Really Good Fruit Smoothies

For a smoothie with knock-your-socks-off flavor, replace the usual yogurt with milk,
add juice for freshness, and then fill the blender with a lot of fruit.

"BY JULIA COLLIN"

For the best flavor, use 3'12 cups of fruit for every cup of liquid
and chill the fruit to reduce the amount of ice needed.
lurring the line between health food and
difficult to make weli, After giving some
initial recipes a whirl, I found their tex-
tures ranged from that of a 7- Eleven
Slurpee to something like mili< of mag-
nesia, and none offered much fruit flavor.
The problem with these smoothies was
not wim how they were made but with
what they were made of. Besides fruit
and ice, the ingredients included a \vide
range of filJers and flavorings, from the
obvious yogurt to the more obscure tofu
and instant lemonade mix, To help
organize a list of ingredients for further
testing, I categorized all reasonable
possibilities into four groups: dairv and
liquids, sweeteners and flavorings, fruit,
and ice, I also decided it would be easiest
to develop the recipe using strawberries
(their texture is neither too waten' nor
too fibrous) before trying other fruits,
Back to Basics
A basic smoothie is a blend of fruit, ice,
and some sort of dairy. Without dair \',
the fruit and ice make something akin
to a slushy. Using a big handful of
strawberries and several cubes of ice, I
tested a range of dairy-aisle possibilities, Owing to the variety and ripeness of each huit.
including yogurt, milk, half-and-half,
cream, tofu, buttermilk, and soy milk, I
was slightly surprised when whole milk
won the tasting, Everyone in the test
kitchen liked its clean, mellow flavor; it
added just enough fat and protein to keep
the smoothie from becoming a slushy, Although
tasters, too, preferred smoothies made with botl1
milk and juice, Prepared this way, the fruit fla\'o
were cleaner, brighter, and more potent. By com-
parison, the juiceless batch tasted mellow and, for
lack ofa better '.\Tord, milky, I tested apple, orange,
grape, white grape, cranberry, and white cran-
berry juice as weli as fruit punch, The mild, eas\'
flavor of apple juice came in second place to the
unanimous winner, white cranberry juice, With
an elegantly perfiJmed flavor, the white cranberry
juice added complexity and nuance that enhanced
the flavor of tile fruit rather than overwhelming it
(see "Colorless Cranberry Juice," below), Red
cranberry juice was just too potent and tart.
orange juice tasted bitter and aciclic, and the grape
juices and fruit punch made the smoothie taste
like candy I played wim the ratio of milk to juice
and found that a 50/50 blend was optimal.
Sweeteners and Flavorings
Throughout the testing, it had become ob\'ious
that sugar was necessary to boost the fruit fla\'or.
I tested other sweeteners, such as honey, maple
svrup, and brown sugar, but their earthiness
muted me flavor of the fruit, Lemon juice, on
the other hand, helped define the flavor of the
fruit, making the smoomie taste clean and crisp,
it was impossible to measure the sugar anl
lemon juice in exact amounts beyond a rang,<: a -
2 to 6 teaspoons, Out of curiosity, I tried adding:
vanilla extract, but tasters gagged on it, A simple
pinch of salt, on the other hand, helped brin=-
out the flavor of even the blandest berries,
Next I tried adding a banana to the mix, Most

B junk food, smoothies are everywhere, yogurt is the most common dairy component,
from convenience stores to donut shops tasters found its sour tang over-
and drive-thrus, But these expensive, whelmed the more delicate
generically flavored, candy-sweet concoctions are flavor of the fruit. Among the
far removed from me smoothies of 20 years ago, other contestants, buttermilk
recipes add banana for flavor and sweetness d5

Colorless Cranberry Juice

How does Ocean Spray m1ke its white cranbeny

OriginalJy made wim ingreclients like flaxseed, oat was too tart, half-and-half and juice white) The company uses immature, blond
bran, and soy protein powder, early smoothies heavy cream too rich, and soy berries harvested a few weeks early. Because
were holistic healthshakes spruced up with a hand- milk and tofu just too strange in they haven' been on the vine as long as their
ful of berries and a little ice, Yet a good idea lurks both flavor and texture, I tried older, red siblin s, they haven't had the chance
somewhere between these junk food and healtll replacing the whole milk with to develop the deep crimson color or a full flavor
food extremes-a smoothie that is icy, fruity, skim milk and 2 percent milk profile, When compared with the classic cran-
slightly sweet, lightly creamy, and thick but straw- but found the reduced fat con- berry cocktail. WIJlte cranberry juice (which is
friendly, A good smoothie should be satisfying and tent left these smoothies watery mixed with white grape juice concentrate) has
rejuvenating without tasting like a sweet milk- and hollow tasting, almost no tll1t and a sweet, perfumed, easygoing
shake or a fruity glass of Metamucil. To keep tile dairy in check, flavor which we liked both straight up and in
Although smoothies are easy to make, they are most recipes also add juice, My our smoothies, - J,c. ".:-:,

