Why smoothies

Nature in a glass

Smoothies are delicious and wonderfully creamy drinks from the blender. Unlike juices, whole fruits are processed in order to utilise the full spectrum of nutrients and vital substances.

These delicious vitamin bombs are a great addition to any diet: They are quick to prepare and simply taste good anywhere - at home, at work or on the go.

Make your own smoothies

A basic distinction is made between pure fruit smoothies and green smoothies, which contain fresh fruit as well as green leafy vegetables, herbs or wild herbs.

All you need to prepare a delicious smoothie is fresh ingredients and a powerful blender. Then you can get started and combine the ingredients to your heart's content. Just experiment a little and you will quickly find out what is good for you and what tastes good.

Why are smoothies so healthy?

In our stressful everyday lives, we often don't have time for a healthy lunch. All we get is a sandwich at work or something quick from the snack bar. The smoothie offers a great alternative. Even for breakfast or as a snack in between meals, they make an important contribution to a healthy diet.

Green smoothies have the advantage over the fruit-only variety that their range of nutrients is considerably broader. The leafy vegetables alone provide you with many important minerals, vitamins and amino acids that you need for a healthy diet.

The fruit and leaves are processed into small particles by pureeing and offer the stomach acid a larger surface area to attack. This allows the nutrients to be utilised more efficiently.

And don't be put off by the "healthy" colour: The fruit masks the tart flavour of the leafy greens. But if that's not enough for you, you can also sweeten with agave syrup, apple syrup, dried fruit or fruit juice. Even die-hard salad haters will enjoy this!

Add variety to your smoothies

Don't just use chard, spinach and iceberg lettuce as a green base. Ideally, you should use a different green leafy vegetable every day and alternate between at least seven different varieties. The greater the choice, the greater the variety of nutrients.

When blending your smoothie, add more or less water - depending on how thick you like it - and garnish with a slice of fresh fruit or some chopped dried fruit. The smoothie will also be a feast for the eyes.

In a green smoothie, the proportions of fruit and green leaves should be roughly equal. For beginners, it is a good idea to start with a larger proportion of fruit and increase the proportion of leafy greens over time. To increase the creaminess, you can also add a spoonful of almond butter or another nut butter. The purest pleasure!

What goes into the smoothie?

It is best to use seasonal, organically grown fruit from your region. In this way, you support local agriculture and make an important contribution to environmental protection at the same time.

When it comes to fruit varieties, you can really go wild with your smoothie. Whatever tastes good goes in. If you have a high-performance blender at home, you can even use the seeds and casing. A good blender will also make these solid ingredients wonderfully creamy.

Favourite fruits are banana, apple, pear, orange, mango, avocado and berries. Popular leafy vegetables are spinach, chard, kale, lamb's lettuce, rocket, white cabbage and wild herb mixtures. Tip: Only use the parts of leafy vegetables that you can wrap around your finger.

Superfoods in the smoothie

For a special nutritional kick, you can spice up your smoothie with superfoods. Superfoods are raw foods that have a particularly high concentration of nutrients. These include certain nuts, fruits, vegetables, herbs and algae, which you can add to your smoothie in natural, dried or powdered form.

How long should I blend smoothies?

Enough theory, now it's time to put it into practice! And this is where you can really let off steam and try out all kinds of combinations. You don't necessarily need a fixed recipe.

For a fruit smoothie, put two to three types of fruit in the blender, maybe add a few nuts or some almond butter if you like. For a green smoothie, add leafy vegetables or a mixture of wild herbs to the blender. Now add a liquid of your choice. This can either be water or fruit juice, some people also like to use cold tea, a homemade nut milk or coconut water.

A high-performance blender prepares creamy smoothies in 30 to 60 seconds. With a simple household blender, it takes a little longer and the consistency of your smoothie is less creamy.

Keimling Naturkost wishes you lots of fun trying it out!