Beet Apple Ginger Smoothie

I actually own a juicer. It lives in a cupboard in the basement because it takes up a ton of room and there isn't space for it in the kitchen. And to be honest, I don't really use it much anymore. I purchased it a couple of years ago when I was working as the catering manager for a vegan cafe and juice bar. For a few months there I was juicing everything in sight....celery, kale, beets, carrots...I loved playing around with different combinations of fruits and vegetables in my own kitchen.

Eventually my love for the juicer faded, but I often still crave the fresh vibrancy of that juice, especially the earthy/sweet concoction of beets, ginger and apples that we made at the cafe. I began wondering if I could translate some of my juice recipes to smoothies instead. It seemed that going the smoothie route would have several advantages: No setting up (and cleaning the juicer), more nutritious fiber in the final product (a juicer strains out most of the fibrous pulp from the fruits and vegetables during the juicing process) and less waste (no extracted pulp to discard). But could I really make a tasty smoothie using raw beets? There was only one way to find out.

Using my go-to recipe for beet juice as a guide, I began crafting a smoothie version. My biggest concern was getting the texture right, but my Vitamix blender did an amazing job of turning a raw beet, apple and knob of ginger into something smooth and luxurious. All I needed was a little water, ice, lemon juice and honey to round everything out. The result? A delicious, jewel-toned smoothie packed with nutrients, including fiber. No juicer required.

Beet Apple Ginger Smoothie

A delicious concoction of raw beet, apple and fresh ginger.

• Author: Kristi
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 2 smoothies 1x
• Category: smoothie
• Method: blender
• Cuisine: Nordic, Scandinavian

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

1 medium beet, scrubbed, trimmed, peeled and cut into wedges

1 apple (any variety), core removed and cut into wedges

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1 cup ice

1 cup water

Juice of 1 lemon

Squeeze of honey, more to taste

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in the jar of a high-powered blender such as a Vitamix.  Blend until smooth (because of the density of the beet this may take awhile).  Test smoothie mixture for sweetness and add more honey if desired, blending again briefly to combine.  Serve immediately or store in a mason jar in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Shake vigorously to recombine before serving.

Notes

*You really need a high-powered blender in order to blend the raw beet properly.  I swear by my Vitamix.  It seriously blends absolutely anything.  

*I find that the amount of honey varies from batch to batch depending on the sweetness of your apple and beet.  Be sure to taste the mixture before removing it from the blender jar and add more honey as needed.

*There will be froth on the top of the smoothie from the blending process.  You can just leave it (that's what I do) or you could spoon it off before serving.

Keywords: smoothie, beets, apple, ginger