More fruit, more veg. Even when you have the feeling you eat lots and lots of them, you might be told by your doctor that you should eat even more. Ouch. Although I really love fruit and veg, some days I’m apparently not eating enough of it. The idea popped up like that: “I should treat myself to a slow juicer”. But which one? And how do these things work? One week later, I met Sophie Von Gallwitz at my friend Ulla‘s place. Sophie is a self-proclaimed juice-addict who learned how to juice in sunny California. Her goal: teach Germany everything there is to know about juicing. Every now and then, she organizes a Juice Werkstatt (workshop) to explain how to make juices and why they’re so healthy. Fed up with my autumn colds and low energy level, I promised myself to follow one of those workshops.
On an early Sunday Morning I biked to Contemporary Food Lab where a handful of people were ready to be taught a healthy lesson. Sophie spoke about the detox traffic light (red, orange, green), about combos that work and combos that better be avoided. About all sorts of machines, detox weeks and days. It turned out that making a juice is quite easy of course, but choosing the combinations of fruit and veg is something to think about. When in doubt, less is more. Don’t put everything in your juicer. An apple and a lemon are always a good idea. Avocados not so much: too fatty, save those for your blender. She talked about wheatgrass and super foods. Starting the day with a vegetable juice all of a sudden sounded even more appealing than my daily bread & cheese – which I love.
And now I have one, a slow juicer. Pricy, yeah, but great and indeed very easy to clean as I had been told. I am using pounds of fruits and vegetables a week, preferably bought at the end of a market day. That Berlin doctor can be proud of me. My favorite combination is a juice of beets, two stalks of celery and lemon. Runner up is one with carrots, ginger and citrus fruits.
GREEN JUICE
1 green apple (Granny Smith), stem and seeds removed
3 sprigs of mint
½ zucchini
1 lemon, yellow zest removed
approx. 1/3 inch (1 cm) of ginger, peeled
5 white grapes
a handful of rocket salad (arugula)
½ cucumber
Process all vegetables and fruit in a juicer, stir and serve.
ALMOND MILK
You can even use a slow juicer to make your own almond milk. In the picture, you see Sophie with a big bowl of overnight soaked almonds. In our new cookbook (so far only available in Dutch, we’re sorry!), we give you a recipe for Bircher Müsli, for which I made the almond milk in a classic food processor.