20
 adding 3V2 cups of strawberries per The Big Chill
How Much Fruit Do I Need? cup of base. (Beyond 3V2 cups, the To cool off the smoothie, I began a llng :..:e ~o
We found that 3 '12 cups of prepared fruit are needed to make four mixture turned fibrous and mealy.) the blender. Three cubes \\'erc the lin it: all\" JT.o~~
smoothies. Here's how to shop for fruit so that once you remove This unbelievably high ratio not only icc made the mixture taste \\atcn'. Bll[ r:
any hulls. skins. seeds. pits. or cores you'll have the right amount. drove home the fruit flavor but also smoothi<.: was not cold enough ror lOSt" t :>
helped bulk up the consistency. Frozen bananas cooled things off ni..:eh·. _uc :'.t;
Fruit How Much to Buy Most commercial smoothies use took a long time to freeze through- 00 lo~=. i.:-
second-rate fruit and try to make you wanted to make a spur-of-the-:'! O:ll __ :
BERRIES 16 ounces up for it with excessive dairy and smoothie. A good aJternati\c \\as to chill aU 0:- L'-:
funky flavorings. It is this elemen- fruit (including the bananai b\ I'j\'ing i 0 ton
CANTALOUPE I small melon .(2 112 pounds)
tary. discovery that draws the dis- baking sheet and freezing it for 10 minutes. These
HONEYDEW '12 large lllelon(2112 pounds). tinction between a great smoothie partially frozen pieces of fruit easik blended i ~o
and a bland wannabe (perhaps an a frosty and rejuvenating drink. This \':a" no
MANGO 2 large mangoes (.1'/4 pounds each)
obvious observation-ripe fruit sugary shake or fibrous frappe-this \\'as a reaUy
PAPAYA 2 small papayas (1'/4 pounds each) . made great smoothies, unripe fruit good fruit smoothie.
made bland ones) .
PINEAPPLE ..'/2 large pineapple (3 pounds)
Having developed the recipe BERRY SMOOTHIES
WATERMELON 2-pound piece using strawberries, it was time to test MAKES 4 ' /' cups, ENOUGH FOR 4 SERV'NGS
other fruits. I was aware that watery
fruits, such as watermelon, and thick Vary the amounts of sugar and lemon juice
\\'ell as its creamy, mouth-coating texture. vVith fruits, such as mangoes, might require variations depending on the ripeness of the fruit.
the banana included, tasters admitted that mv in the ratio of fruit to liquid, so I organized the
blended fruit drink had fmally turned the corner fruit into three categories: berries, melons, and medium ripe banana (about 4 ounces), peeled
and become an honest to-goodness smoothic. tropical fi-uits. All types of berries blended into the and cut crosswise into eight pieces
recipe with ease, but melons did best with a little 3'12 cups berries (about 16 ounces)
The Fruit less liquid. Thick tropical fruits, such as pineapple '/1 cup whole milk
Wanting the smoothie to have a strong fruit thmr, and mango, required a bit more. Although I '12 cup white cranberry or apple juice
I made several batches, increasing the amount of found that frozen fruit does work when fresh, ripe Pinch salt
ti'uit per cup of smoothie base (milk, juice, sugar, fruit is unavailable, the smoothie won't taste as 3-6 teaspoons sugar
lemon juice, and salt). Although most recipes caU fresh. I got best results when allowing the fruit to 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
for 1 cup oHruit for every cup of base, I ended up defrost fully in the refrigerator. 3 ice cubes (about 1'12 ounces total)

Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper;

-:- EST IN G E QUI PM E NT. The King of Blenders
If you've ever ordered a smoothie at a juice bar or coffee house, it
was probably made in a Vita-Mix. With a powerful motor and a price
tag of about $400, the Vita-Mix is both the ultimate blender and
the trophy appliance in any well-equipped kitchen. But how does
this souped-up blender compare with the $40 Osterizer, which
won our blender testing (see the May/June 2000 issue)? I set up a
strenuous course of blending exercises to see just what this machine
could do.
The Vita-Mix quickly ground 4 cups of roasted peanuts into 2 cups
of smooth peanut butter, while the Osterizer choked, its overworked
motor spewing out fumes, and produced only finely chopped peanuts.
With the Vita-Mix, I was able to blend I pound whole frozen straw-
berries along with 2 cups ice, '12 cup sugar, and I cup half-and-half
into soft-serve ice cream. The blades of the Osterizer simply got stuck
and refused to cut anything. Both machines were able to produce fine
crumbs from several slices of bread, but only the 249-mile-per-hour
blade tips of the Vita-Mix could produce hot fondue from cold ingre-
dients in a mere four minutes.
A powerful 2-horsepower motor is behind the Vita-Mix's
superior capabilities. To put its brawn into perspective, consider
that an average food processor runs at I horsepower, a chainsaw at
3 to 4 horsepower, and a push lawn mower at 4 to 6 horsepower.
Running at 0.60 horsepower, the Osterizer simply didn't have
enough power to compete in the tough tests I had designed. But,
then again, the Osterizer costs a tenth of what the Vita-Mix costs,
and it works just fine when making smoothies and handling other
tasks you expect of a (mere mortal) blender. -J.c.
The Vita-Mix has more than three
times the horsepower of a standard
kitchen blender, but it doesn't make
a better smoothie.
arrange banana and berries in single layer on
baking sheet. Freeze fruit until very cold, but not
frozen, abollt 10 minutes. In blender, puree cold
fruit, milk, juice, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tea-
spoon lemon juice, and ice until uniformlv
smooth, 10 to 15 seconds. Taste for sugar and
lemon; if desired, add more sugar or lemon and
blend until combined, about 2 seconds longer.
Serve immediately.
MELON SMOOTHIES
Make sure the melon is absolutely ripe, if not
overripe. Underripe melon yields bland smoothies
that taste, if anything, like cardboard,
Follow recipe for Berry Smoothies, replacing
berries with equal amount of peeled, seeded,
and cubed watermelon, cantaloupe, or honey-
dew (1- to 2-inch pieces are fine) and reducing
amounts of milk and juice to 113 rup each.
TROPICAL FRUIT SMOOTHIES
Follow recipe for Berry Smoothies, replacing
berries with equal amount of peeled, cored or
seeded, and diced pineapple, papaya, or mango
(1- to 2-inch pieces) and increasing amounts of
milk~and juice to 213 cup each.

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