Green smoothies - Ready to take off the training wheels! :)

[jbischke]

So I've been doing green smoothies for about a year now. Love love love them.

99% of the time when I do a green smoothie I use organic baby spinach. It's convenient, doesn't affect the taste of the smoothie at all (just seems to make it milder for me) and has worked great.

Well this is fine and dandy I feel like a high proportion of my greens intake is coming from spinach and I don't think that's optimal. I really want to get more different types of greens into the mix, especially kale!

Wondering what suggestions the community here might have. Are there some other good greens that you love mixing into smoothies that don't disrupt the taste much? Alternatively, have you found that certain fruits do a better job of masking the taste than others? For example, peaches, strawberries and raspberries seem to do a better job than mango, blueberries or cherries.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

[Dimond]

I find cold refrigerated bananas work the best. I rarely deviate from using them in my smoothie. If you use enough fruit or other ingredients, you shouldn't be able to taste any type of green. You may want to consider savory smoothies aka soups, which work best with greens that don't taste as good. Kale is a great option, as you've mentioned. I pretty much use whatever greens I can buy. I try to use a variety of greens whenever possible chard, collards, baby greens, etc.

[Lauxa]

I like kale and collard greens. Turnip greens and mustard greens are a bit more spicy.

For fruits, I don't like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries -- they are too "seedy" for me. My favorites are pineapple, mango, and cherries. I get the frozen bags of fruit. And I always add a banana as well.

Happy blending!

[openeyes]

Though a fruit instead of a veggie, I like adding hot chilies (jalapeno, serrano, etc.) to my green smoothies. Just one or two shouldn't overpower it, and in addition to the boost in taste you get more vitamin C than an orange.

Tonight's shake consisted of two bananas, an apple, a handful of frozen pineapple chunks, 2 cups frozen spinach (I too need to branch out), a serrano pepper (rated as 5 times hotter than jalapeno, but I don't really notice the difference much), some water, and two eggs. Quite yummy

[TheHulaQueen]

Coriander is yummy, as is dill.

[JGrace]

My favorite flavor enhancer ingredient in smoothies is pineapple, either fresh or dried.

[cinnabar]

My favorite smoothie to date is kale, a few bananas, and either strawberries or pineapple.

For some reason, too much spinach in smoothies tends to disagree with me. Anyone else have that problem?

[HealingMaven]

My latest favorite is 2 bananas to several ounces of arugula. I generally feel better on days I have green smoothies -- but on the days I do it with arugula, I feel a really noticable boost of physical and mental energy. I've started going out of my way to make sure I have arugula in the house when I know I've got to be at my best the next day -- like when I have to wake up early & be smart for ASL class.

I admit, the flavor takes some getting used to! Though my mom tried a sip when I did this once at her place - she wanted to see what the big deal was about with the green smoothies. And her reaction was "huh, not bad."

Though for an *easy* flavor, try purslane instead. The slightly lemony flavor blends perfectly into the banana, and as a bonus, you get omega-3 fatty acids. Now if only purslane were easier to get in large quantities where I live.

[Lena Carpenter]

Here's a few really nice smoothie recipes with some interesting greens like dandelion greens, grape leaves, and collards: Raw Family | Recipes

I really enjoyed banana, orange, and a cup of grapes with Romaine lettuce the other day.

[harmonysr]

I like spring mix - radicchio, red leaf lettuce, spinach, and a few other leafy types. Sometimes the mix is a little bitter to eat straight, so I blend it in a smoothie - I've found ripe white peaches are the best at masking bitter tastes - it makes the smoothie taste nice and refreshing. Apples also work, but result in a less sweet, earthier taste.

[ShinyGlass]

Originally Posted by jbischke

Alternatively, have you found that certain fruits do a better job of masking the taste than others?

Pineapple is a fantastic masker.

It's also highly alkaline, as fruits go.