Raspberry smoothie recipe

Raspberry smoothie

My Mother-in-Law is a bit of a hoarder at times and this applies to her stash of frozen raspberries, as well as 40 year old home made mead in her cellar.   So I'm thankful for a couple of things: firstly that she doesn't read my blog, secondly she's happy for me to work my way through her frozen raspberries.  They are now mainly of 2008 vintage, as the younger ones have now been consumed.

I do like raspberries, one of my favourite fruits and they do remind me of summer so much.   Below I will expand on their health properties along with the other fruit.  Firstly, here's my recipe for one of my favourite smoothies:

4oz Raspberries

1 Pomegranate

Quarter of a pink or red grapefruit

Apple juice and/or water for preferred consistency

Method

Couldn't be easier.  Wash or defrost the raspberries.  I normally check them over as raspberries are a soft and delicate fruit, so avoid any bruised or damaged fruit.  With the pomegranate, cut into quarters and spoon out the pink flesh, discarding the skin as best you can.  Pink or red grapefruit is best and use about one quarter, peeled and cut into small slices.

Put all of the fruit into a glass jug, add some juice or water gradually and then use a sharp hand blender to whizz them all together into a scrummy smoothie.  I don't mind having a slightly thicker, soup-like smoothie but I imagine many prefer a more liquid consistency.

Why this smoothie is so good

Above all else, this is a kind of "cleansing" smoothie and delicious.  This is why:

Rasperries contain Vitamins C and B3, folate, biotin, folate, manganese, citric acis, fibre and some sugars.  Also, according to Eating for Immunity by KirstenHartvig, raspberries activate the body's natural self cleansing ability and improve the health of the skin, hair, sweat glands, nerves, liver, bone marrow and mucous membranes.  Actually their usefulness for the body goes much further and at least this will give you an idea about their precious health-giving qualities.

Grapefruit is a very powerful detoxifying fruit, even on its own and helps to remove harmful microbes and strengthen the immune system.  It also has Vitamins A and C, potassium (helps deal with my frequent cramp) and a number of other nutrients.  Of course, grapefruit is not to everyone's taste; I will have it because I know it's good for me and it's quite nice and refreshing on its own.

Pomegranate is a funny kind of fruit that takes a bit of work to get the edible flesh out.  I think it tastes quite nice, sweet but not overly sweet or sickly.  I always had it in the back of my mind that pomegranate was a protective fruit benefitting the prostate gland.  From this NHS article it appears this might be the case but research is not viewed as conclusive at present.

Water and a dash of apple juice helps make the smoothie the right consistency and sweetens it a little.  I hope you like my raspberry smoothie recipe - let me know!