How do I make juices and blends that are actually good?

Home juices are often either too sweet or unpleasantly green, because the balance is not considered. A ratio of mostly one sweet base with sharper and greener elements added gives something drinkable and interesting.

What you'll need

• Blender or juicer
• Sieve (optional)
• Lemon or lime (optional)

Step by step

1. Understand the difference between juicing and blending.Juicing removes the fibre and concentrates the sugar. Blending keeps everything, which is more filling and releases the sugar more slowly.
2. Build around one sweet base.Apple, carrot, orange or pineapple as the majority, with sharper and greener things added to it. Building from greens alone produces something few people want to drink.
3. Add something sharp.Lemon, lime, or a tart apple. It stops the drink being cloying and it also slows the browning noticeably.
4. Add ginger or herbs for interest.Fresh ginger, mint or basil. It turns a sweet juice into something with character, and a small amount goes a long way.
5. Drink it promptly.Fresh juice oxidises within minutes and loses both flavour and some nutrients. Making it in advance defeats much of the point.
6. Sieve if you want a smoother result from a blender.It gives a juice-like texture without a juicer, though you lose the fibre you were keeping.
7. Be aware of the sugar in fruit juice.Juicing concentrates it and removes the fibre that slows absorption. A glass of juice contains the sugar of several pieces of fruit.
8. Use the pulp rather than discarding it.Juicer pulp goes into soups, muffins, fritters or the compost. Throwing it away wastes most of the produce.

Tips

• Freezing fruit before blending gives a thicker colder drink without ice, which dilutes it.
• Carrot, apple, ginger and lemon is a reliable combination that works with almost any additions.
• Cleaning a juicer immediately is far easier than later. Pulp dries hard within an hour and is the main reason juicers stop being used.

Common mistakes

• Building a juice mostly from greens — It tastes harsh and few people drink it more than once. One sweet base with greener elements added is what makes it palatable.
• Making juice in advance — It oxidises within minutes, losing flavour and colour. It should be drunk immediately after making.
• Throwing away the pulp — It is most of the produce by volume and it goes into soups, baking and fritters. Discarding it makes juicing expensive and wasteful.

Questions people ask