I’ve had my juicer for a year and it’s seldom been out of the cupboard, I had good intentions, but we all know where they lead. So I decided to give myself a metaphorical kick up the backside and start using it. Coincidentally I received The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies aka 365 Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day, as part of my membership to a book club and since then I‘ve been happily playing.
First thing that impressed me was the design of the book, it’s basically a ring binder so you can easily go to whatever page you need and can in fact fold the cover in on itself to save room on the work space. The pages are glossy, colourful, and the whole thing’s designed to be easily cleaned - ideal for those of us who are a little bit on the clumsy side. Batches of recipes have a pictorial tag on the page for reference purposes.
The author’s written this book for the complete beginner, from what equipment you should use to how to prepare your fruits and vegetables, but it‘s factual and not condescending. After the basics come the recipes, for juices, smoothies(using yoghurt or milk base) and quenchers(basically juice + ice). Now, some of the combinations do sound a bit strange, but those I’ve personally tasted have all been OK, but : Green Grapefruit - broccoli and grapefruit, well I‘m not intending to try that one soon, I’m not that adventurous. Some of the combinations are things that I would never have thought of putting together.
You get generally 3 but sometimes 2 recipes to a page, they are clear and easy to use, and as well as listing the ingredients the author also gives a list of the nutrients and rates the drink for the following : Energy boosting properties, Detoxifying properties, Immunity boosting properties, as a Digestion aid and as Skin tonic.
You can use this book in several different ways, each recipe is numbered and the index refers to recipe number rather than page number. 1) skim it and look for something with the specific properties you want using the ratings, 2) if you’ve got a particular fruit or vegetable in mind simply search the index for it and it will give you a list of recipes containing that ingredient, 3) if you’re looking for a juice for a particular ailment (eg arthritis) then there’s an index that lists a variety of ailments alphabetically with suggested juices 4) It gives a list of juices for an intro week, a detox week, immunity week and a juice only weekend 5) it also gives a list of nutrients, vitamins and minerals and what foods you should take to increase your intake.
So for those of you looking for inspiration or interested in the benefits of a “healthy lifestyle” I can happily recommend this book. And if that’s not good enough think of Mango Passion or Eve’s delight, only two of the evocative recipes that you could try.
ISBN 1-904292-23-2, Duncan Baird Publishers, 192 pages including index RRP £12.99
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