Smoothies

I was introduced to smoothies when I was in the US in 97. I visited a friend in Monterey in California and there was a smoothie bar there. I haven't seen anything like it in Europe, but I think it was a brilliant idea.

A few years later, I started making my own. Here is my regular recipe.

3 bananas, not too green
1 large ripe mango
400 g strawberries
2 -3 dl orange juice

1. Peel and break up the bananas in bits.
2. Cut up the mango on both sides of the large stone, then with the knife point cut squares into each of the side pieces and wring them out, so that it looks like a hedgehog. Then cut the bits off as close to the skin as possible. Finally trim off as much fruit flesh off the stone as you can. This is a messy job and the method of cutting is sometimes illustrated on the sticker label of the mango itself. It works well for me.
3. Wash the strawberries, then remove the green bits. Cut large ones in smaller pieces.
4. Now I have a smoothie maker, which is a blender with a tap. So I put all the fruit in there, add the juice and blend untill it goes nice and smooth. But it works just as well to put everything in a jug and use a hand blender.
5. Enjoy. This should be enough for 4 x 330 ml glasses. It can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days, but may separate and change colour. After that it starts fermenting.
   

I have tried substituting the strawberries for blackberries, this is quite nice too.
When there are no strawberries around, I add an extra banana.
Also, I bought a bottle of rose petal syrup from an arabic shop. This is also excellent to put in, say 2-3 tbsp, gives nice pink colour and a nice fragrance to it. Though mangoes tend to overpower the flavour of the rose petals. It's also add sweetness since it has a lot of sugar in it.

The juice can be substitued for milk or yogurt. Hot tips from Instant Karma are the Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself fruit yogurt with semi-skimmed milk. And also the use of Guest Fruits like grapes, kiwi and blueberries. He has also issued a warning not to use apples as they make the smoothie texture gritty, like it has sand in it. Top tip!

Here's my trial with grapes instead of strawberries.

Verdict - tasty, but the skins of the grapes were not smoothed, so drinking was a bit of a challenge. That could be because I tend to over-fill the blender.