Lettuce teach you how to make a good green juice, no matter what you've got lurking in your fridge or crisper.
There are 5 main components...
1. The Base
2. The Bulk
3. The Greens
4. The Medicinal Boost
5. The Fixer
The Base
This is the main bulk of the green juice. Since leafy greens produce little juice per bunch in comparison to the base ingredients, you need something to bulk it up (and make it sweet for those that aren't too keen on a fully green juice).
The base is typically a fruit of some sort, but can also be a combination of a fruit and a veg.
Here are the sweet green juice bases we recommend starting with:
- Apple
- Pear
- Orange
- Watermelon
- Mandarin
- Pineapples
- Grape
- Grapefruit
The Bulk
Then to bulk it a little bit more you can add some bulkier veggies. I personally like to use one of these veggies as my base instead of the bulk as I prefer mainly veggies over mainly fruit.
- Carrot
- Beetroot
- Cucumber
- Celery
The Greens
The main component of a green juice is obviously greens. Greens are full of different nutrients that the body absolutely loves, and juicing them is a great way of getting them into your system.
When you remove the fibre from fruits and veggies, it reduces the digestive time which means it gets absorbed into your body much faster.
While we all have different bodies that respond differently to different foods, most of us tolerate juices pretty well.
With greens, you want to make sure that you choose a couple that you like to include.
If they are a bit bitter then you might want to add more sweet stuff to balance.
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Spinach
- Dandelion Greens
- Beetroot Greens
- Carrot Greens
- Asian Greens
- Mixed Lettuce Greens
- Baby Spinach
- Collard Greens
- Cabbage
Medicinal/Boosters
The final component of a green juice is a booster or herb. These give it an extra dose of food-is-medicine benefits. They can sometimes be a bit strong so just practice juicing until you figure out how strong you like it
- Wheatgrass
- Ginger
- Mint
- Turmeric
- Parsley
- Coriander
- Watercress
And the final thing...
The Fixer
This helps to balance things out a little bit... if it's too green, too bitter, etc. Sometimes more fruit or bulker will fix it, but the power of a good fixer often does the trick for me.
- Lemon
- Lime
Add some to your juice (without the skin because that's potent, def not a fixer) and see how it transforms the taste!
Put it all together...
Now choose 1 base, 1 bulk, 1 or more greens, 1 booster and 1 fixer and voila - you've got a great green juice!
Of course you'll need to spend some time juicing to figure it all out and what works best and how you like your juice - but at least this gives you a good starting point.
I personally barely use fruit, and focus on my boosters and fixers for that 'sweetness'.
Soon you'll be making the finest Green Juice in all of Brisbane or the Gold Coast.
Now for our recipe :)
Simple Green Juice Recipe
- 2 green apples
- 1 cucumber
- 1 bunch lettuce
- 1 knob turmeric
- Half Lemon
Juice it all up in a cold pressed juicer and enjoy straight away. Or, store air-tight in a jar for up to 24 hours.
