from solids.

The action can be circulating, which features a spinning blade; masticating, which evokes a chewing motion; or triturating, which refers to crushing and pressing. Fruits and vegetableseither whole or cut roughly to sizeenter through the feed chute. The juice runs out of a spout and collects in a pitcher, while a recepticle collects the dry pulp. This leftover roughage can be used to add fiber to baked goods, or discarded (its ideal for composting). The powerful processing motion often means a frothy result, varying by the type of produce, but if you let the juice stand for several minutes, most of the froth will soon subside. Older generations of juicers handled many, but not all, types of produce, from delicate berries to sturdy apples and carrots.

Newer models include a second blade attachment that can also tackle fleshy, soft fruits such as peaches and bananas without clogging. Some juicers also have blender features for making smoothies. Juice extractors readily disassemble for cleaning. The straining basket, blade, pulp recepticle, and pitcher should be removed and cleaned after every use. Many models are dishwasher safe.

Blenders pure fruits and vegetables in their entirety. Blenders pure fruits and vegetables in their entirety.

Unlike juicers, blenders produce little to no waste, and this preserves most of the fiber from the produce as well as offering other increased health benefits. Blending requires a little more prep from the cook. Youll need to remove certain peels and seeds, and roughly chop the flesh to help achieve the most even and smooth results. A blender also needs some liquid to help move the solids down and into the spinning blades. Blenders vary significantly in quality and price. High-speed, professional-caliber blenders feature an impressive range of speed settings, from pulsing and pureing ingredients to crushing ice and creating frozen desserts.

Start at a slow speed and work your way up, as these motors are powerful. Regular blenders, on the other hand, may not be able to handle ice cubes or firmer solids, so be aware of your machines capabilities. Like juicers, most units are conveniently dishwasher safe. Be sure to read the manufacturers instructions before use. tips for success Follow these simple guidelines, and juice with confidence: Know your machine Before you toss in a banana or load up on ice, flip through the users manual. It can help protect you and your investment.

Chill out If youre planning to serve drinks immediately, start with cold ingredients. Or leave time to pop a pitcher into the fridge for 30 minutes. Think natural Start with organic whole produce, and trim and scrub it well, so you can enjoy pure juices. Prep like a pro For blending, pit, peel, seed, and chop, removing anything you wouldnt want to encounter while sipping your drink. Watch those fingers Use the correct implements to feed pieces into the chute or down the hatch. Juice in order If you are juicing different fruits, start with those that produce thicker juices, and end with thinner, to help flush out the machine.

Embrace your inner mixologist Transform juices into snazzy cocktails. offers inspiration on infusions, ice cubes, garnishes, and more.

Delicious juice-based drinks begin with ripe, farm-fresh produce. When you head to the market, start thinking about textures and flavors. When possible, shop organicnot a lot goes into juice, so quality ingredients make a difference. berries & bite-sized Rinse berries or grapes, grab a handful, and let them tumble down the chute.

Hull strawberries, but an extractor can sieve out little seeds such as pomegranates. Try: blackberry, blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, strawberry, grape, pomegranate melons Melons yield large, rewarding quantities of liquid. Select ripe, heavy specimens. Remove rinds and cut into chunks. Try: cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon stone fruits Peaches and their pitted cousins become thick, sweet nectars. Check settings and use the pure disk if necessary.

Choose soft, ripe fruit, and remove the pits. Try: apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach, plum tropical fruits Peel and core pineapples and mangoes. Skin bananas and furry kiwi. Bananas love the blender, but some juicers can't process them; use the pure disk. Try: banana, coconut, kiwi, mango, pineapple tree fruits Crisp apples and pears transform into fresh ciders for fall. Halve or quarter, and remove seeds and stalks.