Juice Party

By Judy Pokras

Drinking freshly squeezed organic juices is a great way to feed your body condensed nutrients that are easy to digest. Fresh juice gives your body a break from the digestion process, and your immune system then has more energy to heal whatever might be ailing you.

You’d be surprised at how creative you can be in making fresh juice. Look for interesting varieties of fruits as they come to market (Satsuma tangerines, kumquats, Key limes, blood oranges), vegetables (try jicama, ginger, fennel, lacinato kale) and herbs (like spearmint and lemongrass) and mix them (fruits with fruits, vegs with vegs, herbs with either) in new combinations.

Making fresh juice can be fun. Throw a juicing party where your friends bring fresh organic produce. Serve the juice in beautiful glassware on colorful placemats. Some juicers are better than others (for info on juicers visit www.RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com and type “juicers” in the search box), but any juicer is better than none.

Organically grown produce is best:

GINGER ALE JUICE

5 stalks of celery
¼ inch piece of fresh ginger
1 ping pong ball sized red beet
The greens from 2 beets
2 long, skinny lacinato kale leaves
1 medium-sized pear, minus the seeds (reserve thin slices for garnish)
optional: fizzy mineral water

Juice the produce, pour into glasses and garnish each with a thin slice of pear.

This is mild-tasting and resembles fizzless ginger ale.
(If you want a fizzy drink, mix the juice with carbonated mineral water.)

CITRUS REFRESHER

(Reserve I thin slice of each fruit for each glass)

2 navel oranges
2 tangerines
1 Key lime

Juice these using a citrus juicer. Mix all together and serve.
Garnish glasses with a thin slice of each fruit.

Kick up your heels variation: Serve each person shot glasses filled with the individual fruit juices, along with an empty cocktail glass and a stirrer. The guests can pour the shot glasses into the empty glass and stir.

OXYMORON

Fresh pineapple
Grapefruit
1 sprig of parsley for each glass

Cut up equal amounts of the above fruits.
Run the pineapple through a juicer and juice
the grapefruit with a citrus juicer. Mix both juices together
and pour into elegant glasses. Garnish with parsley sprig.

Kick up your heels variation: Garnish with sprig of cinnamon basil instead of the parsley.

Judy Pokras writes the “Dancing on the Table” column for Positive Change magazine and is the editor and founder of Raw Foods News Magazine, which has a free e-newsletter including a Sarasota edition.

Judy is the author of The Little e-Book of Raw Holiday Recipes and the editor of The Little e-Book of Raw Thanksgiving Recipes.