Green smoothie dumps and chugs are quite common. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. It is totally possible to have guaranteed delish every time you turn on your blender. Yet, horrid-tasting green smoothie attempts are more common than they should be. You blend up your ingredients, taste it and throw it straight into the sink, because you refuse to drink anything that tastes like pond water. Or you realise the recipe is a fail, but tell your taste buds to “Shut up!” and drink it all as fast as possible because you don’t plan to waste a red cent by dumping a jug full of liquefied fruit, veg and superfoods.
For a green smoothie fan, it might not be such a big deal – the yucky blend – because you often have a few recipes that you can fall back on for yumminess guaranteed. The pain comes for the sister who is drawn in by all the testimonials about easy-to-make, delicious, health-restoring, weight-managing, affordable blends. When she finds the bravery to through green leaves into a blender and opens it to a lawnmower fragrance and the smoothie tastes like sludge, she will often swear never to touch a green smoothie again!
The Answer
The big difference between a green smoothie dumper/chugger and a green smoothie connoisseur is a formula. A connoisseur will often start by following a recipe, but eventually they try so many variations that they spot a consistent formula and start using it to come up with their own recipes. A perfect example is the “60/40 Rule” that Victoria Boutenko came up with. She encourages green smoothie newbies to make their blends 60% fruit and only 40% leafy greens. This way, the sweetness and flavours of the ripe fruits will overpower the natural bitterness of dark-green leaves. These blends are usually fruity and only the colour might give away hints at the vegetables hiding in the smoothie.
The Jamaican Green Smoothie Formula
Well, I follow a formula like this too. For every 2 cups of dark-green leafy vegetables, I include 3 cups of fruit. Then to move the produce around the blender blades, I pour in 1-2 cups of liquid (usually pure water). So, it really is as easy as 1-2-3:
1 cup Liquid
2 cups Leaves
3 cups Fruit
It doesn’t matter if you use 1 fruit or 3, and it is okay to use 2 different leaves in the same blend. Those aren’t really the factors to focus on when blending up a delicious green smoothie. It is the portions that matter, not the particular ingredients.
So, the next time you look in the produce basket and realise that you’ve never combined the particular fruits and leaves that you happen to have on hand, just remember the 1-2-3 formula and you’ll be sure to drain your cup – every time.
