Juice

The Review---

When I first received Juice I had already prejudged it as just another cookbook, and just another cookbook about juices. Well it’s not a cookbook, it is a recipe book and I should have turned the book over to see the back side before assigning an opinion. What beautiful photographs there are on the back! The book opens to a beautiful table of contents page, followed by pictures of fruits, vegetables, juice machines and a fruit weight guide. This all sets the stage for understanding the techniques of juicing and creating drinks from the recipes.

I never knew that there was a time of day to drink juices, but the book suggests juices for 7 AM: The wake up call, all the way to 9 PM: Evening cleansers and then the Cleanser Group of juices. In the cleanser group, the Royal flush really made me feel healthy. This drink consisted of beets, beet leaves, carrots, apple, fresh ginger and lime. What a beautiful color and what a clean refreshing taste. I also liked the Green Day, made with cucumbers, parsley and alfalfa sprouts although I added sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to pick it up a bit.

I like beautiful cookbooks, especially when there are great color photographs that make you feel like the items are right in front of you. I also love fresh in-season fruit and vegetables, fruit and vegetable juices and ice. I still think it is a shame to puree a just-picked juicy native strawberry or a plump just-picked high bush blueberry. However, if you want to experience the flavors of any of the book’s recipes, I won’t fault you on that.

What do you need for equipment? You can make all of the juices with a good quality blender although blenders will produce a thicker drink, and straining off the pulp defeats the purpose. The best machine is a press juicer such as the brand Omega but it will cost you upwards of $200 or more! You better be a serious juice lover if you buy one of these and not just let it sit on your kitchen counter and collect dust!

This is an excellent book for the quality of photographs, the delicious recipes and for the information provided. Good Cooking recommends buying this book for all of the above mentioned reasons and more!

Recipes from the book---

Berrylicious
Sharp

This juice is an antioxidant, immune system-boosting, cleansing tonic. What more could you want?

1 handful strawberries hulled
2 handfuls raspberries
2 handfuls wheatgrass rinsed and chopped
4 ice cubes

Juice the strawberries, raspberries and wheatgrass together. Transfer to a blender and blend with the ice.

® Raspberries are one of the best fruit
sources of fiber

Royal Flush
Potent

If this juice doesn't make you feel cleansed, nothing will. For maximum cleansing effect, drink this concoction in the morning, several times a week.

1 beetroot with leaves
1 carrot top and bottom removed, chopped
1 apple cored and chopped
3/4 in. (2cm) piece fresh ginger peeled
Juice of 1/2 lime peeled

Juice beetroot, carrot, apple, ginger and lime, Stir.

® Carrot juice is the queen of all vegetable juices, Besides being a potent antioxidant, protector against cancer and infections, it cleanses the liver, kidneys and entire digestive tract. Too much carrot juice will turn you orange, literally, so take it easy and mix it with other juices.