Apple, Carrot, and Ginger Blitz

Fresh fruit, carrot, and a chunk of ginger – what could be simpler?

New year. New start. Ditch the bad, consume nothing but goodness. Lose 3 stones. Find a purpose to ironing. Cycle 1,000 miles by February. Give up bad things I did not even do (to make me feel better about changing something). Well, we all need pipe dreams ;o) It would be fair to say that my goals, however unrealistic, are still firmly stuck in the starting block. What did change, and a long time coming I can tell you, was the discovery and fun of juicing (not forgetting health benefits and general feel good factor).

I spent the start of 2016 with the worst cold in my living memory and a throat so sore, husky, and gravelly that I was half-contemplating hiring out my voice to ‘one of those‘ premium phone lines that spurn some romantic (or similar) sounding nonsense. I was convinced that I could make a half decent living out of it, but had a change of heart. It is hard to quantify how sore my throat was, but after imbibing god knows what, gargling some foul prescribed green liquid, sucking on some sugary lozenge claiming (but not delivering) some instant relief I thought I’d try something natural and had a nutritional benefit too. It also gave me the opportunity to unpack my Nutri Ninja Pro blender I had purchased on a spur of a moment Black Friday deal, and still had it boxed up unopened. I also have a very special certain someone in my life who converted me to the way of the juicer and has been a really good influence to my life and better well being.  After a little research (and apologies if the recipe below already exists – it is my combination I put together and may be very similar to others), I thought of all the benefits I would get from consuming fresh ginger, lemon juice, carrots and apples and experimented with a few permutations. All I can say is that after a few doses of this gloopy orange coloured nectar, I felt human again. Who knows- maybe the conventional medicine also kicked in  as well – but one things for sure – the Apple, Carrot, and Ginger Blitz tasted a hell of a lot better.

Whilst I am sure that I could just slurp carrot juice and be done with it due to its well documented health benefits, I didn’t go down this road for two reasons- I find carrot juice on its own too sweet, and secondly I have been put off for life due to the anecdote from a friend of mine which I will share with you. I will do my best not to embarrass him, so he will remain nameless. Many years ago, my friend, who was a small infant at the time, was rushed to hospital as his entire body had turned orange in colour. After taking a series of tests, the doctor starting to ask about what my friend was being fed. “Carrot Juice” was the reply – and that was it – a diet of 100% carrot juice for a couple of weeks, chosen by my friend’s mother after she had read about the benefits of carrot juice. Clearly, omitting everything else was never expected. So, there you have it – to prevent freaking out anyone by giving such an orange glow that would make Donald Trump green with envy (if he can actually go another colour), simply refrain from the pure carrot juice diet. OK?

I have really caught the juicing bug and, time permitting will contribute to my new ‘Drinks and Blends’ section. For now, please give a go to my Apple, Carrot, and Ginger Blitz and feel free to comment – as ever feedback always inspires me to make things better.

Apple, Carrot, and Ginger Blitz

Richard Bewley

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 5 minutes mins

Servings 1

Ingredients

  

• 2 medium sized organic carrots peeled and chopped into small chunks
• 2 Braeburn apples cored and chopped into small chunks
• 1 thumb sized chunk of ginger peeled and chopped
• Juice of 1 lemon
• large handful red grapes
• 1 cup filtered/ mineral water

Instructions

 

• Chop the ingredients into small chunks and place in the juicer/blender bowl (the smaller the pieces, the more you'll fit in).
• Pour in the juice of a lemon, and add water.
• Blitz for 60-90 seconds.
• If, like me, you could not fit everything in initially, blitz for a few seconds, add the remaining ingredients (in my case, the red grapes) then blitz until smooth.

What could be easier – chop up some healthy ingredients then blitz?